That is actually where the lunch box shape of the folded camera came from. A lot of guys who strip down a Speed Graphic to us as a view camera do not realize they are just converting it back to a Bicycle Camera. Strip off the viewfinders, the rangefinder, all the interconnects, flash syncronization, etc, and you have the basic 5x7x4 inch lunch box shaped focal plane shutter bicycle camera made by Folmer and Schwing in NYC.

Eventually Kodak bought them out (the bicycle craze had long since ended) and moved production to Rochester where over the years it got modified into the press camera everyone knows. It is not hard to figure how that happened; small, light, compact (For a professional 4x5 camera. There actually was a 5x7 version at one time) with a high speed focalplane shutter; it was pretty much just what a press photographer needed. When they added flash sync in the late 1920's it was a match made in heaven. The love affair lasted 50 years or so.

My Crown Graphic kit weights about 20 lbs without the tripod, my 35mm kit weighs more than that and most professional photographers' digital kit is quite a bit heavier (I only have a snapshot type digital camera).

Folks ought to read about the bike craze back at the end of the 19th century, they will be amazed at what was available. Think about it, the safety bicycle was the fastest thing around except the train. As for heavy, there was at least one bike that weighed 19 lbs back then. Bikes were the high tech thing back then.