Shadows of a Forgotten World

In the Ukrainian diaspora we call a bicycle a "rover"  –  the word which was commonly used in western Ukraine before the war. Now in Ukraine the word "velosyped" is most widely used, but people in western Ukraine, espеcially in villages, still often say "rover."  The first bicycles that were sold in western Ukraine were made by the British company Starley & Sutton (later called Rover Company ): "In the early 1880s, the cycles available were the relatively dangerous  penny-farthings  and high-wheel tricycles. J.K. Starley made history in 1885 by producing the Rover  Safety Bicycle —a rear-wheel-drive,  chain -driven cycle with two similar-sized wheels... Starley's Rover is usually described by historians as the first recognisably modern  bicycle . "The  Polish  word now most commonly used for  bicycle  –  rower  originates from Rover bicycles which had both wheels of the same size (previous model...

I love this picture because of the hand-painted sign and the bike.

I highly recommend the short story Taming the Bicycle. It is Mark Twain's humurous account of learning to ride the high-wheel bicycle, which is also called the ordinary or the penny-farthing. I decided to include it in my blog because it is about a type of bicycle that is now antiquated. It's not something I ever see in the streets, but there are people who ride it for the novelty of it. About Taming the Bicycle: "(Written about 1893; not before published) In the early eighties Mark Twain learned to ride one of the old high-wheel bicycles of that period. He wrote an account of his experience, but did not offer it for publication. The form of bicycle he rode long ago became antiquated, but in the humor of his pleasantry is a quality which does not grow old. A. B. P. I" You can read the story on Gutenberg . "Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live."

Last spring a few of my friends found this fake multilayered ghost sign in Boulder, Colorado. It's on the side of a bike shop. There seem to be three layers of signs, and even the bricks are fake - they are painted on. (Thank you Julie, Eric, and Andrew for the photo!)