Out and About

Touring Topics by Les Rideout

More on Vintage Bikes

A Transport for London advertisment in a local paper announced “The Tour de France Road Show” listing among other attractions a display of vintage bikes. I had seen the ìroadshowî at the finish of the Tour of Britain, in the Mall, last summer so gave it only a cursory glance. However, the display of vintage bikes held my attention for a considerable time and was attracting the attention of others. The display ranged from a Humber tandem tricycle circa 1884 to a Raleigh roadster of 1939. Amongst the machines were; A Facile, c 1885 - a forerunner of the safety bicycle by JK Starley, the Rover of 1885 - its “dropped” pedalling gear enabled the huge front wheel of the Ordinary to be scaled down and the rear wheel to be increased in size. The foot levers were pivoted at the fork ends to lower extensions of the front forks and their mid-points connected to cranks by articulated links. A Humber Tandem Tricycle - was basically a trike with a second seat and another pair of pedals with a chain drive to the differential rear axle gear. It was essentially two large wheels in parallel, with the riders sitting between them, with a much smaller trailing rear wheel. A Rudge Quadricycle, c 1887 - quadricycles were often converted tricycles, or coupling a front wheel and “backbone”
side by side. A two track tandem machine was produced for the Royal Mail.