Where could you buy bicycles in Kharkiv in the early 20th century? Of course, in the Pokrovsky Monastery—where else?

Some businessmen sold Peugeot, Dux, Gloria, Triumph, and Humber bicycles there. They also sold accessories and repaired the bikes on site—there was a repair shop in the store. Unfortunately, there are no English Rover bicycles in sight, even though it was precisely this brand that gave its name to all bicycles in general throughout Galicia (“rover”), flooding the local market at that time.

In addition to the Pokrovsky Monastery, bicycles in Kharkiv could also be purchased at another unusual location—the Imperial University building.

Bicycles from the best British and German manufacturers. Various models and designs, along with all the necessary accessories

“Of course, ‘the prices were, as usual, reasonable, and the selection was vast.'” But all that was way back in 1893…”

The third bicycle shop in Kharkiv was located at Sumska Street, 1, and, judging by the photo, it sold not only bicycles but also motorcycles.

An advertisement in the 1906 Kharkiv calendar appears to depict a German Brennabor Motorrad Typ 3HP motorcycle (we found an image of a very similar motorcycle of the same model from this brand). The model name indicates that the motorcycle produced 3 hp. Although the advertisement in the Kharkiv calendar classifies this type of vehicle as a bicycle, in reality, motorcycles of the 1900s looked exactly like this. So, at Sumska Street, 1 there was not only a bicycle shop but also the city’s first motorcycle dealership.

Bicycles were even equipped with acetylene lamps as accessories—a highly complex and dangerous piece of technology that was widely used from the 1890s through the late 1910s. To light such a lamp, one had to pour water into a special tank, add carbide—which, when reacting with water, produced acetylene—turn on the acetylene valve, open the lamp to light it with a match, and then close the lamp.

It is worth noting that all three bike and motorcycle shops were located within 400 meters of each other, which speaks to the demand for and popularity of this mode of transportation.

Especially for Alluring Kharkiv: Anton Bondarev and Ivan Ponomarenko