The Beginning

In 1980, I felt that it would be fun to “fix-up” an old bicycle, and was given a 1948 Montgomery Ward Hawthorn. This bike was missing the fenders, a few other parts, and needed painting and re-plating. In a few months, the bike was done and I was looking for another project.

 

Over the years, many more bicycles came along. By the late 1980’s, I had about 25 bicycles stored in my garage. Several were restored, and many were in fair to good original condition. The collection continued to grow, but they were parked so close together, that no one could see them.

 

A Display Space was needed

In late 2006, I was lucky to find a building that would be the perfect place to house the collection. Major remodeling was completed in 2008 and the collection was moved in. By this time, we had over 40 bicycles.

 

The Museum

The new display area had room for approximately 40+ bicycles to be properly displayed. Signage, old bicycle advertising, and other bicycle related items were added and the display became Wheels of the Past in 2010. Now our collection of Antique, Vintage and Classic Bicycles is on display. In Sept. of 2015, a 4th display room was added, and now we have over 90 bicycles ranging from 1888 to the 1990's on display.

 

In 2022, a new display about the 1984 Thomas Stevens Commemorative Ride Across America was opened with one of the 9 Highwheel Bicycles that was on that trip. Be sure to visit the 1884 Thomson Stevens page and the 1984 Ride Across America page.

 

Some other locations where we have displayed bicycles

• Velocipedomania (CA State Park Dept) Old Sacramento, CA

• Rollins Cyclery, Petaluma, CA

• Bicycle Factory, Petaluma, CA

• Sonoma-Marin County Fair

• Petaluma, CA Museum

• Sonoma County Museum, Santa Rosa, CA

• Healdsburg, CA Museum

• 1990 Mazda Miata TV Commercial