Laufsmaschine First Ride Up to £6000 —

How does the first bike live up to modern standards?

With two wheels in line, a saddle and handlebar, the hobby horse replica we’ve been racing around Mapledurham on is definitely a bike. It is not, however, a bike as we know them at Cycling Plus.

The iron ‘tyres’ no doubt preserve the life of the super-expensive, hand-built wooden wheels, but they only exacerbate the vibrations from the road – there were moments early on when our eyes felt as though they were literally shaking in their sockets. Moving to the edge of the grass made a difference, but an endurance machine this is not, which makes that LondonWindsor-London Christmas ride all the more remarkable.

Handling is not ideal either, and turning was something we never quite got the hang of. It corners like it’s on rails only in the sense that the wheels are clad in iron! Dandy Charger Dave described the steering as “upright”, we’d go for difficult.

The machine actually balances very well, however, once up to speed, and speeding along with both feet off the ground is entirely doable – for us that meant we didn’t need to have one foot constantly in touch with the ground, for Dave it meant sitting pretty for stretches of time with his feet up.

Despite feeling every bump, the position on the bike was mostly quite comfortable, and not too stretched out. Although we found the saddle a bit high the seat is adjustable. Besides, anyone looking to buy such a machine, either in 1817 or today, would obviously have it built to order so bike fit could be taken out of the equation. Buy if: You have a sense of history, a sense of fun, and pretty deep pockets.