Vintage Postcard Cycling



The phrase "la petite reine" (the little queen) has passed into the French language as a term for a bicycle


The origins are from 1891, when the editor of the first sporting newspaper of France, Pierre Giffard, wrote a history of bicycle development. The expression was made emblematic by the picture on the cover of a young woman wearing a bicycle as a crown!



My first bike looked a lot like this. Don't you just love those streamers! What did your first bike look like?


Enjoy this quirky post? Get future vintage postcard updates sent to you for free! Join by email or RSS.
vintage postcards, old postcards , antique postcards

9 cool cats commented:

soulbrush said...

wow this shows just how young you are...cute bike...my first one was in the fifties...ouch!

Anonymous said...

Seeing those streamers reminded me of a joke we played on a friend at work several years ago. In the morning we attached the same kind of streamers to the handlebars of our friend's Harley Davidson while it sat in the company parking lot -for a little lunch-time surprise. Too funny!

David said...

Marie, his brings back memories of teaching my two daughters to ride bikes and heir constant requests to go for a bike ride once they mastered the art of bike riding.

Lori said...

My first bike looked like crap! It was all rusty and delapitated -- I think it had been handed down through about 4 cousins.

Reckon how many vintage postcards the basket on your bike could hold? :)

Betsy Brock said...

Wow! Your hair has grown a foot overnite! ;)

Pat said...

Do you know the song, "Dans Paris a velo?" by....can't remember? )Sorry--can't put the accents with my keyboard.) Anyway, I like it, and it would be good music for your posting today. I have vivid memories or getting up the courage to hop on my cousin's bike and head down the sidewalk for the first time.

Ming said...

One of my best memories ever was my dad teaching me how to ride a bike! Sadly I never got very good at it :(

Daryl said...

I 'inherited' my older BOY cousin's two wheeler .. lots of band aid'ed knees before I learned to ride it .. and I always had to remember to NOT jump off .. that bar was a painful reminder if I forgot!

:-Daryl

Jane Hards Photography said...

A girls raleigh racer I had for five years. I split my lip going over the handle bars. Such folly of youth. I like the streamers, in fact I would like to wear lilac stramers right now, but I may be locked up on this island.