Bikes, bicycles, pushbikes

It's as easy as riding a bike. These photographs from the collection of the State Library of New South Wales celebrate the timeless joy of the bicycle.

Man on a penny-farthing bicycle being chased by his sister (Maggie & Bob Spiers) - West Wyalong, NSW, C. 1900

Billie Samuels leaving to ride to Melbourne on a Malvern Star bicycle, 4 July 1934, by Sam Hood

Close-up of Billie Samuels on the Malvern Star bike showing her koala bear mascot before leaving for Melbourne, 4 July 1934, by Sam Hood

Billie Samuels on a Malvern Star cycle leaving for Melbourne from Martin Place, 4 July 1934, by Sam Hood

Waratah Rovers Bicycle Club (WRBC) on tour. Sydney - Campbelltown - Appin - Bulli - South Coast. Photo taken at Picton - Picton, NSW, October 1900

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Old Rally Cars (more)

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Vintage Rally Cars

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Speed Girls: the Bugatti Queen

Hellé Nice was born as Helene Delangle near Chartres as daughter of a postmaster, moved to Paris as teenager, posed for naughty photographs sold to tourists, and soon became one of the most popular and best known dancing acts in Paris in the mid 1920s.

She started racing through contacts with members of the French motorsport world, like Baron Philippe de Rothschild, and Le Mans winner Henri de Courcelles. Hellé Nice successfully competed in Grand Prix and set multiple speed records in the 1930s in Bugatti’s and Alfa Romeo’s.

Hellé Nice in an undated photograph (Jean-Pierre Poiter, Chelles, France/Random House)

Hellé Nice after her victory in the 1929 Grand Prix Féminin which secured her a sleek Bugatti and the nickname ''The Speed Queen.''

Hellé Nice in Rio de Janeiro leading the field in her Alfa Romeo with No. 2.

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Indian America's first motorcycle - The early years of cool innovation

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Jungle Jim Liberman & Jungle Pam Hardy

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Harley Davidson Hog Boys

Beginning in 1920, a team of farm boys, including Ray Weishaar, who became known as the "hog boys," consistently won races. The group had a live hog as their mascot. Following a win, they would put the hog on their Harley and take a victory lap. In 1983, the Motor Company formed a club for owners of its product taking advantage of the long-standing nickname by turning "hog" into the acronym HOG., for Harley Owners Group. Harley-Davidson attempted to trademark "hog", but lost a case against an independent Harley-Davidson specialist, The Hog Farm of West Seneca, NY, in 1999 when the appellate panel ruled that "hog" had become a generic term for large motorcycles and was therefore unprotectable as a trademark.

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Racing with Harley Davidson

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Memorial Day Motorcycle Races

Every Memorial Day, thousands of motorcyclists came to Cedarburg for the annual dirt track races at Firemen's Park. Due to problem with some of the "bikers' the races were discontinued in 1966. The Fire Department then started the Maxwell Street events that are now held four times each year.

Bert Denley, possibly at the Isle of Man, in 1925

124 MPH

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