Postal Bicycles in Ireland

Walking around the small coastal town of Dun Laoghaire, I spotted what looked like a vintage delivery bicycle propped up against a wall. "How nice that these are still around," I thought, figuring it was someone's town cruiser. Only when I saw the same bike rolled along by a man in uniform later, did I realise the delivery bicycle was in active current use. Apparently at least in some towns, the Irish post (An Post) uses bicycles to deliver mail. 

While I've seen postal bikes in other countries, they have tended to look more generic and official - typically being the same make, model and colour, with the logo of the post office clearly visible on the frame. But the postal bicycles here seem to be all different - different models, different colours, even spanning different decades.

This yellow one is made by Monark (a Swedish manufacturer) and it looks like a variation of this model. 

There is a backward bend to the seat tube that I initially thought was a deformity from years of heavy use. But the picture of the bicycle I linked to above has the same bend, so it must be an intentional part of the frame design. Any idea why?

Notice also that the fold-down stand that does double-duty as front rack stabiliser has wheels attached to it, so that the bike can be rolled when the stand is employed. I assume there is also a praking brake to prevent it from rolling on its own.

The front and rear racks on this one are roomy enough to each fit a huge mail bag or box, whereas the older black bike I saw earlier had a front rack only and a smaller one at that. I wonder whether the route he was assigned to tends to get less volume.

In a town of Dun Laoghaire's scale, postal bicycles make a lot of sense and I was happy to see more and more of them in the course of the day. Examining the different styles of delivery bikes that have existed over the years is fascinating; there were a great many!