The penny-farthing, also known as a high wheel, high wheeler or ordinary, is an early type of bicycle. It was popular in the 1870s and 1880s, with its large front wheel providing high speeds and comfort.
Marshall Walter "Major" Taylor was an African-American professional cyclist. Even by modern cycling standards, Taylor could be considered the greatest American sprinter of all time.
Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield was an American pioneer automobile racer; his "name was synonymous with speed in the first two decades of the 20th century".
John Sigfried Johnson was an early American cyclist and speed skater.
Sterling Bicycle Co. was a 19th-century American bicycle company first based in Chicago, Illinois before relocating to Kenosha, Wisconsin.
James Frank Duryea and his brother Charles (1861–1938) invented the first gasoline-powered automobile in America.
The Riker was a veteran and brass era electric car founded in 1898 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Designed by Andrew L. Riker, they were built in small numbers until the company was absorbed by the Electric Vehicle Company in 1901.
Arthur Augustus Zimmerman was one of the world's greatest cycling sprint riders and winner of the first world championship in 1893. His prizes as an amateur were a consideration in the establishment of the International Cycling Association (ICA).
Tom Cooper was an American cyclist and early automobile racing driver. He is best known for his rivalry with cyclist Major Taylor, as well as his later work with Henry Ford and Barney Oldfield.
Detroit is a popular city for cycling. It is flat with an extensive road network with a number of recreational and competitive opportunities and is, according to cycling advocate David Byrne, one of the top eight biking cities in the world. The city has invested in greenways and bike lanes and other bicycle-friendly infrastructure. Bike rental is available from the riverfront and tours of the city's architecture can be booked.
E. C. Stearns & Company was a manufacturer of tools and hardware in Syracuse, New York and was organized in 1864 as George N. Stearns Company by George N. Stearns, a wagon maker. During the early years, the company was principally involved in the production of hollow iron tools and specialties, hollow augers, and saw vises.
E. C. Stearns Bicycle Agency was established in 1893 by industrialist Edward C. Stearns, who began business as a hardware manufacturer and branched out into bicycle production from 1893 through 1899.
George Adams Wyman was the first person to make a transcontinental crossing of the United States by motor vehicle. In 1903, Wyman rode his 1902 California Motor Company motor bicycle from San Francisco to New York City in 51 days, finishing 20 days before Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson, the first person to cross the continent by automobile.
Tillie Anderson was a road and track cyclist. Tillie, a Swedish immigrant and, from all accounts, an extremely strong-willed individual, outpaced the best of the best on the wheel, with times that are still impressive today. Born in Skåne, Sweden in 1875, Tillie emigrated to Chicago in 1891 at the age of 16. At 18, she had saved enough money working as a seamstress to buy her first bicycle. During the summer of 1895, she took part in the race over the Elgin-Aurora (Ill.) century course and broke the century record. She later traveled around the country taking part in six-day bicycle races for women, which involved racing at top speed two hours each evening for six consecutive days. Tillie was 20 years old when the League of American Wheelmen recognized her as the best woman cyclist in the world. In June 2000 – 105 years later - Tillie was posthumously inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame, an undisputed champion and a true pioneer in women's athletics.
Overman Wheel Company was an early bicycle manufacturing company in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts from 1882 to 1900. It was known for bicycles of higher quality and lower weight than other bicycles of its time. Despite a nationwide bicycle craze in the late 1800s, the company was undercut by lower-priced competition, nearly went bankrupt in 1897, and never recovered from an 1899 fire. The company was sold in 1900.
Mrs Sarah Maddock (1860–1955) was an Australian endurance cyclist during the 1890s and early 1900s and the first woman to ride a bicycle from Sydney to Melbourne and later Sydney to Brisbane and back.
Louise Armaindo, born either Louise or Louisa Brisebois or Brisbois (1861–1900), was a Canadian strongwoman, trapeze artist, competitive walker, and high-wheel cyclist. Throughout the last decades of the 19th century, she was known as "the champion female bicycle rider of the world."
Frederick William Burns was an American professional sports announcer. He is the earliest known sports announcer credited with creating the profession at the Staten Island Athletic Club games in 1884.
Western Wheel Works was a Chicago bicycle company started by Adolph Schoeninger in 1866. It was one of the largest bicycle makers in the world. In 1899 it joined a trust which controlled 95 percent of the bicycle manufacturing market.
Clara Simmons Grace was a British bicycle racer.
