For over a century people have been riding bicycles. An efficient means of human transportation, the bicycle enables people to use the power of their own bodies to move fast and achieve a feeling of freedom. The bicycle is also one of the most celebrated technological inventions in history. Countless innovative thinkers have been inspired to modify and improve upon this unique, human-powered machine. The bicycle has had a profound influence on American and world culture, affecting transportation, the environment, leisure activity, and sports. But how invented the bicycle, and how did it come to look the way it does today?
It is our hope that teachers will use this video to encourage students to think about the role of invention in their lives and to stimulate students' own inventive creativity.