-----Original Message----- From: boxerb <[email protected]> To: sgorin <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, Aug 30, 2011 8:59 am Subject: Re: [KY-MEM] OUR FIRST BICYCLE My first bike was a partnership bike with my sister. It was a Goodyear, blue and white. My brother had a Schwinn before we got our bicycle and any time I saw he was not on his bike, I grabbed the opportunity to ride his. Well, one day, my mother was making fried apple pies. I mean REAL fried apple pies. Made out of dried apples. I had eaten one and was begging her for another. She finally gave in and gave me pie #2. I walked out our side door and I saw my brothers bike propped against our neighbors front porch. I had taken one bite out of the pie and then I slung the pie under the house, ready to go across the street to ride the bike. My big mouthed sister comes out the door and sees me throw the pie. "Mama, mama, she threw the pie under the house." Needless to say, I missed the bicycle ride but I got a good spanking!! Mary June Foulk Knoxville Tennessee -----Original Message----- From: Sandi Gorin <[email protected]> To: KENTUCKY-MEMORIES <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, Aug 29, 2011 10:15 pm Subject: [KY-MEM] OUR FIRST BICYCLE OUR FIRST BICYCLE Do you, like me, remember our first bicycle? hether a Sears model or a Schwinn – or some ther model, that first bike was our most mportant possession. We rode our bikes verywhere – to school, to visit our friends or ust rode! As a young girl, my first bike was a ears and I still have pictures of it. My Dad put t together and to me it was the most sleek ehicle I had ever seen. I saved and saved to get pink and white basket for the front and, emember those streamers? A fellow class mate had Schwinn and turned up his nose at my “inferior odel” as he called it. Well, a little nudge by y bike into his and his beautiful Schwinn ended p in what we called “Stink Creek.” I pedaled yself on to school feeling rather smug. Now here’s a little history lesson about bikes – ow developed into sleek and fast ones which race with the best. The first bike, if one could call it that, was ade about 1790 by Comte Mede de Sivrac of rance. He called it a celerifere. It looked more ike a scooter and didn’t have pedals or any way to steer it. By 1816,a German Baron Karl von Drais de auerbrun improved on this by adding sort of a teering mechanism on the front wheel. He named t a Draisienne but people who saw it called it a obby horse. The rider had to sit on a seat etween the two wheels and propel this machine ith their feet. It was fun if you didn’t go over a bumpy road or climb a hill. The pedal bicycle is credited to Kirkpatrick acMillan. He was a Scotsman. In 1839 he was out ust watching people attempting to bike and a hought hit him. The only way these contraptions orked – it was still by kicking the ground with heir feet. That’s not much fun! He came up with he concept of pedals and by golly, it worked! h, the wheels were wooden and trimmed in iron. ith all the parts added, that bike weighed a ere 57 pounds; a little hard for the ladies. owever, he sold some but didn’t make much money. In 1866 the Boneshaker arrived on the scene. It as invented by Michaux and Lallement and was so alled because of its rough ride. But most people hink this was the beginning of the modern bike. ierre and Ernest Michaux were father and son and an a company in Paris. Their invention, around 867, was named a two-wheeled velocipede. It was ropelled similar to a tricycle – it had pedals nd cranks hooked to the front wheel. Pierre allement (an employee) came to America and filed patent for a bicycle in 1866. He also claimed his bicycle was his invention and not MIchaux’s. Bicycles began being made of metal in the 1870s. he design changed as pedals were now attached to he front wheel and had solid rubber tires with ong spikes. It was decided that the bigger the heels, the faster the bike would go. The main roblem is that the rider sat too high … and hough it advertised to have brakes, they really idn’t work. Many a young man and woman were ossed ungracefully from them if they hit a rut. hey would normally, of course, land on their ead and this is where our expression of “breakneck speed” began. The safety bike came next. John Kemp Starley ent back to a design that had the rider lower to he ground and had chains and a sprocket which ade it rear wheel driven. He used inflatable tires. This was a turning point for bicycle enthusiasts. ikes were now safer, lighter weight and cheaper. ore people could justify buying a bicycle – and ore adults rode than children. Many models exist today – mountain bikes, 0-speed bikes (and likely more) but in closing, ne of the fun bicycles I haven’t discussed was he “bicycle built for two”. This is the tandem ike where one rider sits behind the other. (And pecialty tandem bikes can have many more iders). A sociable bike is one where the riders are side by side. If you would like to see pictures of these bicycles, go to: ttp://bicycling.about.com/od/thebikelife/ss/History.htm I am thankful to this site for much of the nformation. I still liked my little pink and white Sear’s girl’s bike! © Copyright 29 August 2011, Sandra K. Gorin ------------------------------ o unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] ith the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of he message