The earliest form of bicycle, the dandy horse, is driven by Karl von Drais.

A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A bicycle rider is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.

The dandy horse, an English nickname for what was first called a Laufmaschine, then a vélocipède or draisienne, and then a pedestrian curricle or hobby-horse, or swiftwalker, is a human-powered vehicle that, being the first means of transport to make use of the two-wheeler principle, is regarded as the first bicycle. The dandy horse is a foot-propelled vehicle, powered by the rider's feet on the ground instead of the pedals of later bicycles. It was invented by Karl Drais in 1817, and then patented by him in France in February 1818 using the term vélocipède. It is also known as a Draisine, and as a draisienne (French: [drɛzjɛn] in French and English. In English, it is also sometimes still known as a velocipede, but that term now also has a broader meaning.

Karl Freiherr von Drais was a noble German forest official and significant inventor in the Biedermeier period. He is regarded as "the father" and as the inventor of the bicycle.