Today's blog comes from Dave Ramsey, Central Staff:

Home is nice, but what if you want to get out and about? As Gino Vannelli sang,”People gotta move”. My favourite vehicle for moving about is the bicycle.

Now that cycle-friendly weather is morphing into ski-friendly, I think back to summer. I was in Vienna and had a day off from playing music, so spent the afternoon in the Technical Museum. The collections there included everything from locomotives to musical instruments and the antique bicycles pictured here.

A recent addition to our collection at Central reminded me of them. Cyclepedia – a century of iconic bicycle design by Michael Embacher shows old bikes that have very modern features, such as suspension, exotic materials and innovative, graceful designs. Some of these features didn’t catch on because the ideas couldn’t be supported by materials available at the time.

It’s amazing to see such innovation appear as early as 1922; however, this book is not just for historical interest. There are examples as recent as 2009.

At first glance, some bikes appear ordinary while others are obviously different from your average ride. There are recumbents, tandems, folding bikes, and one made from magnesium (but the manufacturing process made for a flammable workplace!)

Embacher has gathered a collection of elegant, odd and innovative cycles (not all have two wheels) – including novelty bikes like the one designed to fall from the sky and another that becomes a suitcase. He gives the reader a fascinating documentation of the science and art of bike design.

Dave R.