Montreal Cycling History
Montreal Bicycle Club Uniforms and Symbols

    When the Montreal Bicycle Club was founded it's by-laws stated the type of uniforms and the distinctive badges the Club should use.

IV.  That the uniform of the Club be a Dark Blue Knicker-bocker Suit with "Fore & After" Cap of the same color. That all Members wear the uniform when riding with the Club.

V.    That the distinctive badges of the Club be a Silver Beaver,  and the letters M.B.C. to be Embroidered in White Silk on the front of the cap.

     This logo was used in the minute book until the fall of 1885.
   
   However on 29 April, 1886 the minute book records that a new Club badge will be adopted. After that date Montreal Bicycle Club used a  Winged Wheel as its symbol.

   Perhaps this symbol was inspired from the feeling of flight on a High Wheel Bicycle. 

     "All creatures who ever walked have wished that they might fly; and here is a flesh-and-blood man who can really hitch wings to his feet. That is the one touch of nature which makes the whole crowd kin."  Karl Kron, 10,000 Miles on a Bicycle 1887

   
  A Winged Wheel was a part of many Bicycle Organizations logos from that era.  The  MAAA  adopted different variations of the symbol for each of it's different sports which can be viewed online inside the 1894 CWA booklet, "Our City, Our Sports".  The most famous modern version of it, the Detroit Red Wings symbol is a direct descendant of the Montreal Bicycle Club Winged Wheel.

 "Musical Gongs" From CWA The Bicycle March/April 1883

A. J. Darling, Bicycle Club, Montreal, QC, 1885

From CWA The Bicycle Sept 1882

Montreal Bicycle Club Badge worn  in 1878 (11)

MBC Winged Wheel Symbol From A.T. Lane's "Our City Our Sports" 1894

Canadian Wheelman June 15 1885