Renaissance bicycle – A YouTube build team recreated a Renaissance-era bicycle using Leonardo da Vinci–inspired drawings, including pedals, brakes, and period-style materials—while discovering that the chain struggles to bring the bike up to riding speed.
There’s a drawing of a bicycle sitting in a sketchbook attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. Except it wasn’t drawn by him—and it dates long after his death—so the idea can’t be taken as proof of an Italian master inventing the bicycle.
Still, that one questionable sketchbook detail was enough to pull the question into the real world: what would a Renaissance bicycle actually look like if da Vinci had built one?
The [How To Make Everything] YouTube channel decided to find out. They built a bike based on the sketchbook’s drawings, treating the project like a guided tour through early modern engineering—wood first, metal where it has to be, and mechanisms that feel plausible for the era.
In some ways, the finished device resembles the early 19th-century “primitive hobby-horse proto-bicycle.” That’s not random. From the Renaissance to the dawn of the industrial era. there wasn’t a huge shift in how Europeans worked with wood. and the build leans into that reality. The difference from [Karl Drais]’s invention is that this one includes both pedals and brakes. The pedals and brakes are tied to drawings drawn from da Vinci’s sketchbook. which is where the project’s whole premise starts to feel tangible.
What surprises some viewers is that ball-bearings don’t have to be da Vinci’s idea to fit the story. The build notes they’re period-appropriate, and weren’t even invented by da Vinci. Other parts are treated more literally. The drum brake. for instance. is described as coming right out of the Old Master’s notes: a steel band wraps around a drum on the rear break. and is tightened by a lever. The makers also argue that with iron rims. stopping power wouldn’t be “on a dime”—but the design is simple enough that it still has a credible chance of working in practice.
Then comes the weak point, and it shows up exactly where you’d expect: the chain. The project says the chain is based on one in da Vinci’s notes. but also calls it a weak spot in the design. The team suggests the bike may have been better served by a leather belt. or even a stack of gears—like other approaches they’ve shown before. In the end. the hand-made chain “just isn’t able to get the bike up to riding speed. ” turning the build into a kind of lesson in how much friction there is between elegant drawings and a functioning drivetrain.
Even with that limitation, the result is undeniably a bicycle—and undeniably entertaining for anyone who likes the idea of building history into motion, whether they’re curious about Renaissance tech or simply want a story they can take “after the apocalypse.”
The video is embedded here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVgBdjDXxLc.
Leonardo da Vinci Renaissance technology bicycle build pedals drum brake ball bearings chain How To Make Everything vintage engineering DIY
So wait, da Vinci really built a bike??
Honestly the chain struggling thing makes sense, like if it’s Renaissance tech it’s not gonna hit riding speed. Still cool they tried to make pedals and brakes from drawings, but I saw someone say the sketch wasn’t even his??
I don’t get why they keep calling it “da Vinci’s” like the article admits it wasn’t drawn by him and was after he died. But then they’re like “period appropriate ball-bearings” and “drum brake from his notes”… so which is it? Sounds like clickbait dressed up as history.
Renaissance bike sounds cooler than it is, kinda like when people build replica swords and then it’s heavy and doesn’t work right. The drum brake thing is wild though, steel band around a drum?? Also the bike resembles those old hobby-horses, which means it’s basically a modern art project pretending to be science. I’d still watch the YouTube video but the whole chain not bringing it up to speed… yeah that’s what happens when you’re not using modern gearing.