THE STORY OF THE BICYCLES


      (The bicycle of the earlier times)

Karl von Drains of Germany has the credit of bringing out the first bicycle in 1817. This one had a wooden beam, wooden wheels and leather covered tyres but no pedals, chain or brakes. This version was improved in different forms in Europe. Later in 1860s Porte Lallement and two others developed prototypes with pedals attached to the front wheel. It was called then "bicycles." In 1885 John Kemp Starkey perfected a safety bicycle design that featured equal sized wheels and a chain drive.

Edoardo Bianch S.p.A is the oldest cycle manufacturing company in the world. The company was founded in Italy in 1885. Giant Bicycle Ltd a Taiwanese company is the world's largest cycle manufacturer with facilities in Taiwan, Holland and China with sales over 50 countries through 12,000 sales outlets. In 2012, US alone had 143 brands of bicycles.

The top three bycyckes are:
1. 24K Gold Extreme Mountain bike with price tag of $1 million.
2. Trek Madone Butterfly with price of $5,00,000
3. 24K Gold Men's Racing Bike with a price of $3,93,000

Denmark is considered as the cycle friendly country in the world. This small country has 12,000 km of cycle routes alongwith cycling bridges in cities. In most bicycles per capita Netherlands holds the record followed by Norway, Sweden, Germany and Denmark.

About 35,000 bicycles were imported to India in 1910 for the use of the English according to historian David  Arnold. About 16.3 million bicycles are now sold in India every year. Hero Cycles are the top cycle manufacturing company in India. Hero is also one of the top cycle manufacturing companies in the world with exports over 70 countries. Hero, Atlas, Avon, Hercules, La-sovereign, Mach City and Road Master are the top brands in India. Decades ago the popular brands were, Raleigh, BSA, Hercules, Atlas, Philips, Avon, Eastern, Army etc. The prices in India: Cosmic Trium - ₹14,999, Hero Sprint - ₹9,100, BSA Ambush - 6,999, Hero Miss India - ₹5,090, Kross Venom - ₹4,294, Avon Super - ₹3,750, Avon Robin - ₹2,999 etc (The prices may continue to vary for different brands and models. The readers may confirm the prices from the concerned manufacturers)

KV George
kvgeorgein@gmail.com

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