Made by the Lozier & Yost Manufacturing Company, this bicycle was known as the Giant Number 4 and is a well preserved and accurate representation of an early safety bicycle. While working for the New Home Sewing Machine Company in Ohio, Henry Abram Lozier started selling bicycles in 1887. Two years later, Lozier and Joseph L. Yost created the Lozier & Yost Manufacturing Company and sold a line of child bicycles under the name Little Giant. Lozier bought Yost’s half of the company in 1891 and started the Lozier Manufacturing Company located in Toledo, Ohio, and made bicycles under the name Cleveland. Within two years, Lozier’s company would become one of four major bicycle manufacturers in the United States, behind Pope, Gormully and Jeffery, and Overman. By the end of the 1890s, Lozier sold his bicycle company to the Pope Manufacturing Company for $4 million dollars and invested the money in the new business of motor engines.

This Giant Number 4 Safety Bicycle was built by the Lozier & Yost Manufacturing Company during the 1890s. The bicycle shares many features with contemporary bicycles which includes two 30-inch wire spoke wheels of equal size, chain driver, mechanical brake, spring-loaded seat, and chain guard. In addition, the bike features nickel-plated handlebars and seat frame, front and rear fenders, early bell, and lamp bracket which made this vehicle a deluxe model, the most expensive model available. Located on the front wheel is an unusual spring-loaded front suspension system which involves ornate, iron circles that rotate as the wheel moves up and down. This simple design was a precursor to the knee action suspension that were more commonly used on bicycles since the 1950s.