Vol. 2, Issue 10 - Jul / Aug 2007

Sunday, September 9th – Cambridge Section – Ephgrave Lightweight Ride. This year we are using our ‘hilly circuit’ for the Ephgrave Ride. Start at 10am at Whittlesford Parkway Railway Station Car Park – just off Junc. 10 of M11 at its intersection with the A505. Leave A505 at signpost ‘Whittlesford/Shelfords’ – then shortly take 1st Right SP ‘Station’. (This railway station bisects the road – we use the side nearest Duxford Air Museum/M11. If you end up in the other half of the road it is no problem if you don’t mind crossing the line by footbridge but there is not much parking there.) Car park is £1.00 for the day on Sunday.
This is a hilly ride (by Cambridge standards – about 30 miles, either be fit or have gears! Last year it was done on fixed with no problems but we all know what a toughie Tom Jeffery is!.
We will have lunch at the excellent Ickleton Lion where they serve everything from sandwiches to full roast. Sorry but no coffee stop or toilets at the start.

Mercian Ride: On September 30th Chris Barbour of the New England Section, USA and Martin Hanczyc hopefully with Irene Franco from Venice, are planning a visit to Cambridge UK. Chris and Martin run the pre-1970 Mercian website so we are organising a Lightweight Ride for them with a Mercian theme. Other makes of classic lightweights will be welcome of course to join in the fun.

Sunday, September 30th – Cambridge Section – Mercian Lightweight Ride Meet at 10am by the village pond/sign on the crossroads at Comberton (B1046) some 7 miles from Cambridge. There is a lightly used wide road, Green End, where it will be possible to park.
For Comberton leave M11 at Junction 12 onto A603 towards Sandy, i.e. away from Cambridge. In app ½ mile fork right onto B1046 through Barton to Comberton (in all about 3 miles from M11).
We have planned out the route and it is different to all of our other rides. It will start in Comberton, some 7 miles from Cambridge, and take in Kingston (coffee stop), Bourne, Great Gransden, East Hately, Croydon, Arrington, to lunch possibly at Wimpole Hall (NT). After lunch through Barrington, Haslingfield and Harlton back to Comberton. Even we were amazed what a super run this is with loads of interest on the way, and we live here. I have two Mercians and will loan one probably to Martin if he comes. It would be nice to loan one to Chris, who is a competent cyclist, as evidenced by New England ride reports. His size is around 23″.

As Mercian are one of a few classic 50’s frame builders who are still building to this day (Pennine are another) we will encourage Mercians of any age as they are all part of the real-life history of the marque. This was a feature of our ‘Paris’ ride last year and is was fascinating to ‘contrast and compare’ through the years. Do Mercian still produce the Vincitore? If so we may be able to see them alongside my ‘54 Mercian with Vigorelli lugs which evolved into the Vincitore. I will also bring a rare 1953 welded Mercian.

The Publisher Peter Whitfield (Wychwood Press) has just published a book, 12 Champions, which gives a great insight into the lives of 12 well-known cycling champions from the UK. It includes: Eileen Sheridan, John Arnold & Albert Crimes, Ray Booty, Frank Colden, Les West, Martyn Roach, Phil Griffiths, Sid Barras, Alf Engers, Ian Cammish and Beryl Burton. Even if some of these riders didn’t ride in your main period of interest you will find their stories are interesting. Peter Whitfield has also published The Condor Years (not many left I’m told), a book of cycling cartoons by Johnny Helms, and Eileen Sheridan: A Cycling Life – a photographic record of Eileen’s life. These books are all available from Bibi Bugg (V-CC Club Sales Officer), 71 Rectory Lane’ Breadsall, Derby DE21 5LL

Bradford’s bikes and builders in the late Forties and early Fifties – Part Three
‘or such bits as I can remember’ by Jim Shaw (Cambridge)

Star RC
This was an elite breakaway from Bradford RCC and I only remember the names of Stan Hill and Laurie Kitchen. What I do remember though is a crazy ‘training ride’ they undertook in one weekend from Bradford to Brighton and back. It made the local paper, and was a disaster.

Bill Sugden and the professionals.

Ken Russell mentioned his great friend Bill Sugden, one of the ‘good guys’. Bill was one of those many whom one knew fairly well from riding alongside when clubruns merged, or from teastops and the like.

The opportunity to get to know him better came at the Sports Day of one of the Wharfedale villages and through Bill I discovered the world of the professional grass track rider. Up came the usual bike races and Bill was desperate to ride but for some reason hadn’t got his bike. Would I lend my road bike? I took a lot of persuading but Bill was pleasant and capable. At the start he and a local collided, to my alarm, but all was well and Bill finished second. The winner was on a track bike and in conversation told us that he and a closed shop of other unlicensed pro’s made a good living in the summer by riding at the numerous Miners’ Galas all over the North, where big money was involved, both on and off the track. Empty slots were filled by riding the village shows.

Geoff Clark
Another Bradford frame builder who might easily be forgotten. He was another of the Bradford RCC seniors like Whitaker & Mapplebeck but still racing very actively. Small, lightly built, wiry and quiet – a real gent – but, once on the bike, determined. He won the gruelling Warsaw-Berlin-Prague ‘Peace Race’ on his own – without team or support. His frame-building came fairly late on in my time, and I don’t know where the workshop was, nor anything about his output. I hope those who were around then can tell us but the main thing is that he mustn’t be forgotten.

