The modern bicycle is the result of many years of engineering and development, an evolution that has taken place gradually, step by step.

First of all there was the hobbyhorse - or dandy horse as it was sometimes known. The original hobbyhorse made its first appearance in France. It consisted of a rough wooden bar supported on two wooden wheels, with a small padded saddle. This awkward machine was propelled by the rider striking the ground with his feet, rather like the action of the runner. But there was no means of steering the earliest hobbyhorse as the front wheel was fixed.

"Hobby Horse" Penny Farthing Safety bicycle

The first of the British hobbyhorses was propelled in exactly the same way as the French machine, but the front wheel could be swiveled by the handlebar. It was also fitted with a stomach rest so the rider could lean forward as he trudged along the road like a muppet. Brakes weren't a feature of either of these 'bicycles'.

Then someone decided to fit pedals, but these were not pedals as we know them today. These were fitted to cranks on the front wheel of the hobbyhorse, but they didn't prove to be of much use - so the lever driven-bike was invented.

With the lever-driven bike the rider sat in the center and pumped the pedals up and down with his feet. The pedals were connected by levers to the back wheel and thus provided the forward momentum. The lever-driven bike was quite an improvement on the first hobbyhorse, but it was still heavy, cumbersome and not very comfortable.

By 1860 more and more interest was being shown in the development of new types of bicycle and one of the best was the Velocipede - or 'Boneshaker'. It was propelled with pedals on the 36-inch front wheel, and was fitted with a back wheel brake, operated by a string tied to the handlebars. The wooden wheels were wrapped with an iron band to protect them, but as you can imagine this meant that grip was almost nonexistent and neither was any cushioning from the bumps.

Despite the failings of the boneshaker, three determined cyclists rode from London to Brighton (about 50 miles) in just one day on these primitive machines. It was a monstrous task when you also consider how poor the roads were back then - they were little more than rough tracks. In the same year a boneshaker won the first ever bicycle race.

Over the next few decades all sorts of new bikes and developments began to appear. One of these was the 3-wheeled Velocipede, built by a London blacksmith. The rider sat on a forward saddle to propel the odd machine with the front pedals, while two passengers were carried on the rear seat - sitting back to back. Only one 3-wheeled Velocipede was built, and it wasn't comfortable.

The Penny Farthing was the next major development. It was named after two British old-money coins, the penny and the farthing, which were considerably different in size - as were the wheels of this striking-looking bicycle. The rider sat high up above the front wheel and pedal-propelled it. This was also the first bike to be fitted with rubber tires - although they were solid rubber.

With the arrival of the Penny Farthing bicycle racing started to become more and more popular. In 1873 an English cyclist set a world record when he rode at 14 and a quarter miles in just one hour. Another cyclist rode and incredible 214 miles in 24 hours. Amazingly both these feats were accomplished on a penny farthing. Using the same rickety machine, even Lance Armstrong would probably struggle to match those numbers.

To climb aboard a penny farthing the rider used a mounting stool, while the bike was held still by someone else. Even with a helping hand, getting a penny farthing up to speed was a tricky business. And it was a long way to fall if when things started to go wrong.

Soon the popularity of the penny farthing started to fade as the first of the chain-driven bicycles started to appear. These soon got the name of 'safety bicycles'. Although nowadays we'd just say they were bicycles as they're the first machines to look more or less like the modern bike.

With the safety bicycle wheels became more uniform in size, handlebars, sprung saddles and more effective brakes were also introduced. Cranks were fitted between the two wheels and connected to the rear wheels by means of a chain. Even mudguards were fitted.

At first these machines were fitted with solid rubber tires, then cushion tires, and then in 1888 the pneumatic tire appeared. Soon speed and distance records were being smashed right and left. In 1890 M. A. Holbein, one of the real pioneers of cycle racing, covered 336 miles in 24 hours on a safety bicycle.

But even the safety cycle was not quite perfect. In a 100 mile race, several of the riders crashed out due to breaking forks and springs. The leading rider's frame actually snapped in the middle of the race. Fortunately for him a nearby blacksmith was able to repair it in 15 minutes, and he managed to climb back up the rankings to finish second.

All sorts of other bikes made their appearance from time to time, including the "Kangaroo", which had smaller wheels and a lengthened frame. Tandems were invented too. On one of these the two cyclists rode side by side. On another they each had a saddle over one wheel - rather like two unicycles attached by a single frame.

Gears were invented, as were sprung forks, wire brakes, lights, alloy frames, and racing bikes with slender tires. Now the bicycle has become an engineering masterpiece vastly different from the old hobby horse.

The most recent development in bicycles is the addition of electric motors to provide some extra power on the hills. Also composite carbon frames and even lighter alloys have helped reduce the weight of the modern bicycles by a significant amount.