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

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

 

Man and woman on a Malvern Star abreast tandem bicycle, c. 1930s, by Sam Hood

 

Alfred Lee and penny farthing, Glen Street, North Sydney, undated / photographer unknown

 

School teacher (Miss Marley) at Narraburra School – Narraburra, NSW, no date, by Eden Photo Studios

 

Jenolan Caves, April 1903, photographed by Edward J. Cooke

 

Man on bicycle pillioning boy – Bunaloo, NSW, n.d.

 

Brownie (Muriel Long) with bicycle decorated for street procession – Deniliquin, NSW, n.d.

 

Studio photograph of Annie Dawson Wallace seated on a bicycle – Sydney, NSW, 1899

 

Annie Dawson Wallace with her bicycle. NB- Annie is wearing trousers – Sydney, NSW, 1899

 

Waratah Rovers Bicycle Club (WRBC) 1898 – Sydney, NSW

 

Palace Emporium Bicycle Club. Century riders – Sydney area, NSW, July 1899

 

Scone Bicycle Club Road Race – Scone, NSW, 9 June 1906

 

Joyce Barry advertising for Milk Board, September 1939

 

A. H. Sheppard, Australian Champion, c. 1913

 

Reggie ‘Iron Man’ McNamara (1887-1971) was a champion Australian cyclist

 

Line up of competitors at Goulburn, Goulburn to Sydney, Dunlop Road Race, c. 1930s

 

Hubert Opperman eating an ice cream next to a Peter’s Ice Cream Reo truck,1936, by Sam Hood

 

Oppy (Hubert Opperman) and woman, possibly Edna Sayers, on tandem bicycle, by Sam Hood

 

Four cyclists on speed bicycles on rollers time trials to promote Malvern Star by Sam Hood

 

Cyclists camp during a road race, by Sam Hood

 

Two men in plus-fours on a tandem, by Sam Hood

 

Finish, Goulburn-Sydney Dunlop road race, Joseph St, Lidcombe, by Sam Hood

 

Boys of Hoyts Clovelly Theatre ‘Spider’s Web’ Club ride their bikes while ‘Spiderman’ looks on, by Sam Hood

 

Cycle races, including a six days race, at a Sydney velodrome, Moore Park, by Sam Hood

 

Jim and Nancy Davenport, Albury, NSW, 11 December 1938, by – J E N Davenport

 

Malvern Star Bicycle Competition, Stanmore Theatre (taken for Acme Theatres), 4 May 1946, by Sam Hood

 

Tom Morris, skipping champion (taken for Greater Union Theatres), 28 June 1937, by Sam Hood

 

Mr Waterhouse had the first motorcycle that came to Singleton and he built the front carrier for passenger – Singleton, NSW, n.d.