The earliest bike was the 1817 laufmaschine by Karl Drais; pedals and chains arrived later with Pierre Michaux, Pierre Lallement, and J.K. Starley.
People ask this because “first” can mean different things. Do we mean the first two-wheeler you could steer and balance? The first cycle with pedals you drive by foot cranks? Or the first bike that looks and rides like one today? When readers ask “who made the first bike in the world?”, they want a clear, sourced answer. This guide gives that answer in plain terms and shows where historians agree, where they argue, and what evidence carries weight.
Who Made The First Bike In The World? Timeline And Proof
Here’s a fast view of the core milestones. It shows the device, the credited inventor, and the year most sources cite. Later sections give the context behind each entry.
| Milestone | Inventor | Year |
|---|---|---|
| First steerable two-wheeler (laufmaschine / draisine) | Karl Drais (Germany) | 1817 |
| Early pedal claims (disputed, front-wheel cranks) | Kirkpatrick Macmillan (Scotland) | c. 1839 |
| Pedals on the front wheel in Paris “velocipede” boom | Pierre Michaux & Ernest Michaux | 1861–1863 |
| First U.S. patent for a pedal bicycle | Pierre Lallement | 1866 |
| High-wheel “ordinary” spreads | Many makers in UK/USA | 1870s |
| Chain-drive “safety” with two same-size wheels | John Kemp Starley (Rover) | 1885 |
| Pneumatic tire adopted for road comfort | John Boyd Dunlop | 1888 |
What “First” Really Means In Bicycles
Ask ten historians and you’ll hear three common definitions of “first bike.” Each marks a leap in how people ride.
First Balance And Steering: Drais’s Laufmaschine (1817)
Karl Drais built a wooden two-wheeler you straddle, steer with handlebars, and scoot along. No pedals. No chain. Balance and glide. He demonstrated it near Mannheim in June 1817 and showed it in Paris the next year. That balance-and-steering layout sits at the root of every bicycle and motorcycle that followed. Britannica’s bicycle history calls this the earliest rider-propelled two-wheeler with clear evidence.
Why it matters: once balance and steerability arrived, everything else became an upgrade path—pedals, gearing, brakes, tires.
First Pedals: From Paris Workshops To A U.S. Patent (1860s)
Cranks on the front wheel turned the glider into a true pedal cycle. Paris shops—most famously Pierre Michaux’s—sold these in the early 1860s. There’s debate over who first fitted the cranks: Pierre or his son Ernest, or a Lorraine-born mechanic named Pierre Lallement. What we can point to cleanly is Lallement’s 1866 U.S. patent, which describes and diagrams a pedal-driven two-wheeler. That patent shows the concept in black and white, even if the Paris boom had begun already.
First Modern Ride Feel: The Chain-Drive Safety (1885)
High-wheel “ordinaries” arrived in the 1870s, but the leap that made bikes feel familiar came from John Kemp Starley’s Rover Safety in 1885. Two similar-size wheels. Rear chain drive. A stable wheelbase and a frame pattern that points straight to today’s upright city bikes. That package spread fast and reset what “a bicycle” meant on the street. You can see that layout in many museum listings for the 1885 Rover Safety.
Who Made The First Bicycle In The World: Dates, Claims, And Evidence
Now let’s match names to proof. The goal here is simple: credit the right person for the right step, using sources most readers and editors will accept.
Karl Drais And The Laufmaschine
Documents and period accounts place Drais’s first public ride in June 1817. His machine used a wooden frame and inline wheels with steering. Riders pushed with their feet and coasted once rolling. In short, it was a balance bike for adults, and it set the basic layout of a bicycle.
Pierre Michaux, Ernest Michaux, And The Paris Velocipede
By the early 1860s, Paris carriage builders were fitting cranks to the front wheel. Michaux et Cie ramped up production, which sparked a craze in France and the U.S. Period drawings and surviving machines point to that shop and its circle. As with many shop inventions, who welded the very first set of cranks is hard to lock down.
Pierre Lallement And The 1866 Patent
Pierre Lallement emigrated to the United States and filed a patent in 1866 for a two-wheeler with pedals on the front hub. The drawings and claims leave little room for doubt about what he meant to protect. Many historians use that patent as a clean anchor point for “first documented pedal bicycle.”
John Kemp Starley And The Safety Bicycle
Starley’s 1885 Rover brought the rear chain drive and same-size wheels that define modern city bikes. The configuration improved stability, braking, and comfort. Within a few years the high wheel was fading, and the “safety” stood as the default street machine.
Why Historians Split On Credit
Three reasons keep the debate alive.
