Long before bicycles settled into the familiar shape we know today, inventors tried almost every arrangement of wheels, seats, and pedals imaginable. Some designs towered over their riders, others carried entire groups, and a few looked more like circus equipment than transportation. These 30 historical photographs and illustrations capture the wonderfully awkward experiments that helped shape the bicycle's early years.
A bicycle you had to push with your feet
This 1818 draisienne associated with Nicéphore Niépce looks surprisingly recognizable until you notice something important: it has no pedals. Riders propelled these early two-wheelers by pushing against the ground with their feet, much like children on balance bikes today. The surviving machine, photographed at the Musée Nicéphore Niépce in France, offers a fascinating glimpse of cycling before the invention of pedal-driven bicycles.
The boneshaker lived up to its name
A European boneshaker dating from around 1868 shows how uncomfortable early pedal-powered cycling could be. Its heavy construction and rigid wheels offered little protection from the bumps of ordinary roads. Pedals attached directly to the front wheel, leaving riders to contend with a rough ride and unfamiliar handling. The nickname was hardly an exaggeration.
Two bicycles, two very different problems
A museum display places an 1869 Hanlon Brothers boneshaker beside an 1885 Victor high-wheel bicycle. The comparison reveals just how dramatically bicycle design changed within a relatively short period. One machine looks low and heavy, while the other lifts its rider high above the ground. Neither offered the familiar comfort of a modern bicycle.
The Otto Dicycle put its wheels side by side
The Otto Dicycle challenged one of the most basic assumptions about bicycles: that one wheel should follow the other. Its two large wheels sat next to each other, with the rider positioned between them. Steering and balancing required a completely different approach from an ordinary bicycle. It was an ingenious experiment, even if its appearance suggested a machine that could roll away with its passenger.
Karl Jatho's enormous sociable tandem
A photograph from around 1900 or 1901 shows German aviation pioneer Karl Jatho with a remarkable oversized sociable tandem. The immense wheels and unusual arrangement made the machine look like a complicated piece of engineering rather than a leisurely bicycle. Its design reflected an era when inventors were still exploring how people might travel together on human-powered machines.
The Salvo Quadricycle doubled the wheels
The 1881 Salvo Quadricycle, photographed at the Coventry Transport Museum, offered a more stable alternative to the precarious high-wheeler. With four wheels instead of two, the machine approached cycling from a completely different direction. The design also shows how blurred the boundary between bicycles and small human-powered carriages once was.
Viscount Bury takes the three-wheel option
An image of Viscount Bury riding a Humber Roadster tricycle captures a period when three-wheeled machines were fashionable alternatives to high bicycles. For riders who preferred not to sit several feet above the road, the tricycle offered an appealing solution. Its elaborate proportions also made it an unmistakable product of the Victorian cycling boom.
A Rudge tricycle with a strange silhouette
The Rudge Rotary Tricycle looks like something assembled from the parts of several different bicycles. Preserved in a Birmingham museum collection, the machine belongs to a period when three-wheeled cycles attracted riders interested in alternatives to balancing on two wheels. Its unusual wheel arrangement demonstrates that Victorian cycling was never limited to a single design.
A tricycle made for two passengers
A historical double-seat tricycle shows how bicycle builders experimented with companionship as much as transportation. Instead of placing riders one behind the other, these machines explored seating arrangements that made traveling together part of the experience. The extra wheels provided stability, although the resulting vehicle was considerably more elaborate than an ordinary bicycle.
Two people on one unusual machine
This image from 1886 captures an extraordinary human-powered vehicle designed to accommodate two people. Its carriage-like appearance reflects an age when bicycle technology and recreational vehicles were developing side by side. Designers had not yet settled on the familiar tandem arrangement, leaving plenty of room for imaginative experiments.
The sociable that kept riders side by side
A scene dating to around 1886 shows a sociable, a type of cycle designed for people to ride together rather than in a single line. The arrangement emphasized conversation and shared recreation instead of speed. For Victorian cyclists, the experience of traveling side by side could be just as important as reaching a destination.
Thomas Humber's remarkable tandem tricycle
An 1885 image of Thomas Humber and C. H. Lambert illustrates another unconventional approach to two-person cycling. Humber was an important figure in Britain's developing bicycle industry, and machines like this demonstrated the variety of designs being explored. Before the modern tandem became familiar, the possibilities seemed almost unlimited.
A photographer plays with the penny-farthing
Photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston posed beside a penny-farthing while wearing men's clothing and a false mustache. The playful self-portrait combined a distinctive piece of cycling equipment with Johnston's flair for challenging conventional expectations. The bicycle itself, with its exaggerated wheels, remains an unmistakable symbol of nineteenth-century transportation.
The Rudge Grand Bi took riding to new heights
The Rudge Grand Bi, dated 1887 in the museum record, belongs to the extraordinary world of high-wheel bicycles. Its enormous driving wheel placed the rider in a lofty position above the street. Larger wheels could travel farther with each pedal revolution, but the arrangement also made mounting, stopping, and falling considerably more intimidating.
