Environment Transportation Stunning Photos of Victorians Riding Bikes By Ilana Strauss Yale University University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Ilana Strauss is a journalist who began writing for the Treehugger family in 2015. Her work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Cut, New York Magazine, and other publications. our editorial process Ilana Strauss Updated January 09, 2019 ©. Douglas Miller/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images Share Twitter Pinterest Email Transportation Active Automotive Aviation Public Transportation People were trying out all kinds of crazy bike designs back then.When you imagine Victorian times, you might think of super complicated dresses and haunted houses, not bicycles. But bikes were invented in the mid-19th century and became massively popular. And guess what else was invented around that time? The camera. I stumbled across these photos the other day, and I just had to share. Those folks in the photo above were "a group of elderly cycling enthusiasts on their Victorian-style penny farthings, training for the 'ordinary' race at Herne Hill track," says Getty, keeper of photos. And there's more where that came from. © Otto Herschan/Getty Images"circa 1870: Captain W Horton Hutchins of Cardiff Bicycle Club with his penny farthing bicycle, a popular vehicle during the Victorian era." © Otto Herschan Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images"Mr. A. W. Burton astride his penny-farthing bicycle, a popular vehicle during the Victorian era." © London Stereoscopic Company/Getty Images"1898: Victorian women's fashion was revolutionalised with the arrival of the safety cycle in 1884. Miss A Hughes in 'A Professor's Love Story'." © London Stereoscopic Company/Getty Images"20th April 1891: Victorian trick cyclists performing a balancing act. 'Auckland'."