In 1876, at the Centennial World Fair in Philadelphia, the exhibition of the Penny Farthing Bicycle created a sensation across North America.  These new machines, with a large front wheel although difficult and dangerous to ride, were capable of going one hundred miles in a single day!

     Soon after the Centennial World Fair, bicycle clubs sprang up all across the continent.  Montreal was one of the first cities to have such a club, indeed its three original members were familiar with the Penny Farthing  even before the world’s fair.  A few years after its founding it helped create the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association. This bicycle club rode a world wide wave of popularity known as the Cycling Craze of the 1890’s. This craze culminated just as Montreal was awarded the highly successful 1899 World Cycling Championship.

     However during the 20th century, the bicycle was not triumphant.  In North America the original cycling organizations quickly crashed, as trolleys then later automobiles, dominated the continent’s streets and pushed the bicycle aside.   By the 1960’s this lowly machine was regarded as little more than a child’s toy.  Since then, the bicycle has enjoyed a resurgence, with many new paths being built in Montreal. Today there is a growing interest in sustainable transportation.

      In 2017, during this new wave of interest in cycling, the Montreal Bicycle Club was re-founded. 

      Montreal's cycling community now aspires to become a world class bicycling city.  The city now has a large number of protected bike paths, a popular bike sharing system and an increasing awareness of the role cycling plays within the urban transportation network. The positive environmental impact, and the enhanced social lifestyle it offers is now widely accepted, but further expansion of the bicycle network across the city still gets resistance from some.

       Montrealers however are not generally aware of the long history cycling has in this city, or of the central role played by the Montreal Bicycle Club in its early development. This website describes the early history of cycling in Montreal, from when the first velocipedes appeared in this city to the end of the Great War. (1867-1918)

       The Montreal Bicycle Club, from its founding in 1878 until its gradual demise in the early 20th century, played an important role throughout the period now known as the Bicycle Craze of the 1890’s.
 
       Inspired by the original club, we publish notices of upcoming Fixtures and keep a Minute book.   

    The MBC Blog allows members to post and discuss cycling events, issues or anything that may be of interest to them.  Memories, photos from the re-founded club, Bio's of notable early cyclists whose names we use as sobriquets as well as places or things of interest are in the Poppies section.

   The ​History section is a summary of the early history of cycling in Montreal.  Within the History section, the Scrapbook is a  collection of original documents that relate to Montreal's early cycling history. The pages are arranged by date and contain pictures, photos of original text, or transcribed text from the Records. This section has links to the raw material used to create the site's early cycling history .  
   
    My hope that this website gives people a  sense of what early Montreal cycling was like and the role played by the Montreal Bicycle Club.  It might even spark an interest in reviving an ancient club that started small, worked hard to promote all aspects of cycling, had tremendous success and then was almost forgotten.

Malcolm McRae

Chateau Ramezay
Exhibition on cycling for 20 th anniversary of  the
TOUR DE L'ILE DE MONTREAL

The poster has many references to early Montreal cycling, the building is the old MAAA clubhouse, the man  wearing  a  MBC uniform is from Notman's 1885 club composite photograph of him on a tricycle. The bicycles in front of  clubhouse, High Wheel bicycle racing, and the dress of the woman are all from this early cycling era.

14 July 2019 Beauharnois Fixture

13 Sept 2019 Quebec City Excursion