Bicycles: Icons of Innovation and Mobility

From the 1880s to the 1910s, Americans took to the wheel, sparking a nationwide bicycle craze. In the era before automobiles, bicycles were a means of affordable personal mobility. This nationwide cycling craze allowed Americans to explore new places and experience newfound independence. Learn more about bicycles and their impact on American culture at the National Museum of American History.

Bicycles: Icons of Innovation and Mobility

Audrey Hepburn

Woman on Bicycle

Group Bicycle Trip, circa 1905

Untitled (woman with bicycle)

S. Tropea's Food Store, 1527 Avenue F, corner of 16th Street, Galveston, Texas

Davis Phinney

Outdoor Photo of a Man and Woman with a Bicycle

Bicycle in front of pizza restaurant

Lyonel Feininger on a bicycle

Bicycle design by John Vassos

Young boy bicycling

Tricycle Boys Hangout II

Western Union Messenger (Norfolk, Virginia), from the project The Negro in Virginia

Steam Tricycle in Front of North Entrance to SIB

Visitors to the Transportation Hall, A&I

Ukiah (XII-15)

George C. Maynard Outside USNM

Untitled, from the project The Most Crowded Block

Photographing Our Country Cousins

Bicyclists

Samuel Murray and Benjamin Eakins on Bicycles

Studio portrait of a young boy

Boys riding bicycles

Conservation of Energy with Bicycle Use Promotion

Elihu Vedder with a bicycle

Photograph of letter carrier delivering mail by bicycle

Jay Cowan [on a bicycle : chromogenic photonegative,]

Dingle, Ireland

Charles Logue, an avid collector of old bikes in sports shop begun by his father in 1896

[Western Union messenger Raymond Taylor of San Antonio, Texas, with bicycle, holding a loving cup]