Not a smooth ride with this wooden wheel bike

Back at the turn of the 20th century, bicycles were the rage. Cycling had become an important means of transportation, and in the United States an increasingly popular form of recreation. 

Bicycling clubs for men and women spread across the U.S. and Europe.

This bicycle from the early 1900s made by the Davis Sewing Machine Company of Dayton, Ohio, could not have been much fun to ride. With wooden wheels, no shock absorbers and only a thin layer of solid rubber covering the wheel, it must have been a jolting experience to take for a spin.

Lucky for us, our automotive tires today don’t ride on wooden wheels and solid rubber. Pneumatic tires changed everything. We can thank the bicycle industry for inventing them. By the time cars came along, the tires were already in production and improving.

Interestingly, the first pneumatic tire was developed in 1887 by John Dunlap for his son's tricycle. Commercial production began in late 1890 in Belfast, Ireland. Dunlop partnered with William Du Cros to form a company that would later become the Dunlop Rubber Company. 

I found this bicycle at the Marias Museum of History and Art in Havre, Montana.