Road Cycling - History of Road Bikes?

Hello,

I am writing a report on bikes, and I need to know a little about the history of road bikes. Being an MTB guy, I do not know much about these bikes at all. Here's a few basic questions that I need answered:

1) How long have road bikes been around?
2) First company to make a road bike? What model if possible?
3) When did races start? Just an idea of the year.

Thanks in advance! Any other intresting facts are appreciated. :)

Garrett

Some say da Vinci came up with the idea for the first bicycle in the 17th century.

There were "hobby horse" cycles around about 1870s. These had no chains, you just scoot them along.

I'd consider the first "safety bicycle" to be the equivelant to the first modern road bike, chain drive with wheels of like size. These were introduced around the beginning of the 20th century.

You probably should ride your bike over to the library to look into this in depth. For a book report I wouldn't trust any of the yahoos around here (present company excluded). :)

There is an online bicycle measum - I don't have the link here but you can find it I'm sure.

If not let me know tomorrow the limk is at work.

Joe

There is an online bicycle measum - I don't have the link here but you can find it I'm sure.

If not let me know tomorrow the limk is at work.

Joe

I'm not sure if these were the ones you were thinking of but here are a couple of links.

http://www.pedalinghistory.com/
http://www.bicyclemuseum.com/

gwhunt23,
I think roadbikes evolved and were not invented as a type of bicycle. Riders just took parts from different bikes and built their racers. I would say racing started as soon as 2 people showed up on velocipedes :p Maybe you should write about the history of The Tour de France:


# http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/in_depth/2001/tour_de_france/1364695.stm

I watched a show on TV that was basicly what this website covers. My favorite Tour fact;

Until 1937, popular new Derailleur systems were not allowed.

This design, which lives on to this day, allowed riders to change gears without removing their wheels.

Until then competitors had to get off and turn their wheel around every time the road changed from uphill to downhill.
And the mountain stages were introduced before this :eek:

Bicycling magazine (December 2003) had an article on the Wright Brothers, check out the bike they marketed & also see how cycling helped them achieve that first flyer. It used some bike parts to make it go.

Some say da Vinci came up with the idea for the first bicycle in the 17th century.

Sorry calibrate, but to set the record straight, Leonardo da Vinci lived from 1452-1519. The "idea for the first bicycle" that you refer to was calculated as being drawn about 1493 (15th century). Recently, there has been some debate on whether Leonardo sketched this "first bicycle" at all. The drawing is believed to be by Giacomo Caprotti, a pupil of Leonardo, but Professor Dr. Hans-Erhard Lessing from the University of Ulm in Germany goes as far as stating and proving that the drawing is a hoax. To make things more confusing, not all Leonardo da Vinci scholars agree with Dr. Lessing.

I think there is a picture of a bicycle in a stained glass window of the church at Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire in UK, that is over 400 years old.