Iver Johnson - Bicycles

Bicycles

Iver Johnson bicycles are classic examples of early American bicycles, and during the bicycle boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the company had a very productive bicycle manufacturing and sales line of business. Today, Iver Johnsons are considered to be "classics" by vintage bicycle collectors, and are considered to be especially pleasing from an aesthetic point of view. O.F. Mossberg worked in the bicycle plant and then started his own firearms factory.

Even when they were new, I-J's were marketed and had a reputation for being very graceful looking, well built, and engineered for performance. Iver Johnson sponsored the career of bicycle racing champion Marshall Taylor beginning in 1900. The most noted I-J model was the truss-bridge frame which featured a curved tube under the top tube to strengthen the frame for use on the rough roads of the early twentieth century. Bicycle production ceased in 1940 with the buildup of arms production prior to World War II.

Today, Iver Johnson bicycles are highly collectible and are no more rare than most other major manufacturer's products from that time. The name Iver Johnson is well known amongst vintage firearm collectors, but aside from that, bicycles would be the brand's next most popularly associated product. There is even an Iver Johnson bicycle on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in the America on the Move exhibit.