Did you know that Indianapolis was once known as one of the leading cities in bicycle transportation? While harder to envision today, given our city has paved the way for motorized transportation, this history started in 1869. 

With the help of “Untold Indy” a magazine that has since retired back in 2012… an article by Natalie Atwell told this amazing history. We will link it here but here are some of the most fascinating things we took away from this article and a historical look back. 

Indy saw its first bicycle in a demonstration on the circle. 

It was called the “Ordinary” (sometimes also called a penny-farthing) but many referred to it as the “boneshaker” because it was created before air-filled rubber tires. Can you imagine? This strange mechanical wonder had one large wheel in front and a smaller one in the back. If you’ve ever seen our own Martin Krieg on his older-looking bike, his is actually the opposite configuration with a large wheel in the back and a smaller one up front. This bike is often called “the Eagle” in cycling circles but was never given an actual name. Some refer to it as a Reverse HiWheel. 

In 1886, a bike shop opened in the 100 block of N. Pennsylvania St. (around the corner from the monument) in Indy. 

Henry T. Hearsey opened this shop, which quickly became the hottest place for cyclists to gather. It had a showroom and featured the new rubber-pneumatic tires that bikes were finally sporting around town. In 1889, Hearshy introduced a bike with wheels that were equal in size with a frame that was closer to the ground. 

In the 1890s, there were nearly 100-bicycling clubs in Indianapolis. 

The clubs were designed to include every socio-economic level and even male and female clubs. These clubs would spend time promoting events like “Centuries” (cyclists cover 100-miles in a day) and also organize to help protect cyclists’ rights. Just think, clubs of cyclists gathered together to advocate for better riding conditions for bikers all over the city!?!? 

The vision of cycling through the eyes of Arthur C. Newby.

Newby was an avid cyclist and had a major interest in turning Indianapolis into a biking Mecca of sorts. He helped found the Zig-Zag Cycling Club, and in 1890, invested in a chain company for bicycles. We know this as Diamond Chain, but before this most bike chain was manufactured in Europe. Even more fascinating, Diamond chains were used in the first flight for the Wright brothers in 1903. 

” in 1898 he (Newby) built a quarter-mile board track with steeply banked sides where top cyclists from every corner of the globe would compete at top speeds for fame and glory. The arena had 20,000 seats that were often full of anxious crowds who would watch the races with bated breath. Newby’s Oval was hailed as one of the fasted tracks in the nation and attracted spectators from around the world.” — Untold Indy

Along with various partners, Newby joined two others in building an even bigger track in 1909, now known as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The first race at the speedway was a motorcycle race. The first car race was in 1911 and is still held today as an annual tradition known to most of us as the Indy 500. 

All this time, Hoosiers believed we were the racing capital of the world in motorized vehicles (yes, we still are that too) but who knew it started with a bike. Big thank you to the retired “Untold Indy” editors for giving us the background for this piece, we hope we give it a new reach by writing about it again. 

Other posts about Indianapolis history Martin Krieg created as he wrote "How Indianapolis Built America" are at this link HERE