Road Section
The 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 two 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.
A Dursley Pederson cycle made by R A Lister of Dursley, Glos is shown also a 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, and Selbach 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.
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