Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: bicyclists

The Lancaster City Directory for 1903 listed John B. Martin (1875-1906) as a bicycle repairer and gave his address as 421 N. Prince Street, so it seems likely that this business card with the same information dates to about the same time. I haven't uncovered any information regarding Martin's career as a trick rider, nor have I found any reference to the athletic grounds and banked bicycle track that he operated on Prince Street. Martin died on March 19, 1906. He was only 30 years old and left behind three young daughters. David Bachman Landis of Pluck Art Printery printed Martin's business card. J. B. Martin, Wheels to Hire Martin the Trick Rider. First-Class Bicycle Repairing. Athletic Grounds in the Rear. Come and see the new banked Bicycle Track. 421 N. Prince St., Lancaster, Pa. Half square north of the P.R.R. freight depot.

"F. S. Andrew & Co.'s Markets. Best meals. Lowest prices." A Victorian-era trade card with an Easter theme for F. S. Andrew & Co.'s Markets, which were located in New Haven, Connecticut. See the History of the City of New Haven to the Present Time (1887), pp. 609-10, for information about Frank S. Andrew and his company and p. 611 for a portrait of Andrew . For other imaginative Victorian illustrations of improbable bicycles, see The Standard Rotary Shuttle Sewing Machine and Flowery Bicycle Calling Card .

For more information, see the full version of this photo.

A photo of a dock or a pier for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This is a 1957 snapshot of the Steel Pier , an amusement pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Billed as "The Show Place of the Nation," the pier hosted a variety of shows and acts, including a diving horse and a bicycle-riding bear. When I purchased this photo, however, I didn't realize that it showed a bear and a woman riding bikes on the high platform visible on the left-hand side (mouse over the image to see an enlargement ). After I spotted the bear, I still couldn't imagine that you could train an animal like that to climb a ladder and ride a bicycle. But a YouTube clip of the Bicycle-Riding Bear that's part of The Nieroslavski Family at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, N.J. --filmed during summer 1960--provides a glimpse of how the bear performed its act. Attitudes toward animal acts have changed over the past fifty years, however, and making a bear ride a bicycle seems inhumane and dangerous by today's standards. As far as I've been able to determine, there are no longer any bicycling bears or diving horses in Atlantic City.

For more information, see the cropped version of this real photo postcard.

The boy posing with his bike on this real photo postcard is identified on the other side as "Lewis Metzler" and the location is indicated as "Williamsport, Pa." A date of "June 1921" is written on the front of the card (see the full version) .

Printed on the back of this postcard: "Serie 362. Pub. by Phila. Post Card Co."

A bicyclist, who appears to be wearing some kind of uniform, poses in front of the Sphinx with the Great Pyramid in the background. There was no date or any other identifying information on the back of the photo, unfortunately.

Photo mounted on cardboard. See also a cropped version for a close-up of the two women (below).

Cropped version of a photo mounted on cardboard. See also the full version of this photo (below).

Handwritten on the back of the photo: "Bob has his mouth 'opened' as usual. 3/27/38" Stamped on back: "Ritz-y Printz, Mar 28, 1938, 1112 G St., Washington, 16 W. Lexington St., Baltimore, 707 Boardwalk, Atlantic City."

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of a real humdinger - a photo apparently intended to show off the appearance of a person or thing . Handwritten message on the back of this real photo postcard: "Dec. 25 '08. Merry Christmas, Josie." The card is addressed to "Mrs. Elizabeth Taylor, Salem, Ohio," but there's no postmark. Josie spruced up her appearance, donned her flowery hat, and wheeled her bicycle to a photo studio, where she posed in front of an elaborately painted backdrop for a picture worthy of sending out as a Christmas greeting.

"The 'Standard,' our name is our motto. 2000 turns in a minute, clear the track! Standard Rotary Shuttle. Compliments of the Standard Sewing Machine Co., Cleveland, O. The Standard Rotary Shuttle Sewing Machine, the lightest, quietest, swiftest running machine in the world. ________, agent. Johns & Co. Lith., Cleveland, O." In the illustration on this nineteenth-century advertising trade card, the winner of the bike race is riding a high-wheel bicycle--or " penny-farthing "--that was somehow constructed using a giant version of one of the Standard Sewing Machine Company's rotary shuttles as one of the wheels. The cyclist following the winner wasn't using a rotary-shuttle wheel, so it's not surprising that he is falling flat on his face. The obvious superiority of the winner's equipment hasn't been lost on the three immaculately dressed women and the young girl, all of whom have been watching the race. They're all staring intently at the winning cyclist, and one woman even appears to be waving her handkerchief at him. I suspect that all of the women and perhaps even the girl went out and purchased a Standard rotary shuttle sewing machine as soon as the race was over.

"J. C. Ferguson, of the Eclipse Machine Co., using a Morrow Coaster Brake, alongside the Hotel Astor, New York." -------- Printed on the back: "Elmira, N.Y., June 17, 1911. To the Live Ones, When you want a brake that is made good, and has always [been] made good, try a Morrow. No change in construction in seven years. That tells the story. J. C. Ferguson." For a similar postcard advertisement, see Miss Clara Wagner with Her Motorcycle at Coenties Slip, New York .

A real photo postcard. Caption: "#5268. High-Water Mark. 1912." Four young men pose with their bicycles near the High Water Mark of the Rebellion Monument , which is located on the Gettysburg Battlefield in Gettysburg, Pa. The woman in the background is taking a closer look at the monument. For an earlier postcard view of the monument, see High Water Mark Monument, Gettysburg, Pa., December 2, 1906 . For a recent photo, see High Water Mark Monument, Gettysburg, Pa., August 8, 2013 .

"The Modern Cycle Co., general repairing, brazing, vulcanizing. Wm. Deubel, proprietor. 1317 Montgomery St., rear. Allied Printing Trades Council, Union Label, St. Louis, 32. The Modern Way. The Old Way." The Modern Cycle Company was a bicycle repair shop that may have been located in St. Louis, Missouri (that's where this business card was printed), but I haven't been able to uncover any additional information about the company or its proprietor, William Deubel. In the illustration on the back of the card, the "modern way" and the "old way" both portray men who are working on bicycles, and the main difference between the two of them seems to be that the modern man is using a longer tire lever (or similar tool) on his bike. I'm not sure whether this was intended to show that the Modern Cycle Company used better tools, repaired bikes more efficiently, or something else.