History of Bikes in War

[June Bug]

Just stumbled on this fascinating 6-part series on bicycles used in military applications.   The Swiss did not disband their elite bike corps until 2003.

This is on the CampFire.com web site -- they are a bricks and mortar shop in Tucson that is focused on  bikepacking. 

I'll link the first article - there are links to the other articles at the top of each page. 

A Brief, Illustrated History of the Bicycle at War, Part 1: Boers on Bikes 

These are the subsequent topics

Part 2 The Great War

Part 3 The Bikes of WWII

Part 4 How the Bicycle Won the Vietnam War

Part 5 The Swiss Army Bicycle

Part 6 Bikes in the Cold War and Beyond

 

[June Bug]

This is a relatively close fit for the thread topic:  

(Video) Following the Black Soldiers who Biked Across America

In an excellent video feature from VICE News, journalist Dexter Thomas joins bikepacker Erick Cedeño as he retraces the Buffalo Soldiers’ historic journey from Fort Missoula to St. Louis on the expedition’s 125th anniversary. 

[TAF]

We have a friend in Houston - in fact, we helped sponsor his daughter on the annual Austin to Alaska UT ride - who is Swiss, and did his mandatory national service in the 1970s as a part of the two-wheeled division ... whatever it is called. He recently found one of those Swiss Army singlespeeds in great shape, and brought it over to the US. Here's a recent pic.

[WhoAmI]

I'm reading a booked called Two Wheels Good: The History and Mystery of the Bicycle, which includes a little info about bikes in wars and mentions Vietnam.