In his book “Clare, A district history” author Robert Noye includes three photos of pioneering cyclists – one taken in Clare by Edwin W Marchant featuring Oregon Hooper proudly displaying his penny-farthing. He wears the cycling costume of the time – decorative hat, tight britches to the knees, long socks and elastic sided boots. There are two other photos showing the tricycles more favoured by ladies. It is hard to reconcile these outlandish machines with the sleek, feather-light speed racing bikes that are such a feature of events such as the Tour Down Under. It wasn’t until the mid 1880s that the prototype of today’s modern bicycle appeared - the safety bike.

The safety bike was invented by Englishman John Kemp Starley and introduced many of the features we now associate with modern bikes- similar sized wheels with a seat located between them, rear-wheel chain drive and, later, pneumatic tyres invented by James Dunlop.

Cyclomania had come to Australia and it quickly became THE recreation of its time. Retailers, repairers, clubs and fashions were not far behind. Another photo in Robert Noye’s book features Jaeggi’s Store and bicycle depot, which operated opposite Burton Street corner, with Mr Jaeggi later gaining a high profile in biking circles for his support for bike riding.

As early as 1885, crack bike riders were touring the Mid North to give displays of trick riding such as riding three bikes at one time, mounting and dismounting and riding no hands! The Mid North also became a popular destination for members of cycling clubs, such as the Adelaide Cycling Club, to visit. Within a few years, local accommodation houses were advertising themselves as splendid places for cyclists to stay.

Doctors were quick to give their opinion of the cycling craze, with most agreeing it was an enervating and healthy exercise, in spite of the high rate of accidents. However, it was the speed with which women took to cycling that had doctors – and large sections of the community – wringing their hands in fear of the loss of femininity for the young maidens of the day.

Women were warned that “cycling tends to render women awkward in their walk – they gradually come to move in a plunging sort of motion, the reverse of being graceful.” In 1896, Dr Fenton used an article in the Melbourne Punch to point out that “Ninety per cent of the diseases of women are functional ailments, begotten of ennui and lack of opportunity of some means of working off their superfluous muscular, nervous and organic energy. Cycling is an extraordinary and sovereign boon in this way for the sex.”

According to Rosemary Johnson writing in Australian Heritage, it was not just the fact that bicycles allowed women more freedom to travel around, but the attire they adopted caused reverberations throughout the conservative society. “At first, women wore their traditional long skirts, risking accidents when these became caught in the chains or spokes of the wheels. The then popular leg o’ mutton sleeves, caused their own problems, catching the breeze and making the cyclists look like “butterflies” Rational dress was quickly introduced, comprising split skirts, knickerbocks with long socks or “bloomer dresses” combining shorter skirts over baggy trousers. For country cyclists far removed from the round-about of fashion, many women simply cycled out of the town in their normal skirts which were then removed and replaced with bloomers, allowing the cyclist to proceed merrily on her way, with her skirt strapped to the handlebars.”

With cycling becoming so much a part of accepted society, the scene was set for the next exciting stage of the cycling story.