A Visit to the Marin Museum of Bicycling

I was in the SF Bay Area last weekend visiting family and had time to drop into the Marin Museum of Bicycling to meet a friend and check out some bikes. This was my first visit to the museum, which opened eight years ago in Fairfax, California. I was lucky enough to get the full tour from none other than Joe Breeze, who many consider to be the father of the mountain bike.



The museum starts way back in time with the boneshakers, penny farthings and safety bikes, and shows the impact of the Dunlop pneumatic tire on the bike industry. Additionally, there is a fantastic array of vintage road bikes, including a few Bianchis that really caught my eye.





But the heart of the museum is mountain bikes, which were born right there at the foot of Mount Tam. The museum has several of the bikes that were critical to the development of the mountain bike, including Joe’s old Scwhinns, the first Ritchey MountainBikes, Jacquie Phelan’s famous Cunningham racer, and more.

If you have time and are in the SF Bay Area, it is definitely worth a visit!