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The Velocipede was first introduced in France around 1861 by Pierre Michaux. The machine soon became very popular with the public and demand for the Velocipede was high, this gave other manufacturers an open invitation into the market and Velocipedes were copied world wide - thus the cycle industry was born. In Britain, the Velocipede was called a ‘Boneshaker’, because it was uncomfortable to ride.

In the 1860s and 1870s, all types of cycles were called Velocipedes. The same way we use the word ‘bike’ today.

This Velocipede has Phantom wheels. This means that the spokes of the wheels are made of wire and are in pairs, for example, one wire makes two spokes. On the inside of the rim are eyes, and the wire spokes are looped through the eyes and the ends clamped between two-halves of the hub flange.

The Phantom wheels are also fitted with rubber tyres, these were strips of rubber valcanised to canvas, and nailed onto the wooden rim of the wheel. The idea of the wire spoke wheels, with strips of rubber fitted as tyres was to create more suspension, making it less of a 'bone-shaker'.