Wobblers on their way
THE arrival in Geelong of eight members of the Melbourne Bicycle Club in March 1880 was the cause of much interest in the new pastime.
The Advertiser reported that the cyclists had bought their bicycles with them and had ridden them from Geelong Railway Station to the Victoria Hotel on the corner of Moorabool and Malop streets.
“The presence of so many ‘wary wobblers’ was a novelty, and, naturally enough, much curiosity was evinced in respect to them,’’ the Advertiser wrote.
“The bicyclists, who intend making an excursion into the Western District during the Easter holidays, visited the Exhibition (at the recently opened Geelong Exhibition Building) in the evening.’’
We can only hope that similar interest is shown this com- ing Sunday (December 3) when up to 25 “wary wobblers” on their Penny Farthings will be taking part in races at the second annual Geelong Classic Bicycle Show at Geelong West Oval. The bike races start from 10am, with a swap meet opening beforehand.
Event organiser Robin Evans said he was a vintage bicycle collector himself and had started the event last year at Geelong West Oval.
Mr Evans said there would be vintage bikes of various styles on show on the day.
“Americans had various bikes with make-believe fuel tanks on them and wide tyres, balloon tyres, which were not seen much here … we had mostly English bikes,’’ he said.
“There were other hardtyred bikes apart from Penny Farthings.
“They did eventually have chain driven bikes, such as the hard-tyred safety bike.’’
Local bike historian Rod Charles said the vintage bicycle race meeting had huge potential, and there was now a professional Penny Farthing manufacturer in Melbourne.
“It is fantastic that the races are taking place there (at the Geelong West Oval velodrome) because it is a classic Geelong place to have bike racing,’’ Mr Charles said.
“Some great pictures came out of the races last year. I got three really good pictures from the Addy as a result of that.’’ Contact: peterjohnbegg@gmail.com