Paris to Avignon on 150 year old bikes

lostboysaint

Thought that there may be some interest in a ride that one of my friends is undertaking at the moment.

To quote him - "I am proud to be riding the only Velocipede with original wooden wheels built in 1868, but the downside is that at 40kgs, my machine is the ‘heavy weight’! She cruises well on the flat at 15kmph and downhill has hit 25kmph, but on any climb above 4% she needs to be pushed uphill."

They've been on France 3 TV, they've been the subject of mayoral receptions almost everywhere they've been and they've still got 321km and 2236m of climbing (or pushing) to go!

https://velocipedists.wordpress.com/route/

http://youtu.be/WK9gh2PCO_8

philcubed

Amazing! wouldn't fancy going those speeds on those bikes though, would be a bit scary. I think you'll need to get a new forum started up for this though as I don't think even 'vintage' covers bikes THAT old Should be easy to restore, no rust, just need to pop to B+Q for some more wood to replace parts..

PADDY_MB

I'm just reading a book called GIRONIMO by TIM MOORE where he rode the original route of the awful 1914 Giro on an age correct bike and period clothing! Those guys back then were made of tough stuff & its a good read!!

My earliest bike is a 1934 Royal Enfield and a 1938 Saxon Club bike (3 gear).

Your chums challenge looks great!!!

Paul 8v

40kg? My commuting bike is 21kg fully laden and I thought that was bad!