That quotation, from Grant Petersen - a legendary bike-builder whose Rivendell brand is the lust object of cycling enthusiasts of a certain retro stripe - is on the wall at the galleries at Moore College of Art and Design. There are quotations there too from H.G. Wells ("When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race"), Susan B. Anthony ("Bicycling . . . has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world"), and other famous fanciers of the two-wheeled, human-powered machine.

In "Bicycle: people + ideas in motion," the exhibition now up and running through Oct. 13 - with an opening reception and performance from 6 to 8 p.m. tomorrow - Moore's galleries have been turned into a nifty celebration of bike history, bike culture, and bike art.

And into an artful acknowledgment of Philadelphia's cycle-centricity: The first bicycle to be seen in the United States was in 1876 at the Philadelphia Bicentennial Exposition. An early breakthrough speed record, by the African American cyclist Marshall "Major" Taylor, was achieved at a Philadelphia velodrome. One of Taylor's bikes is on display at Moore - along with an early "penny farthing" high-wheeler and a 19th-century triangle-frame bike, all on loan from the neighboring Franklin Institute.

"This exhibition is really about Philadelphia," says Lorie Mertes, Moore's curator, who rides around town on a vintage Schwinn Collegiate. "I could have done a huge bike show - there are artists from Picasso to Duchamp, and contemporary artists from around the world, who have created great bicycle-inspired art - but that's not my job, and also we're a small venue, with a small budget. So, what would make the most sense? What would be the most meaningful?

"To me, we had enough going on here - the Philadelphia bike community, and all the cool organizations that are doing things. . . . There's a passion here for the bicycle. If it's the professor from Drexel who's making his own bamboo bike, or the kid who's building a fixed-gear for his girlfriend, or the creative community of the Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby, everybody's really passionate. The bike is this form of personal expression. That's a really interesting thing."

And this show, which will rotate installations (so to speak) and offer a "Bikes & Trikes" family fun day, a bicycle beauty pageant, curated rides, and other events throughout the summer, should prove interesting even to non-cycling gallerygoers.

Check out the Philadelphia-based Bilenky Cycle Works' intricate, dazzlingly colored tandems and mixte frames - works of design and craftsmanship from a crew of frame-builders who double as artists, sculptors, and musicians.

Or the one-of-a-kind mega-size RELoad messenger bags handmade by Roland Burns and his Philadelphia and Seattle artists and embroiderers. Or the collection of "fixie" rims painted in argyle, plaid, polka dots, and other eye-popping patterns. Or the wall of bike art produced by members of the Neighborhood Bike Works, the West Philadelphia nonprofit that teaches kids to rebuild and ride bicycles.

Look at the cargo bikes, the folding bikes, the all-suspension small-wheel Moulton that looks like it was designed by an aeronautics engineer. (It was.)

And in the gallery window on Race Street: Lee Stoetzel's Big Bike, a stop-in-your-tracks-gorgeous sculpture made from pecky cypress and other naturally degraded woods. It's not rideable, but it is art - and a reflection of art in the everyday.

"That's also what this whole thing's about," Mertes says, "to bring to the public these everyday objects and to show how to look at them, to see them in new ways, to think differently about them.

"And if it's a bike that helps bring that along, that's going to help them when they come to look at a painting, too."

And because Moore is an art school for women, Mertes has a special section on the history of women and cycling, from elegant English step-through frames to a high-end Spanish Orbea road bike designed by, and for, women.

Also on hand: street artist and Obama portraitist Shepard Fairey's "Obey" fixed-gear Fuji bike. And speaking of Fuji, two classic road bikes owned by Fuji America's Patrick Cunnane - another cycle company based in Philly, by the way - are on display.

And then there's Ryan Humphrey's Fast Forward: a whole room turned over to the daredevil aesthetic of the BMX, or bicycle motocross, phenomenon. Site-specific ramps, 30 bikes hanging from the ceiling and on the walls, a triple homage to Marcel Duchamp's famous Bicycle Wheel found-art piece using BMX wheels and brakes (and a nod to rocker Eddie Van Halen) can be found here. The New York artist will be present tomorrow, along with a gang of BMX riders, for a demonstration during the opening reception.

Also coming down from New York - by bike - is Brendt Barbur, director of the Bicycle Film Festival. ("There will be at least 100 of us" doing the 90-mile ride, he says.) Launched in New York in 2000, and rolling out to 39 cities around the globe in 2009, the BFF will make its Philadelphia debut in the Moore auditorium this weekend. Films include Where Are You Go, a documentary about a ride across Africa, and I Love My Bicycle, about the BMX builders FBM (for Fat Bald Men). After-parties and rides are also on the festival program.

"We're coming with a snack rather than a full three-course meal," says Barbur, who hosted the ninth annual New York event last weekend and calls his fest a "venue for one of the biggest youth culture movements in the world."

But not just youth culture.

"I was speaking at Lincoln Center recently and I said that and this gentleman who looked to be around 65 stood up and said, 'What do you mean, youth culture? I ride a bike, too.'

"And certainly, cycling does cross generations and demographics," Barbur notes. "That's the beautiful thing. Frankly, the base is that youth culture thing - those are the people who go out to parties and go out every night - but it is a beautiful thing to go to a Bicycle Film Festival and see all the different types of people from economic backgrounds and ages and ethnicities. It's really cool, and inclusive."

Which is another quote you could put on the Moore galleries' wall: "Bicycles - cool and inclusive."

If You Go

The opening reception for "Bicycle: people + ideas in motion" is tomorrow, 6 to 8 p.m., at Moore College of Art and Design, 20th Street and the Parkway. Information on the exhibition and the summer-long series of related events: 215-965-4027, or www.thegalleriesatmoore.edu.

The Philadelphia Bicycle Film Festival is tomorrow at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. For tickets and schedule, go to http://bicyclefilmfestival.

com/.