Cycling Board Games
It’s January, which for cyclists residing above 45º North means it’s likely to be either raining, cold, foggy, snowing, cold, dark, sleeting, cold, or any combination of these. If you … Continue reading
Cycling Shorts: Richter’s Raketenrad
Sometimes pedal power just isn’t enough, which has led to various attempts at adding extra oomph to the relatively low, if efficient, power output achieved with human muscle and chains … Continue reading
Transferable Technology: From the Bicycle to the Aeroplane and the Car
Before Orville and Wilbur Wright gained fame as the first people to make a controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight they owned and ran a bicycle repair, rental and sales … Continue reading
Cycling Shorts: The Peace Race, 1974
This photograph of the West German cycling team was taken on the Karl Marx Allee, East Berlin’s monumental socialist boulevard, during the 1975 edition of the Peace Race. It captures … Continue reading
A History of Cycling in n+1 Objects: No 5 – The American Star Bicycle, 1881-1893(?)
Today the basic elements of John Kemp Starley’s Rover Safety Bicycle, introduced in 1885, are the standard form for bicycles but in the late Nineteenth Century the ‘safety’ was just one of … Continue reading
Military Cycling: The Volunteer Easter Manoeuvres, 1888
Unlike the successful Easter Manoeuvres of 1887 that had seen the bicycle prove its worth in a military context the cyclists in the 1888 Manoeuvres weren’t blessed with the same … Continue reading
Bacchus on a Bicycle: Cycling Under The Influence
Punch magazine is one of the great satirical publications and its cartoons brilliantly captured details of public and private life in Britain during its long print run. I came across … Continue reading
Cycling Patents of Yesteryear: No. 7 – Evan S. Connell Jr’s Bicycle Attached Toy Machine Gun, 1951
After last week’s post on small arms and cyclists this patent from the 1950’s seems an apt one with which to follow. The invention of one Evan S. Connell Jr … Continue reading
Guns, Wheels, and Steel: Cyclists and Small Arms in the Late 19th Century
A few weeks ago Jean, who writes at Cycle Write Blog wrote an interesting piece on stereotypes of cyclists and how these perceptions ignore the fact that, like car drivers, cyclists … Continue reading
Cycling History 