A Great Sign for Bike Shops
Today, Atlas Signs and Plaques welcomes a new design into our library of plaques. The Bicycle address plaque is here for all of you cycling fanatics. (This is a great holiday gift idea for those of you holding out.) Our new Bicycle Address plaque features an accurate image of a bike atop your house’s numbers, communicating your address as well as your passion. If you love to ride, are a bike shop owner, or simply love bikes, then the Bicycle address plaque is for you.
In recognition of this new sign I have compiled some interesting facts about the bicycle.
- Though unconfirmed, several revered historians say Gian Giacomo Capriotti (a student of DaVinci’s) sketched the first iteration of the modern bicycle in 1493.
- In 1817 Karl von Drais, a German baron, invented the “horseless carriage” to get him around faster. The machine, which became known as the Draisine, was made entirely of wood, had no pedals, and no gears. It’s easiest to think of this machine as a type of scooter.
The Draisine - Orville and Wilbur Wright owned a bike shop in Dayton Ohio
- The high-wheel bike, or penny-farthing, was a symbol of affluent, adventurous young men. The term “take a header” came from the machine’s propensity of sending operators head first over the handlebars.
- The safety bicycle emerged in the 1880’s as a safer alternative to the penny-farthing. The general construction of the modern bicycle is the same today.
- The safety bicycle was instrumental in the furthering of women. Of the safety bicycle Susan B. Anthony once said, “Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.”
- Also available is our “take a bike” sprocket ornament—available for a limited time only, a $25 value, complimentary with each Bicycle Address Plaque purchase and any purchase over $125.
