Episode 2 of 3

First Ride of the Laufmaschine

When: 12 June 1817
Where: Mannheim to Rheinau
Part of: Karl Drais invents the Laufmaschine (dandy horse) in Mannheim

Karl Drais's first reported ride of the Laufmaschine took place on 12 June 1817, from Mannheim to the Schwetzinger Relaishaus.

The ride used Baden's best road. The Schwetzinger Relaishaus was a coaching inn located in Rheinau, today a district of Mannheim. This event marks the practical use of the earliest bicycle form.

Sources

Karl Drais Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-17

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.