Human-Powered Vehicles

An Energy Surplus Human power is everywhere. Throughout history, human-powered vehicles have been used out of necessity, for fun, and for sport. The first tricycle was designed to assign mobility to a paraplegic, and was modified until it became a status symbol 200 years later, in the late 1800s. For the first time in 35 years, more bicycles than cars are being sold in the U.S. People all over the world are turning to human power and spittin' in the eye of high gas prices.

Kid Power
The average family spends over $300 per year, per child, on toys, games, tricycles and pedal vehicles. The first children's riding toy was the wagon -- archeologists found toy wagons in Egyptian tombs. In the mid 1800s, toy wagons were mass produced, and wagon history was made by Radio Flyer in the early 1900s - in these simpler times, parents (and kids) were carting kids around in shiny red steel wagons.

Everyone remembers their first tricycle; kid power supplied the fuel, and energy never ran on empty. Wood and steel pedal cars became available shortly after the automobile went into production. Pedal cars have a rich history and were once a wealthy child's extravagance.

Around 1970, toy designers decided to fix what was never broken, and redesigned tricycles, wagons, and pedal cars; in the 80s, kids riding toys had a theme, borrowed from a TV series, movie, or depicting a fictional character. Today's manufacturers of kid-powered toys are retracing their steps, and steel trikes, wagons, and pedal vehicles are back.

Fast and Furious
Record speeds on skateboards are in excess of 60-mph. Human-powered skateboards rose to fame in the 1950s with the surfing craze. Skateboards were mass-produced in the '60s, and skate parks were born in the '70s. Skateboarding moved underground in the '80s, and began its unending upward swing in the mid '90s.