A NEW GENERATION OF VINTAGE BIK

Although two-wheeled machines had been in use since ancient times, Victorian bicycles changed the world in many ways, ushering the western world's sense of mobility and freedom into the technical era. A mechanical phenomenon, these early bicycles took many years to transform into the standard bikes that we know and love today. Much like their motorcycle counterparts, the Victorian bicycles came in all shapes and sizes, making them a wonderful collectible to display in your home or even possibly ride yourself

vintage Oliva

At first the bicycle, called a Dandy Horse, had no pedals and the rider merely moved his feet to move forward. By 1840, this design had been improved upon, with cranks to the rear axle. This attached the rear wheels to the pedals with driving rods. In the 1860s, this method changed when Frenchmen Pierre Michaux and Pierre Lallement added a mechanical crank drive. This allowed pedals to be located on either side of the large front wheel.

La Boriosa

The Velocipede, also known as the boneshaker for the severe vibrations that radiated from the frame and into someone's body, was a bicycle that had iron tires for those riders interested in durability. These iron tires meant that there was no shock absorption, and the rider would ride down the cobblestone streets would be shaken painfully about. Victorian society had a remedy for that and created indoor riding arenas called riding academies.

retrò Bike - M. Hulot

Just a decade following the boneshaker, one of the first successful Victorian bicycle designs to manifest was the High Wheel Bicycle (also known as the Penny Farthing). The frame was made of tubular steel and the front wheel was huge in comparison to the back wheel, meaning that it was difficult to balance because of the resulting poor weight distribution. On some models of this bicycle, the front wheel was over five feet tall. Because of the lack of even weight distribution, riders generally spent time recovering from the many falls that they took.

AOD New York @aod / 35 min

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AOD New York @aod / 35 min

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AOD New York @aod / 35 min

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