The History of the Folding Bike

There have been many who have laid claim to the invention of the folding bike. Humorously, a bike manufacturer's (who shall remain nameless) website audaciously claims to have produced the world's first folding bike in 1973. Wishful thinking by their marketing department I suppose. The reality is that the folding bike has been around quite a bit longer than many people have imagined and most claims of being the "first" are easily disputed.

First things first though, you can't have a folding bike without the invention of the bicycle itself. So a very short history lesson on the bicycle is in order. Here again we have some disputed claims of invention and historians will probably never be able to identify the exact moment of invention. For a while some had claimed that Leonardo Da Vinci invented the bicycle based on a sketch found in his Codex Atlanticus. However, this sketch was later determined to be a forgery though many historical accounts written before this forgery was discovered still credit Da Vinci as the inventor of the bicycle. There were a few "pre-bicycles" invented before the appearance of what one would recognize as a bicycle. The first of these was probably the "Celerifere" developed by a French count named Mede de Sivrac in 1790. It consisted of two wheels connected by a beam and decorated to look like a horse or a lion. There was no steering mechanism or pedals and it was basically a whimsical novelty meant to entertain the idle rich. In 1818, Baron Karl von Drais of Germany showed his "Draisienne" to the world in Paris. The Draisienne (below) had steering but still no pedals.

In 1860, Frenchman Ernest Michaux and his brother Pierre added a crank and pedals to the front wheel of their "Velocipede" (below).

In the years that followed, the English were instrumental in moving bicycle technology forward culminating in the so-called "safety bike" (below right) in 1885 which resembles today's bicycles in form and function. The safety bike was so named because it was safer and easier to use than the large wheeled bikes that proceeded it, most notably the penny-farthing (below left). These large wheeled bicycles were also called "ordinary bicycles".

    

Which brings us to the folding bike, and this is where history gets a bit murky for a couple of reasons. First, there is the issue of what exactly constitutes a "folding" bike. There are a few historical references to so-called folding bikes but the descriptions of them sound more like "disassemble-able" bikes rather than true folders wherein the frame actually collapses in some manner while still staying attached to itself. Secondly, there are competing claims from several inventors in different countries vying to be the first inventor of the folding bike. Most of these claims can't be documented in a convincing manner but that's not to say that they aren't necessarily true. The actual first inventor of the folding bike may never be known with absolute surety.  Oddly, perhaps preceding the folding bicycle, there are a few patents filed that make reference to folding "tricycles" dating from the 1880's from such companies as Bayliss Thomas in England and The Pope Manufacturing Company in the U.S.

Englishman William Grout is often given credit for inventing the first folding bike in 1878 but from most accounts, his bicycle (a penny-farthing design pictured below) had a folding front wheel and a frame that disassembled. It has been more correctly referred to as a "portable" bicycle rather than a true folding bicycle.

One of the first credibly documented inventions of a folding bike is by an American, Michael B. Ryan in his U.S. patent filing dated Dec 26, 1893 and issued on April 17, 1894 as patent number 518,330. A excerpt from the patent reads "The principle object of my present invention is to produce a bicycle, so constructed that it can be easily folded and thus take up less space in length when not in use or when transported or stored." Drawings from the actual patent are below.

Quite a few historical texts claim that the French military invented the first folding bike.  In particular, a French military officer named Captain Gérard is given credit.  In researching this claim, I was able to find the patent application for this particular bike.  The date of the application was January 18, 1896 putting it's invention two years later than Ryan's bike.  Henry Gérard is listed as the co-inventor on the patent along with Charles Morel, a wealthy French industrialist whose company manufactured the bike.  The first image below is a drawing from the patent, the second is a photo of the bike, the third is an illustration dated 1897 from Revue Militaire Suisse depicting Gérard's men conducting military maneuvers with their folding bikes.

Another early folding bike (seen below) that is sometimes incorrectly credited as the first folding bike was the Faun Folding Cycle produced in England in 1896.  While it was not the first folding bike, the bike's novelty was that it featured folding handlebars that integrated a brake mechanism.  This innovation was invented by William Crowe, who was issued a patent on March 18, 1899.

