Welcome to the Bicycle Museum of America. Our museum has approximately 230 bicycles on display and 900 in our total collection! Come see us and embark on a guided or self-guided adventure! Learn more about the history of the bicycle and how it helped shape the American landscape through innovation and design.
Our mission is to provide an understanding through interpretation, social relevance and the dissemination of information on bicycles and cycling on a global and historical platform.
Bicycle of the Month
c. 1895 Wright Brothers St. Clair Replica
Nearly 100 years after the Draisine was invented in Prussia, the Wright Brothers opened their own bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio in 1892. Initially opening in order to import bikes from other manufacturers, in 1896 they began to manufacture their own models. The Van Cleve was produced as their premium model and named after their ancestors that helped to found Dayton. The St. Clair was developed later the same year as a cheaper, more affordable model.
In 1904 the Wright brothers began to devote their time and money made from their bicycle shops to aviation. Taking their mechanical knowledge and engineering from building bicycles, the Wright brothers would eventually go on to create the Flyer I and send mankind into the sky.
In 1901, the Wrights fitted a horizontal wheel to the front of a St. Clair bicycle to test wing foils and air pressure before creating their wind tunnel later in the same year.
Wright Cycle Co. / Phil Scott, Restorer
Dayton, Ohio
