The creation of cycle paths, a fight more than a century old

In partnership with RetroNews , the BnF press site

“ The special newspapers announce this morning that the cycle sidewalk on avenue de la Grande Armée is completely finished. From now on, the caravans cyclists which stroll towards the Woods will be able to face this frightening avenue without having to reckon with the bad will of the coachmen and the anger of the market gardeners ", welcomes the newspaper La Presse on April 6, 1897." What is it alas! the same in all of Paris, ”adds the newspaper Le Vélo . Yet it is already a victory for the Touring Club of France, which is campaigning for the creation of spaces for cyclists.

Far from the first velocipede, the famous balance bike, presented in Paris in 1818 by the German Karl Drais, the bicycle has not stopped improving. Additions of pedals, inner tube tires or derailleur, make the machine much more efficient, cheaper than the horse and less polluting. It then seduces a wider audience. The bourgeois first, the

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