Bikeology blog
Global Women’s Cycle Day
May 11th will be Global Women’s Cycle Day, with women in 30 countries riding in solidarity. The ride honours the past, celebrates the present and “the riders who keep it rolling, bringing women’s racing to the forefront, pushing the limits, breaking down barriers and sharing the love of the bike with everyone along the way” […]
Bike flying
Revolutionary new flying bicycle ‘Paravelo’, powered by a 249cc paramotor and with flexible wings, can reach 4,000 feet and speeds of up to 25 mph. Its British inventors report that one tank of biofuel powers 3 hours of flight.
Women’s cycle race – La Course by le Tour de France
A new women’s cycling race will conclude at the Champs-Élysées on 27 July, the final day of the 2014 Tour de France. The first-ever ‘La Course by le Tour de France’ is part of the International Cycling Union’s elite women’s calendar.
The over 100 category
On January 31st 2014 Robert Marchand, a 102-year-old Frenchman, broke his own kilometre-per-hour record in the over-100 category. He clocked up 26.927 km, improving on his previous record by 2.5 km
First Tour de France
The first Tour de France took place in 1903. Out of the 60 cyclists who set off, only 21 finished. The winner was Maurice Garin, nicknamed ‘the Little Chimney Sweep’, riding a steel La Française.
World’s longest tandem
The world’s longest tandem was built in 2010 by a group of Dutch engineering students from Delft Technical University, headed by Teije Meier and Jan Bart Brink, beating the previous record set by an 85-foot bike in Italy in 1998. The Dutch bike had to be lifted by crane into the start position, then the […]
Mr Starley invents the bicycle
The first modern bicycle was the landmark 1885 Rover, designed by John Kemp Starley.
Penny-farthings
High wheelers – also known as penny-farthings – featuring one large and one tiny wheel, were the standard bike from the 1860s to the 1880s. Though invented to minimise the bumps of the rutted roads, they were difficult to ride and very dangerous. Nevertheless, a young American, Thomas Stevens, after buying a black-enamelled Columbia 50-inch […]
Hobby horse
The Church of St. Giles, Stoke Poges, boasts a famous ‘bicycle window’. Dating from 1643, the stained glass shows a naked cherub astride a hobbyhorse – a prototype balance bike invented in the 19th century. The window is considered to be a later hoax.
