Meet the Lycra lads: London’s cycle couriers in 1987

‘You start to make money when you stop getting lost’: London’s stylish cycle couriers of 1987. Photograph: Tim Evans

A brightly coloured fashion-forward tribe had invaded the streets of London. ‘Cycling has never held so much romance,’ the Observer claimed on 6 December 1987. ‘Stop to daydream on any street corner and a well-endowed messenger will cut across your path.’ But they weren’t just there to look good: this new breed of cycle couriers were ‘challenging the dominance of the greaseball motorbike dispatch trade’. Shot in their shiny finery with chamois-reinforced crotches ‘to protect the credentials’, it was time to meet the Lycra Lads.

They were shot in their shiny finery with chamois-reinforced crotches ‘to protect the credentials’