The first means of two-wheeled transport was an invention by Germany’s Karl von Drais in 1817. Drais used his Draisine to help himself get around faster. In the pre-pedal era, the protobike was propelled by shuffling the rider's feet against the ground. The Draisine was eventually perfected to make the modern-day bicycle - a term coined in France in the 1860s.

"Let me tell you what I think of bicycling," the 19th-century women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony said. "It has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives a woman a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. The moment she takes her seat, she knows she can't get into harm unless she gets off her bicycle, and away she goes, the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.”

Before the Wright brothers built the first airplane, they operated a small bike repair shop in Dayton, Ohio. Orville and Wilbur Wright’s business provided them with not only an enjoyable living and a solid reputation in the local business community: It was also an outlet for their mechanical interests. They used their workshop to build the Wright Flyer, which reached the (very low) sky in 1903.

Elsewhere in 1903, racers kicked off the first Tour de France, now the world's oldest and most prestigious bicycle race. Though the route changes every year, the tour's format remains the same, with time trials, a mountain course through the Pyrenees or Alps and the exciting conclusion on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

Fred A. Birchmore (1912–2012) was a renowned adventurer from Athens, Georgia. He is famous for crossing much of the globe on his bicycle in 1935. The trip through Europe, Asia and the United States covered over 40,000 miles (65,000 kilometers). Birchmore "only" pedaled about 25,000 of those miles: The landless legs were covered by boat. He wore out seven sets of tires.

Amsterdam is known as the bicycle capital of the world. An estimated 800,000 people, or about 63 percent of the city's population, use their bikes on a daily basis. Bikes account for 32 percent of all trips in the city, compared with 22 percent for cars and 16 percent for public transport. In the city center, 48 percent of trips are made on bike.

According to statistics from the 2016 Confederation of the European Bicycle Industry, 21 million bikes and electric power-assisted cycles are sold annually across the continent. Thirteen million of those are produced within the EU. Europe's bicycle industry generates more than 70,000 jobs directly and indirectly.

In 2015, the global bicycle market was valued at nearly $45.1 billion (40.3 billion euros), and, with an estimated 3.7 percent compound annual growth rate from 2016 to 2024, it is forecast to approach $62.4 billion by the middle of the next decade.