Freedom machines: How Ireland embraced cycling

For 150 years Irish people have used bicycles to live, work, compete, love, fight, to have fun. During this time the bicycle has changed people’s lives and this change has been dramatic, writes Paul Rouse.

The first pedal-driven bicycle — the boneshaker — arrived in Ireland in the 1860s. It was somewhat unwieldy, was hugely uncomfortable, with its solid wheels, and was expensive. Its arrival was of relatively minor significance – through the 1860s, the 1870s and into the 1880s, cycling remained a relatively exclusive, male-dominated, middle-class activity.

All of this changed in the second half of the 1880s. The introduction of the chain- driven safety bicycle and of the pneumatic tyre saw cycling blossom as a phenomenally popular pastime that appealed to men and women of all ages and backgrounds.