125 Years of Raleigh Bicycles [VentureThere]

The history of cycling, some might say, begins on Raleigh Street in Nottingham, England --home to a small workshop that once produced three diamond-frame bicycles per week.

What first started as a investment project for a successful lawyer in the winter of 1888, called The Raleigh Cycle Company, quickly turned into a family-owned global-leading bicycle company by the 1920s.

POV: By 1925, the company had manufactured just under one million bicycles. In 1951, Raleigh produced more than one million cycles.

Fast forward one heavy-hitting century later, laden with recessions, depressions, transportations movements, wars and famines, Raleigh has seen the bicycle come and go --and come and go, again-- in popularity as a stylish, modern and practical mode of transport.

For anyone who collects or simply appreciates the bicycle, either in its vintage or cutting-edge molds, be thankful that Raleigh stuck with it through the years. Check out this gallery, which features some iconic frames of the past, as well as the 2012 Raleigh line.

[See the photos at VentureThere]