As a company, Shimano has deep roots in Sakai, an industrial city with centuries of experience in metalworking.
This expertise made the region a center for the development of weapons such as swords and firearms. Later, these same skills were put to use to produce many of Japan’s first bicycles.
What do guns and knives have to do with cycling innovation? A shared history of craftsmen skilled in metal work - Josh Patterson / Immediate Media
Sakai, part of the larger metropolis of Osaka, is the headquarters of Shimano and is also home to the Bicycle Museum Cycle Center.
Funded by Shimano, this museum holds 200 years of cycling innovation. From the examples of the first Drasines, to penny-farthings and onto modern bicycles, including some that have won world championships, grand tours and circumnavigated the globe.
One more example of how nothing is new in cycling technology, early inventors were quick to experiment with suspension - Josh Patterson / Immediate Media
Take a tour of this gallery for a look at some of the most interesting bicycles from two centuries of innovation and experimentation.
Josh Patterson is a BikeRadar contributor and former technical editor. He has spent most of his career working in the cycling industry as an athlete, mechanic and journalist. He holds a master's degree in journalism and has more than 20 years of experience as a cyclist and 12 years of experience riding and writing for BikeRadar, Cyclingnews, Cycling Weekly, Dirt Rag, RoadBikeReview and Outside Magazine. A native of the Flint Hills of Kansas, Josh was a pioneer in the gravel cycling movement, having raced the first Unbound 200 and many other gravel events around the globe. He considers himself a cycling generalist and enjoys road, gravel and mountain biking in equal measure. When not traveling for work, he can be found exploring the singletrack and lonely gravel roads that surround his home in Fort Collins, Colorado. In addition to his love of cycling, Josh is an enthusiastic supporter of brunch, voting rights and the right to repair movement.
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