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A bicycle, often called a bike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A bicycle rider is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bicycles were introduced in the 19th century in Europe and as of 2003, more than 1 billion have been produced worldwide, twice as many as the number of automobiles that have been produced. They are the principal means of transportation in many regions. They also provide a popular form of recreation, and have been adapted for use as children's toys, general fitness, military and police applications, courier services, and bicycle racing. The basic shape and configuration of a typical upright, or safety bicycle, has changed little since the first chain-driven model was developed around 1885. But many details have been improved, especially since the advent of modern materials and computer-aided design. These have allowed for a proliferation of specialized designs for many types of cycling. The bicycle's invention has had an enormous effect on society, both in terms of culture and of advancing modern industrial methods. Several components that eventually played a key role in the development of the automobile were initially invented for use in the bicycle, including ball bearings, pneumatic tires, chain-driven sprockets, and tension-spoked wheels.〔Heitmann JA. The Automobile and American Life. McFarland, 2009, ISBN 0-7864-4013-9, pp. 11 and following〕 ==Etymology== The word ''bicycle'' first appeared in English print in ''The Daily News'' in 1868, to describe "Bysicles and trysicles" on the "Champs Elysées and Bois de Boulogne." The word was first used in 1847 in a French publication to describe an unidentified two-wheeled vehicle, possibly a carriage.〔 The design of the bicycle was an advance on the velocipede, although the words were used with some degree of overlap for a time.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=bicycle (n.) )〕 Other words for bicycle include "bike", "pushbike", "pedal cycle", or "cycle". In Unicode, the code point for "bicycle" is 0x1F6B2. The entity 🚲 in HTML produces 🚲.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Transport and Map Symbols )〕抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「bicycle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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