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How did John Boyd Dunlop's pneumatic tire make bicycles more practical?

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An African American family of four, all wearing helmets, rides bicycles together on a tree-lined country trail, with two children in front and two adults following behind. — bicycle Family bicycling on a country road.

John Boyd Dunlop’s pneumatic tire, introduced in 1888, significantly improved the practicality of the bicycle by replacing the harsh ride of solid rubber tires with a more comfortable experience.12

By utilizing compressed air to absorb shocks, these tires provided a smoother ride and greatly reduced rolling resistance. This innovation, combined with the tension-spoked wheel, was instrumental in establishing the bicycle as a serious, efficient alternative to the horse. The adoption of pneumatic tires was rapid; by 1893, they were standard on virtually all new bicycles, which immensely increased the vehicle's popularity and contributed to the mass production of practical, lightweight bicycles in the 1890s.12