26th January 1878
Scottish bike inventor dies
Keir-born blacksmith Kirkpatrick Macmillan is credited with inventing the pedal cycle. Although tricycles were already in use, Macmillan’s wooden contraption removed one wheel, saving space and raw materials.
There is, however, some dispute as to whether Macmillan was indeed the originator of the bicycle or merely an early manufacturer of such devices since there are other claimants to the title. Either way, the man has earned himself a place in cycling history, either as one of its trailblazers, or as someone who did much to further its cause in its earliest days.
Other events that occured in January
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