It started out life carrying cuts of meat to customers and now, after an overhaul and a sparkling new paint job, Dobbin the bike has a new life delivering books.
Tim Blackmore of Page & Blackmore said Dobbin, named after the slang for a horse or workhorse, was a former butcher's bike that would be used to deliver books in style to customers who lived in flat areas around Nelson, such as the central city, the Wood and the port areas.
Mr Blackmore said he bought Dobbin, which he guessed was from the 1950s, from a bike shop in Rotorua through Trade Me.
He got the idea for the bike after hearing about the Harvard Bookshop's pledge to deliver books to customers on the day they ordered them.
If orders were placed with Page & Blackmore by midday they could be delivered to places nearby by bike on the same day, he said.
Previously, customers who ordered books had to have them posted, which ironically took longer than in the old days where delivery boys went door to door on the same day.
"In a way we've gone backwards."
Mr Blackmore said he liked the eco-friendly nature of the delivery service and the idea of using the mix of new technology – the internet – with the older technology of Dobbin.
While Dobbin was reasonably new they had received good feedback about it, and had a lot of comments on the store's Facebook page.
Elma Turner Library had also asked for their books to be delivered via Dobbin.
Mr Blackmore said all the staff in the shop were keen cyclists, he regularly rode his recumbent bike in from Richmond and sometimes rode all the way from his home in Hoddy Rd.
They had other more hill-friendly bikes to extend the service should it be popular.
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