Left: Tintype, 1890s. Top right: Tiffany & Co. customized bicycle from 1896 with the bejeweled monogram of its owner, Mrs. M.N. Wiley of Montgomery, Alabama. Bottom right: Bicycle lamp, 1890s.

From the 1880s to the 1910s, Americans took to the wheel, sparking a nationwide bicycle craze. In the era before automobiles, bicycles were a means of affordable personal mobility. Americans awheel went to new places and felt differently about themselves.