In 1898, Michael B. Ryan was issued another patent, an improvement on his original folding bike design that was significantly simpler than his first design. This bicycle, shown below,  was not all that dissimilar to some contemporary folding bike designs one might see today.

As evidenced by the French military's use of the folding bike, early on the folding bicycle was recognized to have military applications. A New York Times article dated February 7, 1897 reporting on a large bicycle show at the Grand Central Palace included a paragraph (below) on the Dwyer Folding Bicycle Company's military bikes being exhibited. Interestingly, there is also a reference to a ladies' folding bike.

Several countries used folding bikes in their military and there were many manufacturers of them starting in the 1890's such as Dursley-Pedersen (England), Faun (England), Fongers (Holland), Peugeot (France), Bianchi (Italy), Leitner (Russia), among others. The most prominent of the military bicycle manufacturers was notably the English company BSA (Birmingham Small Arms). They produced folding bikes by the thousands for WWI and WWII. Below is an early example of a BSA military folding bike that was used by paratroopers.

In the U.S., Columbia produced a bike around 1942 called the Compax for military use by paratroopers.  This bike, seen below in the first image, was sometimes referred to as a folding bike. However, it didn't actually fold, rather the frame disassembled into two parts, as shown below, second, in what is the civilian version of the bike.

Towards the end of WWII, Raleigh in England also designed a military folding bike but only a prototype was made and it never went into production.

Immediately following WWII, there weren't many folding bikes produced.  Though an interesting post war folding bike was the French Le Petit Bi shown below in an advertisement.  The exact date and length of manufacture is unknown but this bike was probably available around 1946.  The design was based on a non-foldable version patented in 1939.  This bike's significance was that it was one of the first documented folding bike that used small wheels.

The 1950's were a relatively quiet period in folding bike history since during this decade, cycling in general was in decline worldwide due to the popularity of the automobile and to some extent motorcycles.

The 1960's saw the rekindling of an interest in folding bikes.  Much of the impetus of this interest has been credited to the introduction of the Moulton bicycle in 1962.  While not a folding bike, the Moulton (pictured below), with its small wheels, served as an inspiration for many folding bicycle designs that followed.

By the 1970's, interest in folding bikes had really picked up steam with dozens of manufacturers in many countries producing folding bikes.  A very popular folding bike from this decade was the Raleigh Twenty Stowaway pictured below, introduced in 1971 and produced into the 80's.  This bike was notable since it was produced in very large volumes and also because it helped popularize internal hub gearing, specifically the Sturmey-Archer 3-speed hub.

The 1970's saw folding bikes coming from France (Peugeot, Motobecane, Astra), Italy (Bianchi, Graziella, Formicone), Germany, Sweden, etc.  In fact, most Western European countries had a folding bike offering during this decade.  There were also a flood of cheap Eastern European so-called "U-frame" folding bikes like the one shown below during this time, many sold via mail order or at service stations.

The 1980's began with two significant events in folding bike history.  First, Andrew Ritchie began producing his Brompton folding bike in 1981.  Then in 1982, Dr. David Hon began production of the first Dahon folding bike.   Both Bromptons and Dahons are still quite popular brands today.  Dahon has gone on to become the world's largest folding bike manufacturer with an estimated market share of 60%.  The first photo below is Dr. Hon with his first folding bike simply called "Da Bike".  The second photo is the Dahon Limited Edition Mu XXV produced to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the company.

The popularity of folding bikes has been relatively slow in developing over the years but has increased in recent times with the advent of multi-modal transportation especially in Europe, Asia, and the larger cities in the United States.  Today there are over 100 folding bike manufacturers and their number continues to grow.

In conclusion, this historical account of the folding bike has been relatively brief and was not meant to be entirely comprehensive, though more will be added over time.  It was written merely to give the reader some background and show that the folding bike has a long and rich history and hopefully will have a long and interesting future!