Some final oddments
Three pieces of equipment which appear to have been unique or very rare in my orbit, two from Walter Greaves and one from Geoff Whitaker. I wonder if they might have been reps’ samples.

KP Alumlite rims. When I wanted a new pair of wheels built Walter Greaves produced these. They had the normal braking surface then a raised centre which stiffened the rim, shortened the spokes, and lifted the nipples away from the tube. The wheels were undoubtedly stiff but looked so clumsy, and I was all for elegance, even at the expense of function. I never saw any others, and soon sold them on. They were sensible and would look quite at home on a modern off-roader.

Dunlop moulded rubber saddle. We all used to cosset our Brooks saddles and try to protect them from the wet, especially that thrown up from the back wheel. Leaguers did not use mudguards except in the winter. One day Greaves produced this dark grey object which was like a B15 and a mite heavier. It had the usual frame underneath and saddlebag loops which were all moulded in. Of course it laughed off rain, needed no attention at all, and wasn’t always trying to get back its original shape – i.e. flat. I used it for years and years and years, until it got beyond saving, but I never saw or heard of another, nor met anyone who had.

Bartali brake levers. One of the finest devices known to non-climbers. Geoff Whitaker pulled them out one day. They were cast aluminium and chunkier than GB’s, being fairly broad across the front and nobbly, not the usual smoothly rounded. The nobbles fitted the fingers but the real clincher was the full-width hook under which you curled a finger when climbing. They came without callipers and were magic. I never saw any others and had no option but to throw them sadly away when they eventually fell to bits. Jim Shaw

In L News 9 I mentioned an unusual set of GB brakes which had nipples at both ends of the cables.

Ed.

I was reading an item the other day on Classic Rendezvous and the writer explained how, as a youngster, his father had bought him what was intended to be his pride and joy: a brand new Wearwell sports bike as sold by one of the local cycle shops. The story that followed must have been acted out in so many homes in the 50s. The boy started to go out with the local cycle club and within a week or so had removed the mudguards, the derailleur gears and the rear brake. The machine was then fitted with a fixed gear (probably without locknut!). The 50s must have been littered with distressed parents who had seen their sons do this to a carefully chosen machine which would have cost a lot of money by standards at that time. The next step would be to replace components with ‘gen’ new or used items as and when afforded and later to purchase, perhaps a second-hand, lightweight frame.

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It wasn’t that easy – The Tommy Godwin Story’ by Tommy Godwin
A review by Peter Underwood:

As we were at Herne Hill in early June where Bibi was present with the V-CC publications it seemed appropriate to purchase The Tommy Godwin Story since he was a rider who made his name in track racing.

Having been brought up during WWII I always find the social history relating to this period and the years soon after quite fascinating. In 1932, aged 12, Tommy returned to England with his family from the States due to the Depression. His father, who could be described as sports-mad, had ambitions for Tommy to be a top sportsman and straight away started a severe training regime for him with this in mind. Having dabbled in several sports, including boxing, it was some time later that they found that cycling was to be the sport of his choice.

Needless to say, this book provides a great insight into what was going on in the world of cycling from the mid-1930s until 1995 when the book finishes. It also manages to paint a history of social conditions at the time, especially in the earlier years. One thing the reader will learn is how difficult things were in those days. The book not only depicts how hard Tommy was driven by his father but also how hard life was for most in the UK.

Throughout it gives a deep insight into the world of cycle racing, warts and all. Believe me. there are plenty of warts – you may revise your ideas of some of your heroes after reading this! As well as revealing a lot about the sometimes murky world of track racing it will leave you in no doubt as to how badly the sport of cycling was managed and organised during this period. As TG was based in Birmingham this book gives a slightly different perspective in that he was an outsider when competing in the London and Manchester areas.

In the book there are images of Tommy with the gold trophies he won outright on the track – after reading this book you will feel that one should have been awarded to his wife, who kept the family and business going for years in spite of suffering a serious bout of consumption at one time. The support she gave to him in his quest for success qualifies her as a martyr, I feel.

Tommy gave up competitive cycling in 1953 and then went on to put something back into the sport with administrative help, coaching and managing UK teams. Still one gets the impression of a man trying to bang his head against a brick wall built by the racing establishment. His efforts to set up serious and properly funded training and the opposition he faced are unbelievable now, but that’s how it was.

Some of the above remarks could seem slightly negative but I read the book in record time as I found it hard to put down and my knowledge of the UK racing scene is a lot fuller thanks to it. More than just a book about one man’s career, it is a fascinating record of the cycling world in that period.

This is another excellent publication by the John Pinkerton Memorial Publishing Fund of the Veteran-Cycle Club and well worth the £15 price tag. Cheques should be payable to ‘Veteran-Cycle Club’ for £15.00 + £1.50 P+P and sent to: Bibi Bugg (V-CC Club Sales Officer)
71 Rectory Lane
Breadsall
Derby DE21 5LL

David Hardy tells us that he has a very rare Sid Mottram headbadge. It is rare as most Mottrams had a transfer on the head tube. If anyone is genuinely restoring a Mottram he would consider letting it go. He doesn’t want it to go to someone whose idea is to sell it on. David is also giving us some details of the Kier Hardy CC to add to our pieces on the left-wing cycling clubs.

Dave Davey Cycles – Bryan Clarke and Steve Griffith are wanting to do some research on Dave Davey and would like to hear from you if you know anything about his cycle workshop or shop. Obviously they would like details of any Dave Davey machine you may own.