Regarding Dan Mazzeo's comment about "...research bike inventions from about 1880 to 1900 ... incredible stuff in early "Scientific American" magazines kept on 'fiche in the library. ..."
It's gotten easier in recent years; you can search and display bicycle-related patents....
US patents from 1790 on
http://www.uspto.gov/
European patents from 1800s on, depending on the country
http://ep.espacenet.com/
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Peter Brueggeman
La Jolla California USA
pbrueggeman(AT)ucsd.edu