For those in the Bay Area I highly recommend the Marin Museum of Bicycling. They have an absolutely incredible collection and walking through it you can actually see the bicycle evolve from the direct pedal to today's designs. Truly wild to see some of the dead end evolutionary branches. Steering mechanisms, gearing, early chains, brakes -- people tried so many crazy approaches.

It was founded by a lot of the original mountain bikers so it has a lot of the evolution of mountain bikes as well.

I live in Osaka, I did not know this existed so close by, I should go visit.

Love that this is on Hacker News! INRNG has some of the best commentary about professional cycling online, as well as book reviews and travel pieces around famous climbs and races. If you are a fan of professional cycling, it’s a must-read.

No rods or reels? As a Shimano fishing enthusiast, I feel slightly underrepresented here. :)

They also have a museum in Singapore, which I highly recommend.

“The bicycle is a curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine. ” ― John Howard

3 years ago, I visited this museum during my cycling trip across South Korea and Japan. the staff were so friendly

I hope there's an exhibit on the first generation ten-speed dura ace group set, which was a legitimate jump ahead in capability and precision when it was introduced in 2004. Everything since then has been refining some of the same.

I'm going to Japan in a few weeks and was contemplating visiting this. I'm an avid cyclist and bicycle activist. However, not a big gearhead. What kinds of cyclists is it aimed for? Is it worth a detour?

I'm a fairly enthusiastic road rider, and while I'd never trade the tech on my modern bike there's a beauty to those early derailleurs that is lost in modernity.

I had a Shimano bike as a teenager and it was great, the breaks were amazing and I loved riding it until it got stolen right in front of a bank security guard. I still think about the bike.

Thank you for your article.