AMERICA’S BIKE MUSEUM—

The Bicycle Museum of America is located in New Bremen, OH. 

That’s right; it’s in this quaint village of some 3,000 souls just a bit southwest of Wapakoneta.  As you roll toward the center of town on State Route 274 you will be impressed with an expansive spread of newly constructed buildings including a dandy high school.

What looks like a massive, urban renewal project all completed at once continues in the downtown area and includes this marvelous museum.

The former museum of the same name was at Navy Pier in Chicago.  When that museum closed down in 1997 and was put up for auction, Crown Equipment Corp., Chairman James F. Dicke II purchased the vast majority of the collection and moved it to the home of Crown’s headquarters in New Bremen.

Crown, by the way, started in the 1940s making thermostat controls then transitioned to the forklift industry in the late 50s.  They currently are the fourth largest manufacturer of powered lift trucks in the world—and remain family owned.

The purchased collection was roughly 160 bicycles.  It was merged with Dicke’s  personal collection, now stands at over 1,000 bicycles and continues to grow.


In the upper photos, my lady Sue is enjoying a personally guided tour of the facility by Matt Staugler, an extremely knowledgeable and personable museum assistant.  The lead photo shows them in the older part of the museum which houses bikes ranging in age from 1819 to 1901.

The bike Sue is riding (right) is a replica made by the Boneshaker folks of Alameda, CA.  The tandem on top of the cabinet behind her was the personal tandem of Ignaz Schwinn, founder of the Schwinn Co.  It was made for him personally in 1896.


This bike (left) is a replica of an 1816 Drassine. It was made in the 1970s but very accurate to the time period. This model was invented in Germany by Baron Karl von Drais and his design went on to become the basis of the bicycle we know today.

The twin carbide lamps (right) are from an 1896 "safety" bicycle with very rare ornateness. Light made from gas burned in carbide lanterns preceeded battery or generator powered lights.

In the lower photo Sue is enjoying Mr. Dicke's collection of presidential inaugural police badges which are issued to each participating, police department in Washington's inaugural parade.  

The huge flag behind her is from the Civil War and was stitched by New Bremen area women in 1861 for local soldiers fighting in that war.  It was found in it's battle scarred condition, restored by the generosity of Crown and is on loan to the museum by the New Bremen Historic Association.

As we pondered the historical significance of the museum's collection, Matt shuddered as he recalled the statistic that says a bicycle is destroyed in a landfill or under similar circumstances once every 40 seconds in the US.