Walking around the small coastal town of Dun Laoghaire, I spotted what looked like a vintage delivery bicycle propped up against a wall. "How nice that these are still around," I thought, figuring it was someone's town cruiser. Only when I saw the same bike rolled along by a man in uniform later, did I realise the delivery bicycle was in active current use. Apparently at least in some towns, the Irish post ( An Post ) uses bicycles to deliver mail.









This yellow one is made by Monark (a Swedish manufacturer) and it looks like a variation of this model

While I've seen postal bikes in other countries, they have tended to look more generic and official - typically being the same make, model and colour, with the logo of the post office clearly visible on the frame. But the postal bicycles here seem to be all different - different models, different colours, even spanning different decades.There is a backward bend to the seat tube that I initially thought was a deformity from years of heavy use. But the picture of the bicycle I linked to above has the same bend, so it must be an intentional part of the frame design. Any idea why?Notice also that the fold-down stand that does double-duty as front rack stabiliser has wheels attached to it, so that the bike can be rolled when the stand is employed. I assume there is also a praking brake to prevent it from rolling on its own.The front and rear racks on this one are roomy enough to each fit a huge mail bag or box, whereas the older black bike I saw earlier had a front rack only and a smaller one at that. I wonder whether the route he was assigned to tends to get less volume.In a town of Dun Laoghaire's scale, postal bicycles make a lot of sense and I was happy to see more and more of them in the course of the day. Examining the different styles of delivery bikes that have existed over the years is fascinating; there were a great many!