The place to start when you want to learn about early cycling is at The Wheelmen. For more than 50 years, this organization has been “keeping alive the heritage of American cycling, promoting the restoration and riding of early cycles manufactured in and before 1932, and encouraging cycling as part of modern living”.
The Wheelmen site provides a database of early bicycle brands that was an enormous help to me in identifying the brands of my studs and pins. I truly couldn’t have done it without them.
Another site with a lot of lapel stud and pinback images is Howie Cohen’s Everything Bicycles. Howie, who passed away not long ago, was a lifelong collector. As of now (Feb. 2021), his site remains up.
A thorough overview on the creation and uses of celluloid can be found in ‘Celluloid: The Eternal Substitute‘ by Jane Boyd.
1890’s Cycling
The Cabe (Classic & Antique Bicycle Exchange) – a marketplace for old bicycles, but also provides a lot of info about early manufacturers
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