Bicycle Facts – Did You Know?

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Ever wondered how bicycles came into being? Read on and amaze your friends with these bike facts!

                          

                                   

There are about a billion bicycles in the world, twice as many as motorcars. Almost 400 million bicycles are in China.

Although Leonardo da Vinci drew some rough sketches of a contraption that looked like a bicycle, the Frenchman De Sivrac built the first bicycle-type vehicle in 1690. It was referred to as a hobbyhorse. However, it did not have pedals. Those were added in 1840 by a Scottish blacksmith, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, who is credited with inventing the real bicycle.

On a penny-farthing bicycle, one pedal gave the wheel one turn. A lot of pedalling was needed to get around! With the advent of gears, bicycles could move as fast as cars.

http://www.didyouknow.cd/bicycles.htm

                                                                            

                                                 

20 million bikes are owned in the UK, which means that 1 in 3 adults has one - although only 6 million people are regular cycle users.

 

Cycling at least 20 miles a week cuts in half your risk of heart disease compared to non-cyclists who take no exercise, according to the British Heart Foundation. The British Medical Association also recommends that you cycle daily.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/106826.stm

 

                                                                        

 

Dutchman Fred Rompelberg is not just the oldest professional cyclist in the world but also holds the Absolute Speed World Record Cycling crown after achieving 166.94 miles per hour in the slipstream of a dragster in Salt Lake City in 1995.

 

The furthest anyone has ever cycled in 24 hours is just under 1,217 miles, achieved by American Michael Secrest in 1990.

 

A German called Markus Riese once cycled 18km miles in one hour – backwards.                                                           

The tallest rideable bicycle is more than 14 feet tall.

The first Penny Farthing was invented in 1871 by British engineer James Starley.

                                           

                                            http://www.gocyclekent.co.uk/fun-facts.asp

 

 

                                                           

Kelly Jordan © 2008