'Boneshaker' bicycle

Made:
1868 in Salford
'Boneshaker' bicycle, made by Andrew Muir, Salford, 1868 'Boneshaker' bicycle, made by Andrew Muir, Salford, 1868 'Boneshaker' bicycle, made by Andrew Muir, Salford, 1868.

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

Buy

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

Buy

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

'Boneshaker' bicycle, made by Andrew Muir, Salford, 1868
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

'Boneshaker' bicycle, made by Andrew Muir, Salford, 1868
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

'Boneshaker' bicycle, made by Andrew Muir, Salford, 1868.
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

'Boneshaker' bicycle, made by Andrew Muir, Salford, 1868.

Much like modern ‘balance bikes’ that children learn to ride on today the ‘bone shaker’ was an early bike design that developed into the ‘safety bikes’ we recognise as the familiar bikes on our roads. This is an early example of self-propelled vehicles with two wheels. The first velocipedes emerged from Europe in the early 1800’s. By the 1860’s they were being produced in large numbers and quickly developing their designs. Andrew Muir would build these bikes and even rent them. He published adverts in local newspapers advertising his velocipedes. Known as ‘boneshakers’ because their solid tires made for a bumpy, rattling ride around Manchester’s Victorian cobbled streets. Manchester was well placed to cash in on this early bicycling craze as there were lots of skilled engineers and carriage makers to transfer their knowledge into bicycle making. The next iteration of the ‘boneshaker’ was to add a pedal to the front wheel axel.

Details

Category:
Road Transport
Object Number:
Y2005.19.1
Materials:
metal (unknown) and wood (unidentified)
Measurements:
Overall: 1240 mm x 650 mm x 1770 mm, 24 kg
type:
bicycle
credit:
Purchased from Paul Westmacott