Retro Raunch Revisit

JUN 12, 1817: German civil servant & inventor Karl Drais creates his Laufmaschine (running machine) which is the world's first bicycle. It was a 2-wheeled handlebar vehicle made of a wooden frame with riders having to propel themselves forward by pushing their feet. Known as the dandy horse, draisine and/or swiftwalker, it was later patented in France in Feb 1818 where it was called the velocipede. Inspiration for the development was partly from a need of wartime transport that replaced horse shortages (after the Napoleonic Wars and crop failures) in which fleets of these wagons especially served as short distance dispatchers or for carrying wounded. By 1819, dandy horses were in England and the USA notably with larger wheels. In Germany in 1820, their interactions with pedestrians on footpaths (because of smoother pavements) led many municipalities to ban them from these public throughfares. By the 1860's in France, the vehicles featured an attached rotary crank and for the first time, pedals to the front wheel. Today, the modern adaption of the dandy horse is used as a starter bicycle for children known as a balance/run bike.