1871
Theory: British Engineer James Starley upgrades his famous bicycle named “Ariel” into a ridiculous model with a large front wheel to enable higher speeds, a small rear wheel and a simple tubular frame. Various referred to as the “Ordinary” or “High” bicycle, it gets a nickname “Penny Farthing” [a penny representing the front wheel, and a coin smaller in size and value, the farthing, representing the rear] and becomes the first really efficient bicycle to be conceived and crafted and use the wire-spoke tension wheel invented by Eugene Meyer, Father of the High Bicycle. Ball bearings, solid rubber tires and hollow-section steel frames went into reducing the weight and render a more smoother ride.
Historians: We have nothing to dispute.
Verdict: It’s a fact.
James Starley is considered the Father of the Bicycle Industry and though his penny-farthing was widely popular and largely preferred by the adventurous youth, the disproportionate wheel designs of the Penny Farthing and its drooping handlebars posed a huge risk of accidents and death.
1885
James Starley’s nephew John Kemp Starley, conceives the “safety bicycle” [called Rover] as a solution to the dangerous high-wheeler. With two equally-sized wheels featuring the rear-chain-drive invented by Henry Lawson in 1879 and the re-invented pneumatic rubber tire crafted by John Dunlop in 1888, safety bicycles had a steerable front wheel and a chain drive to the rear wheel.
Historians: We have nothing to dispute.
Verdict: It’s a fact.
With four key aspects—steering, safety, comfort and speed—improved over the penny farthing, the modern bicycle became very popular among elites and the middle classes in Europe and North America in the middle and late 1890s, a period bicycle historians refer to as the “golden age” of bicycles or “bicycle craze”. It was the first bicycle that was suitable for women, and as such the “freedom machine” was taken up by women in large numbers. John K. Starley became widely acclaimed as the Father of the Modern Bicycle.
The Bicycle and Woman Emancipation
The Bicycle bestowed on women a fresh sense of freedom. Bicycle riding brought about a bright change in way women dressed, liberating them from corsets, ankle-length skirts and substituting the then-shocking bloomers. It gave them unprecedented mobility, larger participation in the lives of Western nations and the symbol of the New Woman. Annie Londonderry became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe on a bicycle.
THE GREAT INDIAN BICYCLE MARKET
New Delhi:
A retailer makes an average sale of 250 units in the summers of April, May and June while expecting sales to hit the 500-unit-mark.
Patna, Bihar:
A bicycle dealer makes a sale of 10,000 bicycles every month.
Ludhiana, Punjab:
With 1,500 factories and a workforce of 0.25 million, India’s bicycle manufacturing hub lines up 25,000 cycles every day, according to the All India Cycle Manufacturers’ Association.
Hero, TI, Avon, Atlas:
They are the four major players in the Indian arena, the pedals of a 1.2 billion-US dollar-industry that manufactures a little over 9% of the global bicycle production–that’s 12.2 million of 135 million units annually. This makes India the world’s second largest bicycle producer after China that makes two of every three bicycles the world uses. If being second doesn’t appear like something to feel proud about, Hero Cycles India, with a daily rollout of 18,500 units and an annual sales volume of 4.8 million, is the world’s largest bicycle manufacturer. Giant, Trek, Merida and Cannondale, to name a few, are the foreign players in the country.
Now step out with your head held high and become the patron of a billion-dollar industry.
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