The bicycle appeared on the scene at about the same time. It was a contemporary of the steam road vehicle but it only really established itself as a serious means of transport some thirty years afterwards.
It spread rapidly with the invention of the safety bicycle with chain and brakes (the former getting rid of that enormous driving wheel which, rightly, put off a lot of people), and soon the pneumatic tyre. By the late 1880's, already looking much as it does today (well, almost),
it was the principal means of private transport as well as a powerful force for
gender equality. Since it was, unlike the horse-drawn vehicle, extremely sensitive
to bad roads, they were rapidly upgraded for it according to the principles
of Robert Macadam. With the arrival of the motor vehicle and the choking clouds
of dust in generated, both road users and the public
appreciated the routine addition of the binding layer of bitumen we take for granted
today.
