The machine with pedals on the front wheel
The word velocipede, from Latin for “fast foot,” was used for many kinds of early wheeled machines. In the 1860s it came to mean a two-wheeled machine with cranks and pedals fixed directly to the front wheel. This design is the ancestor of everything that followed on the front-drive line, including the high-wheeler. It was also the center of a long argument about who came up with the idea.
What the machine was like
A typical pedal velocipede resembled the earlier walking machine but with cranks added to the front axle. The frame was a curved iron or wooden backbone, the wheels were wooden with iron tires, and the seat was a leather pad on a spring. The front wheel was slightly larger than the rear. The rider pushed the pedals, which turned the wheel and carried the rider forward, and steered with the handlebar.
The machine was heavy, and the rigid wheels transmitted every bump of the road to the rider, which earned it the nickname “boneshaker.” Braking was done by a lever pressing a shoe on the rear wheel, or by resisting with the pedals. As the front wheel had to be both steered and driven, the machine was difficult to control, and riding it took practice.
The credit debate
The question of who first fitted pedals to a two-wheeled machine has been argued for more than a century. Two main claims are usually discussed.
The first is associated with Pierre Michaux, a Paris carriage maker, and his son Ernest. The family firm made large numbers of velocipedes in the 1860s and promoted them at exhibitions. Later accounts from the Michaux side said that Ernest had the idea in the early 1860s after repairing a draisine, though the date is given differently in different sources.
The second is associated with Pierre Lallement, a French mechanic. He said he built a pedal machine in France and then moved to the United States, where he was granted a patent in 1866 and demonstrated the machine in Connecticut. He later returned to France, but his business did not thrive.
Historians have weighed these claims and reached different conclusions. Some favor Michaux because of the firm’s production and early documents. Others favor Lallement because of his patent and his testimony. The evidence is limited, many accounts were written years later, and no neutral record fixes the exact date. A careful summary is that both men are connected with the early pedal machine, the Michaux firm popularized it, and the question of priority is unresolved. An earlier pedaled machine by a Scottish blacksmith has also been claimed, but the evidence is weak.
The 1870s: growing wheels
Pedaling directly on the front wheel set a simple rule: one turn of the pedals equals one turn of the wheel. A larger wheel therefore goes farther per turn. Makers soon began to build front wheels of increasing size, and the rear wheel shrank. By the 1870s, front wheels commonly measured around 50 inches or more in diameter, depending on the rider’s leg length.
To make large wheels practical, builders turned to lighter materials. Hollow steel tubes replaced solid iron frames. Light spoked wheels with tensioned wire spokes replaced the heavy wooden ones, and they relied on improved wire drawing. Solid tires of vulcanized rubber replaced iron bands and softened the ride. Ball bearings were introduced to reduce friction in the wheels and pedals. The result was a much lighter and faster machine than the boneshaker. In Coventry, England, makers such as James Starley contributed to these changes, drawing on experience with sewing machines.
The high-wheeler in use
The new machine was called the “ordinary” in Britain and later nicknamed the penny-farthing, after the large British penny and the tiny farthing. It was fast and attracted the attention of sporting young men. Cycling clubs grew, races were held on tracks and roads, and long-distance rides became a point of pride. In the mid-1880s, Thomas Stevens, an English-born rider living in the United States, rode a high-wheeler across the United States and then onward through Europe and Asia, in one of the best-known early long-distance journeys.
The machine also had drawbacks. The rider sat high above the front wheel with the feet on pedals that turned with it. Mounting and dismounting were difficult. A sudden stop or a hole in the road could pitch the rider forward in what became known as a “header.” The machine was expensive, and its appeal was limited to those with the money, strength and nerve to use it.
The end of the line
The high-wheeler remained in use through the 1880s, and it was gradually replaced as chain-driven safety bicycles became practical. By the 1890s it was an old-fashioned machine, and the term penny-farthing was used in a looking-back sense. It survives today in historical clubs and in races for enthusiasts. In terms of design, the front-drive line was a dead end, since the chain-driven rear wheel took over. But the high-wheeler contributed techniques in tubing, wheels and bearings that carried into later bicycles.
Why the debate matters less than the machine
The argument over who first added pedals is interesting, but the larger point is that the pedal velocipede opened the way to the machines that followed. Whoever deserves the first credit, the combination of cranks, light frames and tensioned wheels turned a curiosity into a sport and then into an industry. The long record of dispute is typical for inventions that arose in several workshops at about the same time, and that were promoted afterward by the people who profited.