The Wrights’ route to aviation also began with ordinary bicycle rides. Both brothers bought bicycles in 1892 and started repairing their neighbours’ machines. That December they rented premises in Dayton, opening a bicycle repair and sales shop in spring 1893.
Their own bicycles joined the range in 1896. The higher-priced Van Cleve and more affordable St. Clair served different buyers. Van Cleve hubs held their oil internally to help keep dust out of the mechanism: a practical response to everyday riding conditions.
The 1897 photograph shows Orville and his friend Edwin H. Sines working on bicycle frames. Wall-mounted tools and unfinished parts place careful hands-on work at the centre of a story more often remembered for its famous inventions.
Shop income helped fund flight research, while repair and manufacturing skills carried over into aircraft construction. Bicycles were more than an earlier occupation: the workshop provided a place where earning a living and pursuing experiments could coexist.