Where did we come from?
Today, we’re Australia’s biggest bike riding organisation with more than 50,000 members across the country, but we had to start somewhere.
We started in Melbourne in 1975 when a group of passionate, like-minded people met to bring the bike riding community together.
Back then, we were the Bicycle Institute of Victoria and our founders including Keith Dunstan, Ron Shepherd and Alan Parker worked tirelessly to get the organisation off the ground and put bikes on the political agenda.
We grew pretty quickly, recruiting members (we had 3,000 members by 1978) and volunteers to run events like the Great Victorian Bike Ride.
First Great Victorian Bike Ride
A rest stop on the first Great Vic Bike Ride in 1975, including devonshire tea for 50 cents!
Over the years, our name has changed from the Bicycle Institute of Victoria, to Bicycle Victoria, to Bicycle Network Victoria.
In 2011, we changed our name to Bicycle Network, to reflect our vision to build a nation of bike riders.
For more than 40 years now, we’ve been passionately and tirelessly supporting, educating and standing up for people who ride bikes.
We’re now active in every Australian state and territory whether through our events, advocacy or our behaviour change programs – Ride2School or Ride2Work.
Our stories
The people who helped shape us
Our tributes remembering those people who have left their mark on Bicycle Network.