People have been asking this question for years. It seems to be a great question and one that is impossible to answer.
When we look at the stories of historical figures, the answers seem to change from one story to another. This is because we have no way of knowing what really happened before we began to write histories.
No one has actually come up with a solid answer to who invented the bicycle. We will never know for sure if someone else actually came up with the idea first, but that does not mean that someone else had nothing to do with it. There was definitely someone who was not too fond of horse-drawn wagons and could not wait to see one get moved by a motor vehicle.
So, if no one came up with it first, who did? This question can be answered by looking at who came to the first automobile race in America. That would have to be somebody.
In 1854, at a historic meeting of the Automobile Club of America, the idea of the car was born. At that point, there were only two cars on the road. By looking at history, you may find that it was a white person who came up with the idea.
Did you know that the first black person to come up with the idea of the bicycle, before they even saw one? That would be an African American named Thomas, who was a tailor. He was a self-made man and the result of his hard work was the first bicycle.
The history of the bicycle
These days, you might think of Thomas J. Wright as a shoe salesman, but he had a real deep love for bicycles. And so he took some wool and leather and made the first bicycle with a handlebar steering wheel. Of course, he had to have a tail for the bike to work, but those were not a problem.
So, who invented the bicycle? Whoever the first person was to build a bicycle had to make sure that the wheels were sturdy enough to roll. Also, the handlebars needed to be comfortable and sturdy enough to support the weight of the driver. That meant that the steering wheel was going to have to be tight on the wheel and the tires needed to be wide enough to hold the weight of the person riding.
Then there was the fact that a bicycle had to have brakes on the front wheels to stop it, while the brakes on the back wheels helped slow it down. If someone is racing, a bicycle needs to be fast enough to get by with fewer stops than a car would need.
Next, the person built the engine that drove the bicycle so that it could get the most out of its engine’s horsepower and use it to produce as much power as possible from its tires. This engine had to be a powerful one, enough to put out enough power to move the tires around quickly, and take care of the brakes. Also, that meant that the bike had to be strong enough to carry the rider through traffic.
So, if history class was a lesson in history, it would be time to go back and learn about Thomas Wright. He did not invent the bicycle, but he did come up with the best design and used it to design the first bicycle. That is a great thing.
If you want to know who invented the bicycle, it is always best to know about this early American car. It just might be the bike that you will ride to success in the next century.
