The Bicycle Museum of America

What to do on a rainy day in Central Ohio? We took a drive out to New Bremen to see the Bicycle Museum of America. New Bremen is about 90 minutes northwest of Columbus or an hour north of Dayton.

The bicycle started with a volcanic eruption. True story. The eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 led to the “year without a summer” in 1816. Crop failure and food shortages led to a lot of horses starving or being killed for meat. Plus the Napoleonic wars had already done a number on the horse population.

Long story short, they needed a substitute for horses. 

I think this was a great idea. I tend to agree with Oscar Wilde when it comes to horses: “dangerous at both ends and uncomfortable in the middle”. I have a healthy respect for any animal that weighs a thousand pounds and could stomp me into Jello if it wanted to.

The predecessor to the bicycle was a Draisienne, sometimes called a “Dandy Horse”. You straddled it and pushed it along with your feet. The exhibit states that someone traveled 8 miles in one hour’s time using one of these. That ain’t too bad for something that looks like Fred Flintstone might have ridden it.

The next step was to add pedals to the front wheel. The first “Velocipedes” were invented in the 1860s.

Since the front wheel was directly driven, the top speed of a Velocipede was limited by the size of the wheel. This led to the creation of the “high wheeler” or “Penny-farthing” bicycle in the 1870s. Also sometimes called “boneshakers”. My bones shake just looking at one.

I have never ridden one of these and I don’t know if I’d be brave enough to do it. It’s a long way down. I did see a guy ride the first 50 miles of TOSRV on one these, which was pretty damned impressive.

This appears to be a Penny-farthing with the small wheel in front. It also looks like it was powered by a treadle instead of pedals. What passed for brakes on these early bikes was a spoon shaped piece of metal that would rub the tire.

There were a few dead ends along the way like this side wheeler. It has small wheels front and back to keep it from tipping over. Steering was by declutching one wheel, similar to how a tracked vehicle turns.

I thought this monowheel was pretty interesting although not very practical. There have been a few motorized versions built over the years. 

With the invention of the chain drive, you could make both wheels the same size and still have the speed advantage of the high-wheeler. This led to the first “safety” bicycles in the late 1880s.

One final invention was needed to create the bicycle as we know it — pneumatic tires. I can only imagine riding the roads of the 1800’s with hard rubber tires — ow! ow! ow!

So by the 1890s we have all the makings of a modern bike. Two wheels, chain drive and pneumatic tires. My Mercian single-speed would seem very familiar to someone from the 1890s.

I thought this lady’s Cygnet was pretty classy. The design of the frames gives it a bit of suspension for the rear wheel.

A couple of bicycle mechanics from Dayton turned one of their bikes into an improvised wind tunnel. They were testing airfoils for some other thing they were working on. Probably never amounted to anything.

I was surprised at how far back tandems go. This one is from 1898.

Why settle for two when you can have five! Must have been fun trying to turn this thing.

The next step was to start adding multiple gear ratios. This 1904 Tarrot had two speeds. Pedaling normally put you in high gear. Low gear was achieved by pedaling backwards. 

I love this 1954 Schwinn “streamliner” with front suspension and built in headlight. This was the Schwinn collection at one time so they have a lot of Schwinns.

Recumbent bike from 1937. To me recumbents all look like somebody’s science fair project. It’s almost like no two are alike. Some people swear by them, however.

I’ll take the 1934 Aerocycle in the middle.

Bicycle troops were used in both world wars but have largely been replaced by motorized transport.

They even have Pee Wee Herman’s bike from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Looks to be a bit heavy.

When I was a kid in the late 60’s and early 70’s the Schwinn “Krates” were the coolest bikes around. Not the best place to put the shifter on a boy’s bike. If you know what I mean and I think you do.

Schwinn Paramount racing bike from 1941. Paramounts were a cut above the rest of the Schwinn line and were built in a separate factory in Waterford Wisconsin. Today that same factory makes frames for high end bikes like Gunnar and Rivendell plus custom frames under the Waterford name. 

During the “bike boom” of the 60’s and 70’s a lot of French bikes like this Peugeot were sold here. Peugeot is still in the bike business but I don’t know if you can still get one in the US.

Bikes are as popular in Japan as they are in France. This Fuji racing bike is from 1975. Fuji is one of the more successful Japanese bike manufacturers and is still sold here.

That’s just a small sample of the exhibits. They have three whole floors full of bikes. We thought it was well worth the $3 price of admission.