20 Amazing Vintage Bicycle Posters in the Late 19th Century

At the end of the 19th century, for just a few years, bicycles were all the rage. The cycling craze got millions of Americans moving in a new way—and women moving away from restrictive domestic spaces and restrictive clothing. But the bicycle changed first.

Bicycle posters in the 1890s

“The bicycle craze was both a reality and a symbol—a symbol for personal mobility,” says Roger White, curator in the Division of Work and Industry at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Bicycles had existed for decades, and some late-1860s models even had shapes similar to modern-day bicycles, but they were made of iron and wood. Here is an amazing collection of vintage bicycle posters in the 1890s.

1891 L'Entendard Francais

1894 Deuxieme Salon du Cycle

1894 Grand Manège Central

1895 Cycles Aluminium

1895 Falcon

1895 Omega

1895 The Northampton

1896 Victor Bicycles

1897 Cycles Médinger

1897 Georges Richard

1897 March Davis Cycle Mfg. Co.

1897 Snell American Bicycles

1898 Cless & Plessing

1898 Déesse

1898 Griffiths

1898 Legia Cycles et Automobiles

1898 Waverly Cycles

1899 American Crescent Cycles

1899 Chalet du Cycle

1899 Victor