Pedal through cycling history at this Ohio bike museum

NEW BREMEN, Ohio -- In a former hotel here in rural, western Ohio is a museum offering more than two centuries of bicycle history, from early high-wheelers to candy-hued 1960s Sting Rays.

There's a 1901 ice bike, a kitschy 1949 Donald Duck artifact, a military-issued bike with a machine gun mount, bikes that appeared in movies (Pee Wee Herman's) or belonged to stars (Robin Williams), and lots of Schwinns. As a bonus, there's a Boy Scout cap worn by the first man on the moon, who grew up nearby.

The exhibits fill three floors and, of course, rotate.

The Bicycle Museum of America traces the bike's impact on culture, transportation and plain ol' fun, showing how it became synonymous with convenience and ease (thus the phrase, "It's like riding a bicycle.")

Take, for example, the Donald Duck bike made by the Shelby Cycle Company in 1949. The Disney character's head is on the front of the frame, with flashing, battery-powered eyes. The horn quacks, and the bike is a vibrant blue and yellow.

Hanging above Donald in the exhibit is the ice bike, with a sled runner instead of a front wheel, and a rear wheel with 30plus spikes so riders could pedal across a frozen pond. Maybe.

Nearby is one of the modified 1953 Schwinn DX bikes used in "Pee-wee's Big Adventure," the 1985 movie about a childlike man's quest to find his stolen bicycle.

The museum owes its creation to the end of an era: the Schwinn era. The once-dominant American manufacturer, founded in 1895 by Ignaz Schwinn, went bankrupt in 1992. The Schwinn family's collection of hundreds of bicycles was sold at auction in 1997.

"It's hard to take care of this mess of stuff," Richard Schwinn, great-grandson of the founder, told the Chicago Tribune at the sale. "We could put it in storage or we could sell it and I'm tired of storing it."

James Dicke II, head of the family-owned Crown Equipment Corp. of New Bremen, which makes forklifts, bought more than 150 bicycles and memorabilia at the auction for about $500,000, according to newspaper reports. That led to the creation of the Bicycle Museum of America, which Dicke continues to financially support. It's housed in the former, upscale Hotel Central, built in 1891.

There are other cycling artifacts in museums around the world. The Smithsonian and Henry Ford Museum of Innovation each have large bicycle collections. There are a handful of other dedicated bicycle museums scattered across the country, including the Bicycle Heaven Museum in Pittsburgh, the Houston Bicycle Museum, and the Marin Museum of Bicycling in Fairfax, California.

The Bicycle Museum of America has one of the largest and most interesting collections, with more than 700 bikes, of which 173 are currently on display. It also has more than 10,000 other bicycle-related objects, from catalogs and advertisements to blueprints and correspondence, said Ryan Long, the museum's coordinator.