History of cycling in New Zealand

Popular among wealthy young men, these offered adventure and speed ("Colonials like to get along fast", one newspaper wrote),[1] but were also dangerous due to the lack of modern features like efficient brakes.

Additionally the fact that they were useless on the rough and hilly roads of most of the country, ensured that they were seldom used for anything other than sport and recreation.

By the late 1880s, the safety bicycle was being produced: with a lower frame and pneumatic tyres, it was a popular model for women to ride, and consequently brought about a new form of freedom for them.

The bicycle has therefore been credited as significant in bringing women's enfranchisement to New Zealand.

Sales boomed, prices dropped and, for half a century, the bicycle became a transport of the masses, at least in the somewhat more level and developed areas of the country.