Spring arrived, wheelfolk appeared in the streets and parks, in gaudy striped socks and long-billed "Scorcher" caps.
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This is another language. What are wheelfolk? What are "Scorcher" caps? What are . . . okay, fine, I know what striped socks are. Although not the gaudy kind. I only know the ones we used to wear in the 70s that went up past your knees and had like three thick stripes at the top, usually of blue and red. Wearing those socks for years caused me to wear booty socks for decades.
"wheelfolk"
Cyclists. People riding bicycles. I don't know if bicycles had chains back then or the pedals were just attached to the front wheel. But I suppose if they didn't have chains, wearing long old socks was just part of the look as opposed to being necessary to tuck your pants into so your pants didn't get caught up in the chain.
"long-billed "Scorcher" caps"
I can't find anything that might be a style of cap called a "Scorcher" from the 1800s but modern "Scorcher" caps seem to be Baseball caps. The "long-billed" part sort of gives it away as the same thing but then it could also be a cycling cap as well.
I suspect it's what we think of as a bicycle cap but with a long bill since wheelfolk who rode fast were called Scorchers, especially the women. I suppose a man riding fast was just a man being a man on a bike, just like all the other men who, totally obviously, ride fast and hard too! But a woman who took cycling seriously and raced the boys? She was a total Scorcher! Pynchon's use here is probably gender neutral, simply suggesting the kind of long-billed cap, threaded with elastic, that serious cyclists might be found wearing. What other kind of hat would stay on your head? And it was the 1890s so you couldn't be seen out of the house without a hat covering your head.
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