Posted in: Bicycles, Editorial International Cycling History Conference in Indy

If you monitor this website now and then, you will know that new content hasn’t been added for quite some time, while I work on a book about Indianapolis wheel history. And when I say...

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Posted in: Bicycles, Historic Miscellania Keep Your Sauerkraut Away From My Bicycles

In 1896, readers of the Christmas Eve edition of Cycling Life, a trade magazine for America’s exploding bicycle industry, might have noticed this clever ad.  Probably drawn by an illustrator at an advertising house in Chicago,...

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Posted in: At Your Leisure, Bicycles At Your Leisure: The Cyclorama Fad Hits Indianapolis

The northwest corner of Ohio and Illinois. The Cyclorama towered over the neighboring Rink Store. (Image: Bass Photo Company Collection, Indiana Historical Society) The first buildings that always stuck out when driving into Indianapolis in the 1980s...

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Posted in: Bicycles, Then & Now Then & Now: Kern Bicycle Shop/Crayton Confectionery, 1900 Block Howard Street

James W Kern’s Bicycle and Motorcycle Repair Shop at 1921 Howard Street, ca. 1915-1920. (Can anyone date these motorcycles?) This view looks southwest toward the intersection of Hiatt Street. James W. Kern is 2nd from...

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Posted in: Bicycles, Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Zig-Zag Cycling Club

What Goes Around, Comes Around… The recent surge in bicycle popularity, designated traffic lanes for cyclists, and issues of “sharing the road,” are not new to Indianapolis. Indeed, this “new” phenomenon is a REsurgence — more than 100 years...

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Posted in: Bicycles, Friday Favorites Friday Favorite: Recycling History For Now

It’s refreshing to see that some of the new projects in town pay homage to the city’s oldest development history. Indy has a nice trend going on–honoring pieces of our past. Ralston’s Draft House opened...

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Posted in: Bicycles, Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Bicycling Schools of Indianapolis

From March 1896, check out these adverts from local bicycle companies and stores and the companion “Riding Academy” or “Riding School.” The definition of such a thing has made big changes since then. Indianapolis had...

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