The bicycle craze in America began in 1887 with the introduction from England of the safety bicycle. The safety, with its two wheels of equal size, was easier to ride than the traditional high-wheel bicycle. It made the freedom of cycling accessible to a much wider market. At the height of the bicycle boom in the 1890s, more than 300 companies were producing over a million bicycles per year.
 
The Wright brothers’ best known pre-aeronautical occupation was bicycle repair and manufacture.