200-year-old bicycle housed in south-west museum

This 'dandy horse' bicycle has just turned 200, but is virtually unknown to south-west residents.

Housed in Cobden Pioneer Park, this bicycle is one of the earliest means of transport to use two wheels.

Despite its extreme rarity, park volunteer Sue Ralph said she had no idea how much the dandy horse may be worth today.

"I've got no clue, I just like old stuff," she said.

Created by German inventor Karl Drais in 1817, dandy horses are considered the forerunners of all modern bicycles.

Mr Drais called it the 'Laufmaschine' (literally meaning 'running machine') because it lacked pedals and had to be propelled by the rider pushing their feet on the ground.

For how prolific its legacy is, the dandy horse only enjoyed brief popularity in the summer of 1819 before its heavy and cumbersome design fell out of favour with riders.

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Ms Ralph said the bicycle housed in Cobden Pioneer Park may be one of a kind.

"It's the only one I know of," she said.

"I think it's a really important aspect of the park."

While it could only travel at speeds up to 16 km/h, the model's large size and 30 kilogram weight made it hazardous to pedestrians.

Frequent collisions between riders led Lower Manhattan to ban the bicycles from all footpaths and public spaces just three months after they arrived in the United States.

Bicycles as a whole were considered a fad for nearly 50 years until the creation of the 'boneshaker' bicycle in 1867.

The dandy horse that now finds itself at Cobden Pioneer Park is believed to have been built in 1820, during the tail end of the model's popularity.

But when Camperdown man Harold Lamb found it in 1968, all that remained of the dandy horse were its wheels.

These wheels hold special value, as they are thought to have once belonged to the first bicycle ever imported to Geelong.

Using the original plans, Mr Lamb restored the bicycle to its former glory in 1969.

He made history with the bike in 1984 when he entered it in the inaugural Great Victorian Bike Ride from Wodonga to Melbourne.

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