the.com/draisine
the bicycle's grandfather, a pedal-less wooden ego trip you scooted along like a toddler
means A draisine is an early two-wheeled vehicle propelled by pushing your feet against the ground, or — in railway use — a small auxiliary handcar or motorized rail vehicle used for inspection and maintenance.
from Named after its inventor, the German Baron Karl von Drais, who unveiled his pedal-less running machine in the early 19th century; Germans called it the Draisine and the French borrowed it as draisienne. The same name later drifted onto small rail trolleys, the word having long since outlived the wooden contraption that earned it.
- invented
- By Karl von Drais in 1817
- no pedals
- You pushed with your feet, Flintstones-style
- origin spark
- Volcano killed horses, forcing alternate transport
- top speed
- Outran a galloping horse downhill
- nickname
- Called the dandy horse or hobby horse
for instance
draisine du puy-en-velay — french railway heritage line in haute-loire using pedal-powered rail bikes on old tracks