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The combination of the chain drive, the pneumatic tire, and the diamond frame all helped bicycles become very popular among elites and the middle classes in North America in the late 1890s. By the start of the 20th century, bicycling had become an important means of transportation, and in the United States an increasingly popular form of recreation. Bicycling clubs for men and women spread across the U.S. Chicago's immigrant Adolph Schoeninger with his Western Wheel Works became the "Ford of the Bicycle" (ten years before Henry Ford) and by rigorous use of sheet-metal stamping and mass production made his "Crescent" bicycles affordable for working people, and massive exports from the United States lowered prices in Europe.
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