Sterling Bicycle Co.

Sterling Bicycle Co. (also known as Sterling Cycle Works) was a 19th century American bicycle company first based based in Chicago, Illinois before relocating to Kenosha, Wisconsin.

History

In 1894 Annie "Londonderry" Kopchovsky traveled "around the world" on a Sterling. Starting from Boston and heading west, her first bike was a Columbia but it proved unsuitable. In Chicago, the Sterling company gave her a men's Sterling (weighing 21 pounds, it had no brakes) which made riding in skirts impossible. She then wore bloomers and finally rode in a men's riding suit [Hungarian bio [http://www.goraka.hu/annie-londonderry-kopchovsky] ] . Her book "Around the World on Two Wheels" [Google exerpt [http://books.google.com/books?id=3s0KRbVMOTgC&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=%22sterling+cycle+works%22&source=web&ots=nXHFQrK-rQ&sig=HfjQldoQQZXgs_H4FB7I10zmS0g&hl=en] ] records her journey. Sterling sponsored the rest of her trip, she was the first woman to cycle around the world, duplicating a feat that Thomas Stevens had accomplished 10 years earlier [Kirkus review [http://books.google.com/books?id=3s0KRbVMOTgC#reviews_anchor] ] . Her ride and subsequent celebrity helped spark the rise in women's bicycling in general and in the use of bloomers for women (op cit).

In "" (by Betsy Hunter Bradley - Oxford Press - Out of print?) a history of industrial buildings, the Sterling Cycle Works in Kenosha are cited by Harold Arnold ("engineer and industrial journalist") as an example of an 'open shop' [The Works: The Industrial Architecture of the United States - Google book exerpt [http://books.google.com/books?id=OP5zSZ1mbkoC&pg=PA75&lpg=PA75&dq=%22sterling+cycle+works%22&source=web&ots=I8zHoNmCIV&sig=M_CtMLmqdwjEaC_YtZQgAQ1a11I&hl=en] ] , a single story, unpartitioned machine shop. This dates the shop to Kenosha in 1895.

In 1898 Sterling won a Silver Medal at the Trans Mississippi International Exposition [Trans Mississippi International Exposition [http://www.omahapubliclibrary.org/transmiss/about/about.html] ] held in Omaha, Nebraska for its "chainless bicycles and safeties" [Awards list [http://www.omahapubliclibrary.org/transmiss/secretary/awardlist.html] ] .

In 1899, Sterling bikes were announced to be sold by the "American Bicycle Co" [The Manual of Statistics: Stock Exchange Hand-book By Financial News Association (New York, Charles M. Goodsell, Henry E. Wallace) Google exerpt [http://books.google.com/books?id=pmQ5AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA279&lpg=PA279&dq=%22sterling+cycle+works%22&source=web&ots=xUHsjHeG2E&sig=gNE9UCebczVLuuKuZRk-5n0euJo&hl=en] ] a consortium of 44 American bike and bike part manufacturers. Incorporation papers assert these 44 companies accounted for 60% of bicycles sold in the U.S. and that, in 1899, "661,000 wheels" were sold (ibid).

The 1899 Outing magazine [Outing magazine, The 1899 Cycle Models Illustrated and Described [http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_33/outXXXIII06/outXXXIII06zl.pdf] ] lists Sterling's prices as "Chainless, for men and women, $75; racers, $65; roadsters, for men and women, $50; tandems, double diamond or combination, $75 or $85." The "chainless" drive is described as unique in that its longer connecting shaft connected the pinion to the rear sprocket gears back of the rear hub instead of in front of it.

The defunct Kenosha factory was sold to Thomas B. Jeffery in 1900 who turned it into one of the first automobile factories in the U.S. ["Dependable" defined the 1963 Rambler Classic 660, [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/autos/columnists.nsf/0/7df7ebe687846a1c862573e50056ac20?OpenDocument&Click= STL Today] , Retrieved on March 9, 2008]

The "Hand Book of the United States Tariff 1913 [Hand Book of the United States Tariff: Containing the Tariff Act of 1913 (By Vandegrift, F.B., & Co, William Watson Rich, United States) [http://books.google.com/books?id=e2U5AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA51&lpg=PA51&dq=%22sterling+cycle+works%22&source=web&ots=z76kyABfDA&sig=6Mpo5iTHeNu0tCE52IvE5WgIIGo&hl=en] ] references the Sterling Cycle Works, again of Chicago as in importer of steel tubing.

Dates of operation:

*Sterling Cycle Co., Chicago IL, 1894-1898
*Sterling Cycle Co., Kenosha, WI, 1899

Advertising

Slogans: "Built like a watch" and "Worldwide is the Sterling's reputation"

Links

*1899 "Cycle Models Illustrated and Described" (pg 643) [http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_33/outXXXIII06/outXXXIII06zl.pdf]
*Annie Londonderry bio (includes photo of Sterling bike - 1985) [http://www.annielondonderry.com]
*Annie Londonderry bio [http://www.forensicgenealogy.info/contest_125_results.html]
*The Trans Mississippi International Exposition of 1898 and the concurrent Indian Congress [http://www.omahapubliclibrary.org/transmiss/]

References