John Sokell and the towering front wheel
An 1882 portrait shows John T. Sokell beside a penny-farthing, making the machine's dramatic proportions impossible to ignore. The large front wheel dominated the bicycle, while the rear wheel seemed almost comically small. Riders needed considerable confidence to mount and control these towering machines, especially on uneven roads.
William Martin rides above the crowd
A photograph dating to around 1891 shows champion six-day bicycle rider William Martin posing on a high-wheeler. Competitive cyclists embraced machines that now appear remarkably hazardous. Martin's portrait captures both the athletic ambition and the extraordinary equipment associated with cycling's early racing culture.
The American Star reversed the big wheel
The American Star bicycle rearranged the familiar high-wheeler formula by placing the larger wheel at the rear. This unusual design offered a different response to the handling and safety concerns associated with ordinary penny-farthings. To modern eyes, the result looks almost like a conventional bicycle assembled backward.
A Star Bicycle with mismatched wheels
A 39-by-24-inch Star Bicycle demonstrates just how striking the reversed-wheel configuration could be. The rear wheel dominated the machine, while the smaller front wheel handled steering. Its proportions were unusual even by the experimental standards of nineteenth-century cycling. The design was an attempt to rethink a problem other manufacturers approached differently.
Riding a Star Bicycle down the Capitol steps
An 1885 image depicts Will Robertson of the Washington Bicycle Club descending the steps of the United States Capitol on an American Star bicycle. The scene makes an unusual machine look even more extraordinary. It also illustrates how cyclists used daring demonstrations to draw attention to the capabilities of their equipment.
The Xtraordinary tried to make cycling safer
The Xtraordinary Safety Bicycle of 1888 emerged during a period of intense experimentation with rider stability and wheel placement. Its proportions look awkward compared with later safety bicycles, but designers were working toward an important goal: making cycling less hazardous than riding a towering high-wheeler. The machine captures a transitional moment before the familiar bicycle layout became dominant.
Harry Lawson moves the drive to the rear
Harry Lawson's rear-driving safety bicycle represented an important departure from the front-wheel-driven machines of the high-wheel era. By changing how power reached the wheels, designers could explore a lower and more manageable riding position. Early solutions were not always elegant, but the basic idea helped move bicycle development toward safer everyday transportation.
The Orient Combination Tandem of 1899
The Orient Combination Tandem, manufactured in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1899, demonstrates how manufacturers experimented with carrying two riders on a single machine. Its unusual configuration looks surprisingly elaborate for something powered entirely by people. A surviving example provides a reminder that the bicycle boom produced much more variety than the standard two-wheeler.
A bicycle built for four
Why stop at two riders when a bicycle could accommodate four? This historical machine extended the shared-cycling idea into something considerably more complicated. Keeping several people pedaling together demanded coordination, while the length and arrangement made the vehicle difficult to overlook. Such designs were attractions in their own right.
Three riders sharing one bicycle
An old image of a bicycle made for three captures the playful possibilities of multi-person cycling. Machines like this turned an individual activity into a coordinated group effort. The extra seats and extended structure made the vehicle visually remarkable, even before its riders attempted to negotiate a corner.
Mademoiselle Lefebvre's three-person tandem
An 1896 image features racing cyclist Mademoiselle Lefebvre with fellow cyclists Rousselle and Letort on a tandem built for three. The machine belongs to a period when unusual multi-rider cycles were used for sporting demonstrations as well as recreation. Coordinating the efforts of three cyclists added another challenge to the already demanding world of early bicycle racing.
Six cyclists take on an express train
An illustration from 1896 depicts a sextuplet bicycle racing against an express train. With six riders contributing their efforts to one exceptionally long machine, the scene captures the era's fascination with both speed and mechanical spectacle. Whether viewed as sporting ambition or publicity, the enormous bicycle remains difficult to imagine on an ordinary street.
The quadruplet built for racing
A quadruplet pacing bicycle dating to around 1900 demonstrates how multi-rider machines could serve competitive cycling. Four cyclists shared a single elongated frame, combining their pedaling power into one vehicle. Such machines were part of an era when track racing encouraged extraordinary experiments in speed and equipment.
The Securitas became a pedal-powered omnibus
The Securitas pedal-powered omnibus, illustrated in 1889, offered a remarkably flexible approach to human-powered transportation. Its contemporary description presented a machine that could be configured for one, two, three, or four occupants. The result seems to sit somewhere between a bicycle, a tricycle, and a miniature carriage.
The epicycle that put riders inside a wheel
A June 1896 newspaper illustration presented a peculiar monowheel described as an epicycle. Instead of sitting above a conventional frame, the rider occupied a position within a single enormous wheel. The idea was visually astonishing, although steering and stability raised obvious questions. It was the sort of invention that made a newspaper reader stop and stare.
A nineteenth-century monowheel survives
A surviving monowheel identified as an 1894 design shows just how far bicycle experimentation could stray from the familiar two-wheel arrangement. With the rider positioned inside a giant circular structure, the machine resembles something from an early science-fiction illustration. The museum photograph provides a spectacular final example of an era when inventors seemed willing to reconsider the entire meaning of a bicycle.
