Bicycle Heaven Museum

When good bikes die, the lucky ones go to Bicycle Heaven. This afterlife isn’t filled with endless downhill glides, or pedaling through puddles at the head of a pack of 12-year-olds. But it sure beats slowly rusting in a landfill. Instead, these bikes end up parked in rows, hanging from the walls or dangling from the ceiling in an out-of-the-way former factory in Pittsburgh. Craig Morrow, 57, of Ben Avon has given new life to thousands of bikes over the years. Opening a museum of rare, vintage and antique bicycles wasn’t part of the plan, but he just kept collecting bikes by the hundreds, then, thousands. When he had five garages in Bellevue filled with uncountable vintage bicycles and parts, he decided to put them together, and share the collection. “I probably have the largest (Schwinn) Sting-Ray collection in the world,” Morrow says. “Bowden Spacelanders — there are only 38 in the world, and I have 13. It can be up to $20,000 for a bike. “Four of the Spacelanders — a streamlined space-age fiberglass-encased bike designed in 1948 — hang on the wall. On the wall next to the door hangs an 1862 “Boneshaker” — a giant, rickety wooden-wheeled pre-Civil War bicycle that looks like it performs exactly as advertised. After a negative reaction to toxic paint fumes forced him to quit his autobody job, Morrow found collecting and fixing bikes therapeutic. He began fixing bikes in an alley in Bellevue. “The kids brought their bikes, then, their parents did,” Morrow says. “People still come up there looking for me.” Now, Morrow has a thriving business on eBay selling vintage bicycles and parts, which accounts for 90 percent of Bicycle Heaven’s revenues, he says. The ground floor of Bicycle Heaven is fairly straightforward, with bikes arrayed in neat rows, covering the walls and hanging from the ceiling. The shapes, sizes and materials reflect their times — from skirt guards on 1950s girls’ bikes, to a vertical wire rack for carrying your baseball bat on a 1971 Schwinn Sting-Ray Grey Ghost. There are glass cases full of tools, seats, pedals, mirrors, memorabilia and other assorted bike-related ephemera. Then, you wind around a corner, past an 1890s-era tricycle — propelled by pedals and hand levers — into a garage, with a loading dock open to the outside. This is Bicycle Heaven’s repair, rental and for-sale shop, which still is a work in progress. A retractable, attic-like ladder leads to another floor. Climb it, and there’s a labyrinthine maze of many rooms, full of bicycles of all kinds. One room seems to have a comprehensive collection of 1970s “muscle” bikes, styled and often named after hot rods and muscle cars of the day. There are rooms full of rare bike parts, racks of forks and handlebars, a room filled with used tires, which can be restored and used. One room is a former studio, that belonged to artist and sculptor Lorraine Wiegman. When she died, it was stacked to the ceiling with her work. When Morrow took over the room, he kept some, which keep curious company with vintage bikes and an antique pinball machine. The museum is free at the moment. “I’m really not making money,” Morrow says. “I had all these bikes I collected in boxes, and nobody could appreciate them. Now, they can. “Morrow’s collection has been tapped several times by Hollywood, when authentic bikes are needed for a certain time period. Some of his bikes were used in the film, “A Beautiful Mind.” “Russell Crowe rides it, a ’70s bike, in a figure eight,” Morrow says. This summer’s blockbuster “Super 8,” which largely was shot in Weirton, rented several Schwinn Sting-Ray Choppers to get its nostalgic late-’70s atmosphere just right. There will be a Bicycle Swap Meet at Bicycle Heaven on Sept. 17. Antique and classic bike collectors are invited to share their bikes, and buy, sell and trade bikes and parts. As if Bicycle Heaven’s odd location and layout weren’t unusual enough, Morrow and his co-workers think the building might be haunted. Apparently, a girl’s bike in one of the upstairs rooms has a tendency to mysteriously move around the room overnight, when nobody was nearby, says Matt Rind, 53, a longtime friend of Morrow’s and Bicycle Heaven staffer. Open 7 Days a week for all your bike needs, with over 90,000 items I sell on Ebay. The largest collection of bikes and parts in the USA. Featuring bikes vintage and new, accessories, Bowden Spacelander bikes, and all manner of bike related material. Visit us in Pittsburgh, PA (412) 716-4956 or (412) 734-4034. or visit BicycleHeaven.org for a virtual tour. [Article by Michael Machosky:TribLive]