Workshops, Not Solo Labs
These machines came out of small shops that tweaked each other’s parts. That makes “first” messy, because the leap might be a five-day run of tweaks by three people, not a single eureka.
Patents Vs. Public Demos
Some builders showed machines first; others filed patents first. A patent draws a clean line for credit, but it doesn’t always match the very first working rig.
Proof That Survives
Drawings, dated news, and museum pieces carry weight. Hearsay and late memoirs don’t. That’s why the 1817 laufmaschine and the 1866 pedal patent show up again and again in serious timelines.
Evidence You Can Check
If you want a single general reference on the early bike, Britannica’s bicycle history outlines the Drais origin and the later leaps. For the modern form, the Science Museum’s entry on the 1885 Rover Safety shows how the design locked in.
What Counts As The “First Bike” Depends On Your Test
Pick the test that fits your question, then hand out credit that way.
Test 1: First Two Wheels You Can Steer And Balance
Answer: Karl Drais, 1817. If the core of “bike” is balancing a steerable two-wheeler, the laufmaschine is it. No pedals needed for this definition.
Test 2: First Machine You Propel With Pedals
Answer: early 1860s in Paris for the first wave on the street; Pierre Lallement for the 1866 patent that nails the concept in legal text. Many writers give a split credit here: Michaux for popularizing, Lallement for the patent.
Test 3: First Bicycle That Rides Like Today’s
Answer: John Kemp Starley, 1885 Rover Safety. Same-size wheels, chain to the rear, and geometry that feels familiar even now.
Who Made The First Bike In The World? Key Claims Explained
Here’s a tidy way to divvy up the credit so the story stays fair and useful.
Where The Word “Bicycle” Came From
Writers in French and English used “velocipede” for early pedal rigs. As chain-drive safeties spread, “bicycle” stuck for two-wheelers and “tricycle” for three. The term matched street use and shop signs, and it spread fast across ads. Publishers soon favored the shorter name.
| “First” Bucket | Name(s) | Year |
|---|---|---|
| First steerable two-wheeler with balance | Karl Drais | 1817 |
| First pedal bicycle seen in numbers | Pierre & Ernest Michaux | 1861–1863 |
| First pedal bicycle patent on record | Pierre Lallement | 1866 |
| First chain-drive safety pattern | John Kemp Starley | 1885 |
| First mass road comfort step | J.B. Dunlop (pneumatic tire) | 1888 |
How We Weighed Sources And Resolved Disputes
For a question like “who made the first bike in the world?”, the best path is to lean on items with dates and drawings, then cross-check general references.
Primary Proof Where Possible
The Lallement patent is a direct window into what “pedal bicycle” meant to one early maker. It shows the layout in detail. Museum listings that document the 1885 Rover Safety tie the modern bike shape to a specific maker and year.
General References For Context
Broad reference works help set the stage and confirm where the scholarly consensus sits. They also flag disputed claims like Macmillan’s supposed early pedals, which lack strong period evidence.
Method Limits
We can’t time-travel into the Paris shops of 1861. When documents conflict, this guide points to the clearest surviving records and uses cautious wording for disputed stories.
Common Myths And How To Spot Them
“One Person Invented The Whole Bicycle”
Not so. The bike is a stack of leaps spread across decades. Balance and steering first. Pedals next. Then chain drive and better tires. Give each step its due.
“Macmillan Definitely Built The First Pedal Bike”
Macmillan’s story rolls around a lot, but strong period records are thin. Many timelines now mark it as disputed. The 1860s Paris wave and the 1866 patent are firmer ground.
“The High-Wheel Was The First Real Bike”
The high-wheel made speed wins, but it came after the first pedals and before the safe layout that stuck. Great chapter, not the start.
Practical Takeaways For Readers
If you’re writing a paper or building a display, pick a clear definition of “first,” cite one or two checks for each claim, and be consistent. Keep definitions plain, cited, and consistent. For a clean one-liner: Drais built the first steerable two-wheeler in 1817; Paris shops added pedals in the early 1860s; Lallement filed the first pedal patent in 1866; Starley gave us the modern safety bike in 1885. When friends ask “who made the first bike in the world?”, now you can answer without hedging.
Bottom Line For “Who Made The First Bike In The World?”
Credit depends on what you mean by “first.” If you mean the first steerable two-wheeler, it’s Karl Drais in 1817. If you mean the first pedal bicycle, look to Paris in the early 1860s and to Pierre Lallement’s 1866 patent. If you mean the first bike that feels like today’s ride, that’s John Kemp Starley’s Rover Safety in 1885 now.