Friday Roundup – Bicycle Bits And Pieces

• Deschutes Brewery has released their Chainbreaker White IPA to celebrate cycling and their sponsorship of various cycling events including it’s namesake the Cascade Chainbreaker mountain bike race, part of the Oregon XC Series. If you’re lucky to be in their 18 state distribution area you should be able to get a taste of it very soon.
• If you’re mad for Mad Men, then this charity auction is for you: Aaron Foster created the Mad Men logo out of license plates, had the cast sign it, and placed it on Ebay to benefit Trips For Kids.
• If you’re a Minnesotan, check out MN Bike Trail Navigator, a resource to inform cyclists about trails, maps, and trail projects around the state.
• VP Components Dirt Club Enduro race is June 23rd and 24th at the Dirt Club near Los Olivos, CA. Any person who pre-registers for the race now, up until the week of the race, will be entered to win a weekly drawing of sweet bike schwag.
• MaxBikesPR has introduced one day bike tours throughout Shropshire and the Cotswolds in the UK for £75 per person.
• ZOIC is having their big warehouse sale today until 6pm, and tomorrow 10am-1pm, in San Diego. Ride your bike to the sale and get 10% off! Click here and scroll to bottom for location.
• The National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) has announced the launch of their Booster Fund program. The program will provide micro-grants to individual student athletes, coaches and teams from underrepresented areas and disadvantaged backgrounds, with the goal of increasing participation in NICA leagues. Click here for information and application forms.
• Register now to avoid late fees for the Volkswagen Sea Otter Classic, April 19th-22nd. Fees go up March 25th at Midnight.
• The Smithsonian Snapshots is a weekly photographic peek into the Smithsonian Institution’s vast collection. This weeks’ Snapshot is the Columbia Light Roadster High Wheel. Circa 1886, this bike sold for $135 (roughly $3,200 in today’s money) and was offered in 7 different wheel sizes! Photo and description after the break

What comes to mind when thinking about spring—taking the bike out for a long ride? March 20 marks the first day of spring this year. This week’s Smithsonian Snapshot celebrates the spring season with an original 1886 Columbia Light Roadster high-wheel bicycle.

Sold originally for approximately $135, this bicycle was made by the Pope Manufacturing Co., the first company to manufacture bicycles in the U.S. This bicycle was available with seven sizes of front wheel, from 47 to 59 inches, and two sizes of rear wheel, 16 or 18 inches. This example is fitted with a 60-spoke, 53-inch front wheel, and a 20-spoke, 18-inch rear wheel.

This group photo shows cyclists in one of America’s first organized biking tours. The first rider is Charles E. Pratt, first president of the League of American Wheelmen, a national membership organization for cyclists. The riders are lined up outside Readville, Mass., in 1879.

Established in 1889, the Smithsonian’s cycle collection has 60 velocipedes, high-wheel bicycles and safety bicycles. These items reflect the technological developments and popularity of biking beginning in the late 19th century.

These items are two of 137 million artifacts, works of art and specimens in the Smithsonian’s collection. They are not currently on display. For more info about them, visit the museum’s website.

To view bicycle advertisements and catalogs from the late 1800s, visit the Smithsonian Institution Libraries’ website.

More from the Smithsonian Snapshot series