19th century During the worldwide
bike boom of the 1890s, cycling was seen an exciting new option for transport taken up eagerly by many people. The craze for cycling in the 1890s is portrayed in the poem ''
Mulga Bill's Bicycle'' by Australian poet
Banjo Paterson, and many other ballads from the time. For women at the time, cycling provided the opportunity of more freedom and being able to wear less restrictive clothing, or
rational dress. Cycling clubs and societies were established in the 1880s and 1890s. In 1885, the Victorian Cyclists Union (VCU) was active, and the League of Victorian Wheelmen (LVW) was formed in 1893. Various notables of the era were members, such as
University of Melbourne Professor of Engineering
William Charles Kernot who was vice-president of the LVW for a time.
20th century Cycling provided an enduring activity for ordinary Melburnians until falling automobile prices and growing consumer affluence saw increasing numbers switch over to the car in the 1940s and 1950s. Up until the 1940s the bicycle was an important commuter vehicle for many Melbourne people. Post war affluence saw a decline in cycle commuting, and the bicycle was largely relegated to a children's or teenager's activity or for sporting or recreational use.
1970s , first president of
Bicycle Institute of Victoria, on his bicycle in
Flinders Street, Melbourne in the 1970s It was not until the 1970s that cycle commuting and cycle touring started being widely promoted and used again. Prominent in bicycle advocacy in Melbourne in the 1970s and 1980s was journalist and author
Keith Dunstan. From the 1970s onwards, cycling in Melbourne and the rest of Victoria was stimulated by a number of factors: • The establishment of the Melbourne Bicycle Touring Club (MBTC) in October 1973. The MBTC aims to promote cycle touring and a healthy, active lifestyle. It has a fundamental commitment to public transport, making extensive use of the
country and
suburban train networks to get to and from the rides it runs. • The
Bicycle Institute of Victoria (later known as
Bicycle Victoria, and now gone nationwide and known as
Bicycle Network) started in 1975 with its first president being Keith Dunstan, as a broad appeal membership organisation to campaign for improved facilities and recognition of cyclists. , Bicycle Network had grown to 50,000 members across Australia. • Innovative supported tours by
Friends of the Earth to
Canberra to protest
uranium mining – the FoE Rides Against Uranium – in 1975, 1976, and 1977. • Australia's first bicycle plan instituted in the late 1970s in
Geelong. • Growing general environmental awareness of pollution, negative impact of automobiles, and protest at the construction of inner city freeways.
1980s In the 1980s, the first triple chainring, or
granny gears, bicycles started being sold. Ron Shepherd, an engineer and founding member of the MBTC and
Bicycle Institute of Victoria relentlessly promoted use of triple cranks to promote cycle touring among a wider audience. In 1984,
Bicycle Institute of Victoria organised the first
Great Victorian Bike Ride with 2,100 participants, commonly regarded as the largest single touring bike ride in the world at that time.
1990s In 1990,
Bicycle Victoria organised the launching of its first local government-based bicycle advocacy affiliates, the so-called
Bicycle User Groups (BUGs), in Melbourne. , these BUGs are still going strong, but often no longer closely affiliated with Bicycle Victoria (Bicycle Network). In July 1990,
mandatory helmet laws were first introduced in Victoria, the first state in Australia to do so. Victoria's mandatory helmet laws have been the matter of intense debate, both locally and internationally, over the years (
see below). In 1993, Bicycle Victoria launched the inaugural
Around the Bay in a Day ride around
Port Phillip Bay. This event, which in 2006 attracted more than 14,000 participants, is still held every October. Also in 1993, Melbourne's first dedicated on-street bike lanes were installed on
St Kilda Road, a long tree-lined boulevard leading into the CBD. The St Kilda Rd bike lanes have routinely been the object of severe safety criticism, mainly for forcing cyclists to ride in the
door zone of parked cars. In 1994, Bicycle Victoria inaugurated Australia's first
Ride2Work Day. Ride to Work Day has now spread nationwide. In November 1995, the first
Melbourne Critical Mass was held. This has become a popular regular event with cyclists meeting in front of the
State Library of Victoria at 5.30 pm on the last Friday of every month to ride around the city in safety as one mass. They are accompanied on a regular basis by
Victoria Police's Bicycle Squad. Generally the police do not interfere in the event but act to facilitate its smooth movement to reduce any obstruction and to calm the antagonism of some car drivers.
21st century In 2004, the
Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) introduced a
Bike Assist membership option, to assist cyclists with punctures or basic repairs. In 2008, regulation was introduced banning the carriage of bicycles on suburban trains during
peak periods. However, this was rescinded several months later after an outcry from bicycle users. while another,
oBike, launched in June 2017. In 2014, the
Australian Cyclists Party ran candidates in the
Victorian state election in several electorates of the
Victorian Legislative Council (upper house); though unsuccessful in getting into office, this is believed to be the first election contested by a dedicated party for cycling issues in the world.
Bicycle Network runs annual
Ride2Work and
Ride2School days to stimulate, with some success, cycle commuting. This is assisted by the formation of many workplace Bicycle User Groups (BUGS). The success of
Ride2Work Day has since seen it become a national event. ==Facilities==