Bicycles on Stamps

Along with stamp collecting, two other passions of my youth were chess and bicycle racing. I collected stamps of both of those activities. The largest department store here was May D & F. Like most stores of that type and size, they had a nice stamp and coin area. I miss those! The proprietor was a fine Dutch gentleman by the name of Jan. He put aside any new issues of chess or bicycle racing aside for me. When the price had reached a certain level he would call me and I’d hop downtown and purchase them.

Bicycle racing was not very popular in the U.S. in the early 1960s. My mother acted as the publicity director for the Colorado Cycling Association and it was pulling teeth to even get the results of races posted, much less a story! Today, with the high interest in bicycle racing there are quite a few stamps and collectables from major races such as the Tour de France and the Giro d' Italia.

My first ‘pro’ racing bike, a Mondia, cost $250.00 in 1964; purchased for me by my Aunt Leona. Today a top-end racing bicycle is well over $10,000. They are much lighter now, also. Mine weighed 22 lbs which was ‘feather light’ for the day while today’s are under 15 lbs.

Here are two bicycle stamps, one racing, and one not to get the thread started.


Commemorating the World Championship in Warsaw.

 

Molokai,
When I think about bicycles on stamps I alway remember the old-time bicycle from the transportation coils of the U.S. which is incidentally my favorite modern stamp set. Of course the Olympics stamp featuring a bicyclist is another.

 

The bicycle has definitely evolved over the years!

 

A 2013 souvenir sheet from France commemorating 100 years of the Tour de France

 

Oh, I like that one a lot! May have to purchase a copy.



Jacques Anquetil, a childhood hero. No one ever looked better on a bike!

 

A mini sheet from France,issued in 2011 showing six different types of early bicycles

 

Including the original bone shaker.

 

Very pretty stamps and colourful. Thank you for sharing.

 

Here are two legends of cycling - Eddy Merckx 'The Cannibal' and Fausto Coppi. If there is ever any consensus on such things as 'the best' and such, I suspect Merckx would top many lists. I have a book on Coppi with many photographs. Amazing that he was such a great rider - I've seen birds with bigger legs.

Drugs have been around the sport for a long time and there has been drug testing since the 1960s. But generally, I think they were accepted as part of the sport. Jacques Anquetil said something to the effect of "They expect us to do this on water alone?!" Gino Bartali, a contemporary of Coppi's said he always got the hotel room close to Coppi when they raced. As Coppi left the room, Bartali would sneak in and go through the trash can. He said he could tell the type of race Coppi was planning to run on the type of drugs he was doing.


Eddy Merckx


Fausto Coppi

 

A cinderella stamp from France issued during World War One.
The bicycle was used extensively ,,,,There were special Cycle Divisions,using the bicycle for scouting and delivering messages.

 

Thanks, Anglobob> - I purchased both those sheets.

My first 'real' bike was a 1961 Schwinn Corvette. Had many fun adventures with it.

 

I was never really interested in cycling when I was growing up in England.However,am very familiar with the name Eddy Merckx.
I remember there was a survey a few years ago,asking people to name the most famous Belgian .....he came second after Stella Artois....

 

Another cinderella from France ,showing a street scene from late 19th or early 20th century,with some early bicycles in use.

 

Funny...

 

Here is a Gino Bartali maximum card. We will never know how good Gino really was as a cyclist - although he won the Giro three times and the Tour twice - as his peak years were robbed by WWII.