Wheel Fever

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How Wisconsin Became a Great Bicycling State

Jesse J. Gant and Nicholas J. Hoffman

A rollicking history of the early years of bicycling in Wisconsin and the men, women, and bikes that built a lasting biking culture.

256 pages, 8 x 9, 187 color and b&w photos
Paperback: $24.95 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-613-9
Ebook: $15.99 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-614-6
Publication Date: 9/11/2013

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Description

On rails-to-trails bike paths, city streets, and winding country roads, the bicycle seems ubiquitous in the Badger State. Yet there’s a complex and fascinating history behind the popularity of biking in Wisconsin—one that until now has never been told in depth. Meticulously researched through periodicals and newspapers, Wheel Fever traces the story of Wisconsin’s first “bicycling boom,” from the velocipede craze of 1869 through the “wheel fever” of the 1890s. From the start it has been defined by a rich and often impassioned debate over who should be allowed to ride, where they could ride, and even what they could wear.

Many early riders embraced the bicycle as a solution to the age-old problem of how to get from here to there quickly and easily. Yet for every supporter of the “poor man’s horse,” there were others who wanted to keep the rights and privileges of riding to an elite set. Women, the working class, and people of color were often left behind as middle- and upper-class white men benefited from the “masculine” sport and all-male clubs and racing events began to shape the scene. Even as bikes became more affordable and accessible, a culture defined by inequality helped create bicycling in its own image.

Wheel Fever is about the origins of bicycling in Wisconsin and why those origins still matter, but it is also about our continuing fascination with all things bicycle. From “boneshakers” to highwheels, standard models to racing bikes, tandems to tricycles, the book is lushly illustrated with never-before-seen images of early cycling and the people who rode them: bloomer girls, bicycle jockeys, young urbanites, and unionized workers. Laying the foundations for a much-beloved sport, Wheel Fever challenges us to imagine anew the democratic possibilities that animated cycling’s early debates.

Author Bios

Jesse J. Gant

Jesse J. Gant is a graduate student in the PhD program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Born and raised in the Badger State, he moved back to Madison after two years in New York, where he obtained a master’s degree from NYU in 2007. Gant wrote “(Dis)Envisioning Slavery: Milwaukee Commemorates the Underground Railroad” for the NYU graduate journal Anamesa in 2006.

Nicholas Hoffman

Nicholas Hoffman is Chief Creative Officer and State Historian at the Wisconsin Historical Society. He received a master’s degree in public history and a certificate in museum studies from UW–Milwaukee, where his research on the local glass industry was honored with the Scott Greer Award for Research in Urban Studies. He wrote “Miniature Demons: The Young Helpers of Milwaukee’s Glass Industry, 1880–1922” for the autumn 2007 issue of the Wisconsin Magazine of History. Hoffman lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

‘Wheel Fever’ does a wonderful job of reconstructing the early days of bicycling in Wisconsin. We tend to forget today just how important recreational cycling was to the origins of an outdoor way of life we today take for granted. Anyone who loves to cycle—or who loves the Wisconsin landscape—should read this fine book.

William Cronon

University of Wisconsin–Madison

“Jesse Gant and Nicholas Hoffman have woven together a striking portrait of the early cycling era, introducing readers to the people and industries that were major players and highlighting the social, cultural, and economic factors behind the boom and subsequent bust. This is a valuable addition to bicycle-and Wisconsin-history.”

—Sue Macy, author of Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few-Flat Tires Along the Way)

“Wheel Fever is a valuable contribution to the ongoing bicycle movement. Americans are rediscovering the value of the bicycle for recreation, for health, for its environmental benefits, and for basic transportation. Understanding more about how this movement began and evolved will help us plan our state’s biking future.”

—Dave Cieslewicz, former mayor of Madison and urban bike consultant

“The book is a comprehensive account of Wisconsin’s journey from the early days of the shaky velocipede, through the bicycle’s involvement in the labor movement and women’s liberation, and into today’s thriving bike culture. There are entertaining excerpts from 19th-century newspaper articles, such as a Milwaukee Sentinel guide from 1869 that warns, ‘Never allow your bicycle to get on top of you; it learns its bad tricks, besides being bad for the projecting angles of your anatomy.' There are also fascinating photos of variations such as the high-wheel and the adult tricycle.”

—Julia Burke, The Isthmus