// The history of the bicycle
 // Discovered and Prepared on 10-28-02
 // Source: http://www.exploratorium.edu/cycling/timeline.html
 // © Exploratorium | The museum of science, art and human perception 
 // Prepared from the web page. 
 // By Deborah Moore
 // CSE 143 JF 
 // Homework 2
 //
 1817
 Baron von Drais invents the Draisine, an improved celerifere than can be steered with handlebars.
 1839
 Kirkpatrick MacMilan of Scotland adds cranks and treadmills to the rear axle of a two wheeled vehicle, but gains only local notoriety.
 1858
 Pedals are added to the front wheel of a two wheeled machine, creating a bone jarring machine called the velocipede or boneshaker.
 1868
Velocipedes are manufactured in the United States and velocipede riding becomes a popular fad.
1869
Solid rubber tires replace iron velocipede tires and the term bicycle is first used.
1872
The Ariel, the first high wheel Ordinary, is manufactured in Britian.
1876
The Ordinary or high wheeler is first displayed in America.
1877
First U.S.made Ordinary manufactured.
1880
League of American Wheelmen is founded and begins lobbying for better roads.
1884
Thomas Stevens pedals across the United States from Oakland, California, to Boston Massachusetts. J. K. Starley invents the safety bicycle.
1889
Pneumatic rubber tires invented.
1894
Fashion designers reintroduce the bloomer costume, freeing women from the restrictive corsets and dress of the time.
1895
Chicago puts its mailmen on bicycles; the price of a good quality horse reaches a new low; four schoolmarms stir up controversy by wearing bloomers to work.
1896
Margaret Valentine Le Long rides from Chicago to San Francisco; coaster brakes are invented; Henry Ford builds his first successful automobile.
1898
Bicyles' popularity in the United States declines.
1899
Mile a Minute Murphy sets a bicycle speed record one mile in 57.75 seconds.
1903
Bicycle mechanics Wilbur and Orville Wright fly 120 feet in the first successful airplane.
1962
New bicycle boom begins.
1972
Bicycles outsell cars in the United States 13 million to 11 million; bicycle thefts account for 17% of all larcenies in the U.S.
1973
Dr. Allan Abbott sets a bicycle speed record, reaching 138.674 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
1975
First International Human Powered Speed Championships held.
1976
2,000 cyclists celebrate the Bicentennial by riding across America.
1981
The Specialized Stumpjumper became the first mass-produced mountain bikes. 
1984
The road race becomes the first women's cycling event at the Olympics.
1985
John Howard of the US sets a new bicycle speed record of 152.284 mph. The first person to go over 150 miles an hour on a bicycle.
1995
Fred Rompelberg of the Netherlands sets a new bicycle speed record of 166.9 mph. At the time, he was 50 years old, and the world's oldest professional cyclist.
1996
Mountain biking introduced as an Olympic sport.