Bicycle, as “the means of transport using human power’’, was constructed at the beginning of the 19th century. It was invented by baron de Dreis. This invention, made in 1817, was constructed of wood and it got its name after his creator – dresina. It consisted of wheels (similar to the cart’s), a seat, a support for the rider’s body and a primitive steering in the shape of a pole. It didn’t have pedals, and the rider moved it by bracing his feet against the ground.
About fifty years later, in France, a mechanic Pier Mischoau invented pedals, and in 1885, the brakes were constructed. In that time the use of the transmitting system started (the first front-wheel drive), ?nd a Scottish veterinarian, John Boyd Dunlop invented pneumatic tyres, in 1858. Thanks to these inventions, bicycle became faster and faster, and more popular as the means of transport.

At the beginning of the 19th century the two-wheel bicycles were very popular, with a small back, and a big front wheel. As the time passed, after many mistakes in relation to the construction, the conclusion was made that the riding was the most comfortable, if both wheels were of the same size. Thus, the classic model of a bicycle was created, and it has remained the same up to the present-day.
Cycling as the sport appeared very early in Vojvodina, almost at the same time with the invention of the device with which the man managed to move faster and easier than walking or running, by using the power of his muscles.

In Vršac, in the far 1870, ?nton S?ibert, the senior, made a bicycle, and sent it to Vienna for the exhibition. In April 1904, Seibert gave the mentioned bicycle to the Town Museum of Vršac, as a gift. That bicycle was exhibited on the porch of the Museum, which can be proved by “The guide through the collection of the antiquities of the Town Museum in Vršac’’, published in 1939.
Ludvig (Ljudevit) Gabor, a merchant of cellar equipment from Vršac, bought a velocipede in Vienna, in 1884. Gabor took part in various sports when he was young, and he was among the first in Vršac, who had a bicycle with tyres. He used this bicycle till the beginning of World War I. There were only four such bicycles in Vršac in that time, and they were used for promenading through the main streets of the town. Gabor was the member of “The Society for Maintaining Health and Natural Healing’’ (“Riklijaneri’’), which was founded in Vršac in 1823. On the hill beneath the Tower even today there is a house of the Riklijaneri, where they gathered in order to have exercises in the nature, in the fresh air.

In April 1953, Gabor gave his velocipede as a gift to the Town Museum in Vršac. Later he moved to Hungary (Budapest), where he died in 1965, when he was ninety-three years old.
The cycling club in Vršac was founded in 1897. In the same year, the first cycling race was held in Vršac. The race was held on 21 September, on the road leading to Vlajkovac (Pančevo road). The meeting of the watchers was near the market-tolls (the building for the market tolls), on the Pančevo road, at 3 o’clock pm. When the race was finished, after the rewards were given, there was a dance in the Hotel “Baroš’’. One of the most affectionate supporters of the cycling club of Vršac was the locksmith Anton Beck.
The most famous bicycle riders of Vršac in the previous century were Nikola Jovanov and Čiki. Nikola Jovanov, more popular as Nika Pura, was and has remained the legend of cycling in Vršac.