The velocipede was a series of human-powered vehicles created in the Victorian age. There were designs with two, three and four wheels. Some two-wheeled designs had pedals mounted on the front wheel, while three- and four-wheeled designs used treadles and levers to drive the rear wheels. Later two-wheel versions had increasingly large front wheels, directly driven by bicycle pedals, and a smaller back wheel—these leading to the penny-farthing. This invention was made by Walter Hunt.

The two-wheeled velocipede sometimes called the boneshaker was invented in the early 1860s in France. The Michaux company was the first to mass-produce the velocipede, from 1867 to 1870. It cost $100 in 1870, making it unaffordable to the working classes.

The dandy horse was a similar vehicle, but without pedals and also sometimes called a velocipede.

Patents

• -- Velocipede (reissued as RE7972)

See also

• Balance bicycle
• Bicycle
• Karl Drais
• Draisine
• Dandy horse
• Quadricycle
• Tricycle

External links

• The Velocipede Museum, Old New Castle, Delaware USA
• 19th century picture of a Velocipede supposedly outrunning a horse
• Musée McCord Museum Gallery "A Race on the Ice - Bicycles v. Skates"