Photo: Courtesy of Chicago Design Museum

• 1869:Loring & Keene creates a velocipede, a primitive form of a bike remembered for its comically oversize front wheel.

• 1890:Western Wheel Works develops a metal-stamping process to mass-produce bikes more quickly.

• 1895:German immigrant Ignaz Schwinn founds his namesake company in Chicago, which becomes the hub of bicycle manufacturing, with 90 plants trying to keep up with the country’s sudden bike craze.

• 1933:Schwinn brings the “balloon tire” to the United States. The inflatable tube allows for a comfier ride.

• 2015:Parts manufacturer SRAM takes cycling into the future with eTap, a wireless-controlled gearshift that eliminates messy wires from sleek bike designs.