Why is Pierre Lallement associated with the early pedal-powered velocipede?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

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.

Pierre Lallement is associated with the early velocipede because he is credited with building and demonstrating a machine powered by pedals mounted on the front wheel in Paris in mid-1863. While the exact origin of the front-wheel pedal design remains inconclusive, Lallement’s work is historically significant as he brought parts for an improved version to the United States in 1865.1

In 1866, Lallement was issued a United States patent for his design, which he later sold to entrepreneur Calvin Witty for $2,000 during the bicycle craze of 1868. Although earlier treadle-driven machines existed in Scotland and France during the 1840s, they were not commercially exploited and did not influence the development of the pedal-driven vehicle that Lallement helped popularize.1