The oldest wheel known to man dates back to around 3500 BC. That particular era is known as the bronze age, which means the first wheel was of course made from – all together now – wood. C’mon guys; who’s going to make a wheel out of bronze?
Anyway, The design has come along a little in the 5515 years since then. When it was first invented, the wheel was used for pottery and making rad vases and ornaments you could show off on Bebo or MySpace, the two social media channels of choice in that time.
The professionals these days are measured madmen; they crash big and then get up and try again…
Nowadays, thanks to a lot of smart designers, a lot of crazy riders and a lot of innovation, the wheel is put to much better use – because it turns out that when you line a couple of the things up and put a whole lot of technology in between, you can have a lot of fun.
As the bicycle has progressed, so have the riders, and the stunts in the modern scene have become completely unfathomable. The professional ranks these days are filled with measured madmen; athletes who train hard, ride harder, crash big, and then get back up and try again until they’ve achieved the impossible.
The eventual reward for fighting through and defying the odds? Being able to claim a world first – a trick or stunt that nobody else has ever completed. Below are just a handful of the greatest examples. We’re betting Mr. Bronze Age didn’t foresee any of these…
