Home Cycling history Asia today Photographers Links

The success of the bicycle is no surprise. Nothing else comes close to offering the same personal mobility for so little cost. Cycling uses fifty times less energy than driving a car, half the road space, and one tenth of the parking space.

1860s Bicycles began arriving in Asia during the first global bicyle boom, sparked by the invention of pedal propulsion.

1869 The first rickshaw was invented in 1869 by Rev. E. Jonathan Scobie, to carry his disabled wife around Yokohama.

1870s Beginning of the Japanese bicycle manufacturing industry, with a European designed "boneshaker" modified to fit the Japanese body size.

1892 The first Japanese diamond frame "safety" bicycle was manufactured by Eisuke Miyata, at the Miyata gun factory. All of the tubes being bored out of solid steel in the same process used to make rifle barrels.

1896 Several hundred Chinese cyclists greeted British adventurers Lunn, Low and Fraser at the end of their epic ride from England to Shanghai [1].

1924 S.A.A. Annamalai Chettiar becomes the first Indian bicycle manufacturer (see The Chettiar Heritage), though imported bicycles from Europe were already popular in India by this time.

1930's Bicycle manufacture begins in Tienjin, China.

1936-39 The pedal powered rickshaw was invented, either by Maurice Caupeaud, in Phnom Phen, or Lee Hua, of Vietnam (There is some disagreement over this).

1954 The classic Flying Pigeon rolled out of a factory in Tienjin. Ever since Chinese single speeds have been providing reliable transport for millions of people from Asia to Africa.