[William Martin, champion six-day bicycle rider of the world, full-length portrait, facing left, on bicycle with large front wheel and small rear wheel]

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Here a rider named William Martin, identified as the champion six-day bicycle rider of the world, stands full-length beside a high-wheel machine with an oversized front wheel and a much smaller rear one. Six-day races, in which riders covered as much distance as possible over six days and nights on indoor tracks, drew large crowds in the early 1890s and made star riders into celebrities. By about 1891 the safety bicycle, with two wheels of equal size, was spreading quickly, so this high-wheel design already looked like an older type. The picture was made by Eisenmann, a New York studio, and it was registered for copyright, a sign that the image was meant for wide sale.

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