100 Years of Tour De France Bikes Map the Evolution of Cycling
There are few professional sports as closely bound to technology as cycling. A bike isn’t just equipment, as skiis or a tennis racket might be—it’s a partner in a symbiotic relationship between the machine and athlete. And it’s remarkable to see how drastically certain parts of that machine have changed in the last century, while others have stayed largely the same.
This year marks the 100th riding of the Tour de France, and now is a great time to take a look back at the evolution of the road bike. We ran across a great collection of bikes used on the Tour this week, courtesy of Emile Arbes at Le Blog de Velos Vintage, and added extras from around the internet, below. The collection begins at the very beginning, when road-ready meant extra mustache wax, and extends to the modern day, when bikes are so light riders often have to weight them to stay legal.
Keep in mind, we haven’t spent much time focusing on contemporary technology—that’s another post for another time. For more coverage of this year’s tour, check out Velo City on Kinja.
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