Road Section

he bicycle has been a cheap and easy method of personal transport for over a hundred years, with most people having ridden or owned one at some point during their life. The National Cycle Collection celebrates the working bicycle, the Roadster, the black bike that was used on a daily basis, with fine examples of Ladies and Gentleman's bicycles from the early 1900's to the millennium. The display illustrates the wealth of design, innovation and ingenuity within the cycle industry. British manufacturers include The Bamboo Bicycle Co 1896, based at Wolverhampton with a display of four machines. The company had more faith in their product than one wag who suggested that an improvement could be made by inserting a rod through the inside of the bamboo cane and remove the outer casing.

In the Dursley displays we have a number of machines with frame sizes 2-6, models include a Ladies and a Demountable. Of special interest is the small DP gearing display showing various examples of hubs. Humber loop frame (Ladies) fitted with a Simpson Lever Chain used by racing personalities of the time. The chain and the crank are both displayed together with the rear sprocket. During the Roadster period many machines from different makers were produced, names such as CWS, Premier, Swift, Rudge/Whitworth, Triumph, C Butler, Raleigh and Sunbeam to name but a few, are all on display.

This leads into the Touring section where names such as F Grubb, Sun, Hobbs, Thanet, Sibbit and Selbach all appear together with such experimental and specialist designs as the unconventional Paris Galibier, The Baines and Jarvis Flying Gate, The Hetchins and the Kirk Precision where the frame is forged from magnesium! There are bicycles used in the Tour of Britain and examples of track racing and motor pacing cycles. All these machines are displayed against enamel signs, photographs and posters. The NCC also has in its archive a certain amount of catalogues and general information relating to this period.