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Although the new, improved bicycle had appealed immediately to a few privileged women, its impact would have been modest had it not attracted a greater cross section of the female population.

I am confusing the part in bold. How to break it down into one or two subject + verb?

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    Sorry, but it's too complicated to break down as simply as you'd like. The subject ("its impact") is easy enough to parse, but then the verb goes into irrealis mood accompanied by a subjective extension. Not easy to digest. The sense of the clause may be understood as: "If a lot of women hadn't been attracted to it, its impact would not have been as great."
    – Robusto
    Jul 22, 2017 at 1:41
  • The part in bold is the main clause. It contains the embedded conditional clause "had it not attracted a greater cross section of the female population", the subject of which is "it" and the remainder the predicate.
    – BillJ
    Jul 22, 2017 at 8:08

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This is a complex sentence formed by one main clause:

  • Its impact would have been modest ("its impact" subject, the rest predicate)

and two adverbial clauses, one of concession:

  • Although the new, improved bicycle had appealed immediately to a few privileged women ... ("the new, improved bicycle" subject, the rest predicate)

and one of condition:

  • ... had it not attracted a greater cross section of the female population ("it" subject, the rest predicate)

In grammar, the most usual thing for us to find is a subject (with one or more noun heads, depending on whether it is simple or compound) and a predicate (containing one or more main verbs, depending on whether it is simple or compound) in each clause (main or subordinate).

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