Bicycles

Bike Friday, co-founded by brothers Alan and Hanz Scholz in 1992, has found a niche market for those who want to bring their bicycles with them on their travels....

Recumbents, or bicycles that are ridden from a reclining position, have maintained a small but steady market since the 1930s. They are especially appreciated by those with back and...

On loan from Aaron Amstutz   BMX (Bicycle Motocross) began in the early 1970s on dirt tracks in southern California and quickly gained popularity. By 1977 the American Bicycle...

On loan from Graf Hilgenhurst   Motocross racer Keith Bontrager founded Bontrager Cycles and began developing his own line of mountain bikes in 1980. While other companies were developing...

On Loan from Green Fleet Bikes, Nashville, TN.   In 1975 Andrew Ritchie began designing a folding bicycle in his apartment which overlooked Brompton Oratory in South Kensington, London....

Aerothrust Engine Company was a small manufacturer in Chicago, Illinois that made small engines and propellers. They mated these two products together to make a semi-universal propeller propulsion unit....

On loan from Caleb Carter During the 1990s Cannondale was a very innovative company and built prototypes to showcase new technology. This bike is made entirely of aluminum, including...

The Cat Cheetah was created by Rudi Kurth, a Swiss engineering prodigy. Rudi trained initially on the construction of lightweight panels for race cars and also built and raced...

 Albert A. Pope, or Colonel Pope as he liked to be known, was a tireless promoter of his Columbia brand. In an effort to develop a premium product that...

When the oil crisis emerged in 1975, Dr. David Hon realized that better urban mobility was needed. Inspired by his days at UCLA, when he had to disassemble his...

Danish inventor, musician, blacksmith, and cyclist, Mikael Pedersen (1855 – 1929), believed conventional bicycles were “weakest where they ought to be strongest and heaviest where they ought to be...

This Czech built Tatra, named after the mountain range and not related to the auto manufacturer, is a good example of an early Safety Bicycle. The chain drive of...

On loan from Jack Tipton.   Cycles Gitane began bicycle production in Machecoul, France in 1930. An offshoot of founder Marcel Brunelière’s agricultural parts business, Gitane translates to Gypsy...

Greenstar Bikes began researching bamboo as a frame- building material in 2010. Several prototypes were evaluated, first using carbon fiber lugs, then cast aluminum lugs, before arriving at the...

The urban concept Handy Bike was introduced in the early 2000s as a competitor to the Sinclair, the world’s smallest folding bicycle. It operates with an easy 3 step folding...

  Named the high wheeler for obvious reasons, the 48” wheel puts the seat at 53” above the ground, placing the rider’s head between 7 and 8 feet off...

William M. Hyslop was the Half Mile Bicycle Champion of Canada and a member of the Toronto Bicycle Club. He was in the bicycle Works business with his brother...

In response to the 1974 oil crisis, a small group of Swedish engineers obtained government funding to develop a bicycle completely composed of fiber-reinforced composite plastics (FRP). By 1980,...

Kestrel, a company formed by a group of ex-Trek Bicycle Corp. employees, set out in 1986 to revolutionize performance bicycles. When the Kestrel 4000 was introduced, it was the...

While the Kestrel 4000 was the road bike star of 1987, revolutionizing bicycle design through the use of carbon fiber, in 1992 the 500SCi took it a step further...

  The KtraK kit is a replacement rear-drive assembly that turns any mountain bike into an all-terrain vehicle. Released in 2006, the base kit costs $ 400 and consists...

First proposed in 1987 by Norwich based bicycle designer Mike Burrows, the original design of this bicycle was rejected by many British bicycle manufacturing companies as the monocoque frame...

The Footloose is a collaboration between Korean automotive manufacturer Mando and British bicycle designer Mark Sanders. It is a hybrid electric bicycle, storing energy developed by pedaling in an...

Bicycles this small generally are not a practical means of transportation, as pedaling is extremely difficult and riding is usually much slower than walking. It is no surprise that...

The AM Series was named after engineer Alex Moulton, the original designer of the Moulton bicycle. Although he had sold the rights and name of his design to Raleigh...

The AE21 is a compact e-bike aimed at urban commuters with a design that integrates a lithium-ion battery into the bike’s aluminum frame. This arrangement allows space at the...

Peugeot is considered to be the most prestigious French bicycle.  In the early 1920s, a Parisian company named SICAM (“Société Industrielle de Construction Automobile et Motocycliste”) began constructing engines...