Freewheeling | Warren Salomon

The Freewheeling Story

In 1977 I was a partner in a printing business in Sydney’s inner west and was also active in velo politics as president of the fledgling Bicycle Institute of NSW. At the beginning of December that year these two involvements came together to produce the first issue of a new Australian cycling magazine called Freewheeling.

To create that issue and the next dozen or so I was helped by a small team of volunteers with professional assistance from friends in the printing industry. We worked long nights to put together Australia's first publication that focused on city cycling, bicycle touring and the activities of government which were just beginning to build significant infrastructure to make cycling safer and more enjoyable.

In 1979 I left the printing business to help start Inner City Cycles, a specialist bicycle retail store in Glebe Point Road. Two days each week my Freewheeling team and I worked in a room above the bike shop pasting up type, processing subscriptions and pounding away at an old electric typewriter.

By 1982 I realised that if Freewheeling was to have a viable future it had to be put on a proper professional footing. I left the bike shop and made the magazine my full time business. This was not an easy task and issues 13 to 27 (printed on newsprint to reduce costs) mark a difficult period of reconstruction and adjustment.

With issue 27 (September 1984) came full colour production and a return to coated paper not used since issue six. The magazine prospered and reflected the growth in the bicycle industry and the Australian cycling scene.

Towards the end of the eighties I sold the magazine to an established publisher who changed the title to Cycling World and continued to publish it bi-monthly until January 1998.

Now that I have digitised the 60 issues of Freewheeling (1977-1989) and copies are easily accessible on the Internet, my hope is that it might have a new life as a useful repository of cycling history and a marker on how far cycling in all its forms has developed in Australia. When issue one rolled off the press, the top-of-the-range bicycle in one of my advertiser's catalogues had steel rims and the most revolting PURPLE coloured paintwork I've ever seen. By issue 60 affordable carbon fibre was still in the future but aluminium frames and index gearing were well established and the Aussie bike scene was being transformed by the rapid growth of mountain biking, triathlon and BMX. Freewheeling reported on all these developments and fostered that spirit of adventure known to all who pedal off, fully loaded, into a hopeful future.

Warren Salomon
Sydney January 2021

Issue 1 - 1977/78 Download file size: 11.5 MB

Issue 2  - Autumn 1978 Download file size: 11 MB

Issue 5 - September 1979Download file size: 10.5 MB

Issue 6 December 1979 Download file size: 11.6 MB

Issue 7 - April 1980 Download file size: 10.4 MB

Issue 8 - August 1980 Download file size: 10.3 MB

Issue 3  - Spring 1978 Download file size: 11.3 MB

Issue 4  - June 1979 Download file size: 12.9 MB

Issue 11 - June 1981 Download file size: 10.2 MB

Issue 10 - March 1981 Download file size: 8.4 MB

Issue 9 - December 1980 Download file size: 11.6 MB

Issue 12 - September 1981Download file size: 9.7 MB

Issue 13 - December 1981Download file size: 12.5 MB

Issue 14 - Apr/May 1982Download file size: 10.9 MB

Issue 15 - Jun/Jul/Aug 1982Download file size: 14.8 MB

Issue 16 -Sep/Oct 1982Download file size: 14.2 MB

Issue 17 - Nov/Dec 1982 Download file size: 17.2 MB

Issue 18 - Jan/Feb/Mar 1983Download file size: 16 MB

Issue 19 - Apr/May 1983Download file size: 22.2 MB

Issue 20 - Jun/Jul 1983 Download file size: 14.6 MB

Issue 21 - Aug/Sep/Oct 1983Download file size: 13 MB

Issue 22 - Nov/Dec 1983Download file size: 10.3 MB

Issue 23 - Jan/Feb 1984 Download file size: 10 MB

Issue 24 - Mar/Apr 1984Download file size: 8.5 MB

Issue 25 - May/Jun 1984Download file size: 12 MB

Issue 26 - July/Aug 1984Download file size: 10.9 MB

Issue 27 - Sep/Oct 1984Download file size: 17.1 MB

Issue 28 - 1984-5Download file size: 14.2 MB

Issue 29 - Mar/Apr 1985Download file size: 21.9 MB

Issue 30 - May/Jun 1985 Download file size 13 MB

Issue 31 - Jul/Aug 1985Download file size 13.5 MB

Issue 32 - Sept/Oct 1985Download file size 11.6 MB

Issue 33 - Dec 1985Download file size 10.3 MB

Issue 34 - January 1986Download file size 14.5 MB

Issue 35 - March 1986Download file size 11.4 MB

Issue 36 - May 1986Download file size 12.5 MB

Issue 37 - July 1986Download file size 13.9 MB

Issue 38 - September 1986Download file size 14.2 MB

Issue 39 - November 1986Download file size 12.7 MB

Issue 40 - January 1987Download file size 12.1 MB

Issue 41 - March 1987Download file size 9.9 MB

Issue 42 - May 1987Download file size 11.4 MB

Issue 43 - July 1987 Download file size 11 MB

Issue 44 - September 1987Download file size 12.1 MB

Issue 45 - October 1987Download file size 18.1 MB

Issue 46 - November 1987Download file size 14.5 MB

Issue 47 - January 1988Download file size 12.5 MB

Issue 48 - March 1988 Download file size 12.0 MB

Issue 49 - May 1988Download file size 11.6 MB

Issue 50 - July 1988Download file size 11 MB

Issue 51 - September 1988Download file size 13 MB

Issue 52 - 1988Download file size 11 MB

Issue 53 - November 1988Download file size 11 MB

Issue 54 - January 1989Download file size 8.6 MB

Issue 55 - March 1989Download file size 11.5 MB

Issue 56 - May 1989Download file size 13 MB

Issue 57 - July 1989Download file size 14.6 MB

Issue 58 - September 1989Download file size 12.4 MB

Issue 59 - Buyer's Guide 1990Download file size 17.4 MB

Issue 60 - November 1989Download file size 14.6 MB

Freewheeling Magazine

The Freewheeling Story