This fascinating photo – especially for recumbent enthusiasts – pops up occasionally on some Facebook page or blog or website.
And if you would like to purchase a vintage postcard with the photo, type in "W.E. Warman H.B.See Orlando" and you will find a couple sellers.
A Facebook page devoted to Orlando, Florida, history, showed this photo, with this note:
W.E. Warman and H.B. See
Orlando, Fla
April 18, 1915
On the back, someone has penciled in "Ad for Warman bikes". I looked for info about the men, and/or the company, and didn't find much except for an ad; the company was based in Chicago. Perhaps they were in town on a promotional tour for their bikes.
I (Mike E.) did find on the internet two auction listings for Warman-Schub bicycles from Chicago, one manufactured in 1898 and the other undated, but likely of similar vintage, so possibly that was the same company mentioned on the back of the photo or postcard.
A question to which the answer is presumably lost to history is, if the recumbent cycles Warman and See were riding were made by the Chicago company, did they pedal them all the way from Chicago to Orlando as a promotional trip? Which would have been quite a feat, considering the primitive roads that existed in 1915 and the distance involved and presumably their bikes had only one speed.
And, notice the attire of Warman and See and the spectators – coats and ties worn by most, including the two cyclists.
– Mike Eliasohn
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