Bicycle Museum of Fort Collins Debuts, Summer 2007
A long term plan is for the Friends of the Bicycle Program to cooperate with city agencies and private groups to create a regionally or even nationally recognized "vintage or historic bicycle museum" in Fort Collins. The old Trolley Barn at the corner of Howes and Cherry would be a perfect site for this. (If the Trolley Barn is not available another site will be sought). Imagine every kid in Fort Collins coming to the Bike Museum three or four times over the years as a part of school trips on the history of alternative transportation or human powered vehicles. School buses would drive up from Denver or Boulder for the same reason. And people from throughout the country would come to downtown Fort Collins to see our museum, pedal our award winning bike paths and enjoy one of the most livable cities in the US.
Presently (Summer 2007) the museum is a museum without walls, a free traveling museum. The purpose of the museum is to educate the public about the role of human powered cycling in history, the innovations in bicycle design, and to help promote cycling as a way of life.
Our goal is to create a permanent museum that will encompass the whole theme of bicycles thus adding another feather to Fort Collins' cycling cap.
For Bike Week in June 2007 bicycles were displayed in the following Fort Collins retail shops:
Ace Hardware
The Armstrong Hotel
The Bean Cycle
The Cupboard
Starry Night Cafe
The Wright Life
Some of these businesses continue to display our bikes while others have changed their window displays. (Take a look at Jeff Nye's tandem track bike at the Bean Cycle if you haven't seen it yet!) A hearty thanks to all these businesses for their interest and enthusiasm with this project.
Watch for more of our historic bicycles to be displayed in these and other Fort Collins businesses over the coming months.
If you would like to display a bicycle in our "museum without walls" program please contact us at info@BikeFortCollins.org. Or, if you have a bicycle that you would like to display or donate contact us as well!