Actually, it is the Year of the Bike, since 2017 marks the 200th anniversary of the invention of the bicycle.
Bicycle technology has gone a long way from the original Laufsmachine (German for “running machine” – later dubbed the “dandy horse”, when it became popular among mostly young men with jobs in the city wearing office attire) to the many and varied bikes that we spy at home and afar.
Invented to solve the problem of how to get around quickly without horses (which were dying around Europe thanks to a volcanic eruption in Indonesia that blacked out a whole summer in Europe, killed crops and hence horses), bicycles have stood the test of time and evolved into a bona fide form of transport in many cities around the world where getting around quickly without a car and/or public transport is a real challenge.
In celebration of the anniversary of this wondrous invention, we will be posting various bicycle forms that we admire or that simply catch our eye.
Intrepid cyclist, Sydney, Australia
© Josephine Inge, Jipra