bicicleta:
During the peak year of 1896, some three hundred firms in the United States alone produced more than a million bicycles, making it one of the country’s largest industries. The cycling trade not only launched the Good Roads Movement, culminating years later in a great national network of highways, it also provided the foundation for the automotive industry. In particular, the advanced techniques used to assemble millions of bicycles were readily adapted to automobile production. Even the vast nationwide network of bicycle repair shops evolved into the first gasoline stations. Literally and figuratively, the bicycle paved the way for the automobile.
The bicycle trade also produced the first motorized two-wheelers at the turn of the century, and for some time the two industries remained closely aligned. Many bicycles of the 1910s, in fact, sported head badges with motorcycle brands like Harley-Davidson and Indian. Bicycle mechanics likewise played an important role in early aviation. Wilbur and Orville Wright themselves operated a small bike repair shop in Dayton, Ohio. They used bicycles to conduct their first wind tunnel experiments, and they built the 1903 Wright Flyer in their workshop using familiar tools and materials. Glenn Curtiss was another former bicycle mechanic who developed some of the first successful airplanes.
Bicycle history, David V. Herlihy
