Book Review: David Herlihy, Bicycle: The History

I recently finished reading David V. Herlihy, Bicycle: The History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004) It is a detailed, readable, well-illustrated account that is worthy of being considered the new standard, definitive history of the bicycle's early technological development. Despite a concluding Part Five that examines the twentieth century, the focus is squarely on the nineteenth century and the machine's evolution on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Technological innovation and change is Herlihy's primary concern, with social impact being secondary. But he does a good job of linking the two in a dialectical way. I don't wish to be truly critical of the book, although I personally would have preferred something where social history was the primary concern, with bicycle's development set against a much larger social-cultural context. Herlihy does this only to a limited extent. For example, he notes throughout the emancipatory role the bicycle played for women, children, and the working classes--all the way back to the "boneshaker" era of the 1860s--but he doesn't offer a full appreciation of how the bicycle's social impact meshed with other contemporary social, technological, and economic changes. Again, these are more concerns out of personal taste and the kind of book I would have wanted to read, rather than criticism of the truly fine story that Herlihy does in fact provide. Here's my simple summary: During the 1800s, there was a long multi-pronged effort to provide a mechanical alternative to the horse. Following numerous other failed attempts, many involving more than two wheels and designed to carry more than one person, the relatively simple running machine--known variously as the "laufsmachine", "draisine", or "velocipede"--of the German baron Karl von Drais made a significant splash in 1817. Its popularity as anything more than a mere curiosity lasted only a couple of years, but it nonetheless inspired numerous tinkerers on both sides of the Atlantic (US, England, France, primarily) to continue searching for a workable bicycle--two-wheeled personal transportation--in the decades that followed. This search came to an end--or at least another major watershed--in the 1860s when a number of competing Frenchmen designed true, crank-driven bicycles. The most famous of these early developers was the Parisian blacksmith Pierre Michaux who in 1867 began offering to the public his new "pedal velocipede". This spawned the first of the true bicycle crazes that the world has seen, with Paris and France more generally very much at the center. While the machine's popularity would wax and wave ever after, from the 1860s on, bicycle racing was an established sport. The lack of suspension and gearing on these early boneshakers, however, kept the machine from being the ubiquitous, egalitarian personal transportation that many had envisioned. The next phase of development centered around the giant high-wheelers of the 1870s, which provided a much faster and smoother ride than the smaller-wheeled boneshakers of the 1860s. But these elegant machines were notoriously expensive and difficult to master, and cycling remained a leisure activity for the physically and financially well-off. That all changed in the 1880s--a "volatile period in bicycle history" (p. 225)--with the advent of the modern "safety" bicycle characterized by geared chain drive (and thus smaller wheels) and, as of 1891, detachable pneumatic tires pioneered by none other than Edouard Michelin. The result was a true "bicycle boom" in the 1890s that for the first time saw the bicycle begin to fulfill its promise of ubiquitous personal transportation for the masses. The bicycle's preeminence would prove to be short-lived, however, as it would soon face new competition from motorized vehicles. This was especially true in the United States, where the bicycle fell out of fashion as soon as it became accessible to the working classes. Its place as a very practical means of everyday adult transportation remained more intact in war-torn Europe through the 1950s, although today it is primarily in less-developed countries where one sees the bicycle widely used in this role. Somewhat ironically, in wealthier countries such as the United States, bicycles for adults are regaining their historic place as rather costly recreational toys for the physically-active affluent. This recreational renaissance owes much to the various fitness crazes of the latter 20th century, tied both to the rise of trail-oriented mountain bikes and to the prominence of American racers such as Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong. For those with a California interest like me, our Golden State has played a central role in many of these recent developments, including the rise of mountain bikes (NorCal) and BMX (SoCal) during the 1970s, as well as a rather different cycling craze in the early 1930s when Hollywood figures--most notably the couple Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Joan Crawford--led the way in promoting cycling as a healthful and fun outdoor activity. All in all, this is a book that any bicycle enthusiast or anyone else interested in machine-age history would very much enjoy.