Equipment – 1925 bicycle specification

The specification of a bicycle in 1925 was still quite basic.  Fixed wheel, no gears, mudguards a fairly recent innovation, Brooks saddles (who else!), drop handlebars if you were riding a ‘lightweight racer’,  and just the one brake operating on the front wheel.

Braking, via the fixed wheel at the back, was compromised by the lack of toe clips to pull up on the downward sweep of the pedal – and as for the tyres, well, they had an inclination to puncture at the drop of a hat.  Wheel bearings and bottom bracket sets were all very basic compared to even 30 years later, but the good old cotter pins lasted well into much more modern times.  But in 1925 you could buy a pair of stout cycling shoes for less than £1.

Birth of a Cyclist

It is only a few days since I introduced you to Charlie’s first words. I thought that this was the earliest recollections of Charlie’s cycling exploits but now in “A Long Memory” David has turned up this charming vignette of some much earlier excursions.

As someone who was brought up in a place from which you could actually see the moors above Belmont village then I suspect that I appreciate probably more than most just what an adventure it must have been for a seven year old to go out on such a journey – and in the dark too. I know that the roads must have been very quiet in 1911 but even without modern traffic I don’t think that I would have seriously contemplated that journey at the tender age of just 7 years.

In this piece Charlie tells us that he is now fifty four suggesting that he wrote this in 1958.

Youth Unemployment

Upon completing his apprenticeship Charlie was unable to find work. Much later (unfortunately this piece is undated) he wrote about his period on The Dole and the hardships that he endured at that time. It is difficult, whilst reading this, not to draw some parallels with the present situation in Britain where so many young people are currently experiencing difficulties in finding work.

It is rather difficult to unravel the dates in this piece. Charlie says that upon completing his apprenticeship at the age of 21 (1926?) he was out of work for 2.5 years. The way the piece is written it seems that this period of unemployment came to end when he finally found work at the new Ford’s factory in Dagenham. Yet we know that he started work there in May 1933 – some 7 years later. Maybe as we read more of his writing from those intervening years he will shed some more light onto what he was doing during this period.

I found this rather marvellous painting by Terence Cuneo of the Dagenham works on the Bonhams website. As yet I haven’t tracked down whether I am permitted to use this image (still working on it) so I may have to take it down. But in the meantime it is such a great picture that I simply couldn’t resist using it for now.

Charlie’s first words

Charlie’s first diary entry – like those of many other people – is dated 1 January, in his case 1922.

In it you will see the early makings of someone who was to become a fine author. His enthusiam for cycling is clear from the start and he sets out a pretty clear vision of how he intends to develop this pastime that we are – through the pages of this site – going to come to know quite intimately as his story unfolds.

Clearly he was already an established cyclist – having owned a cycle for 8 years prior to his 17th birthday – although he seems only to have taken it up seriously in the previous year in which he says he covered 1760 miles. He says he has already taken many holidays on a bicycle, though it is also clear that in these cases it was merely for transport to get there and back. He also expresses a love of the sea and boating and it will be interesting to see whether he returns to this in future years.

He also says that he did take a couple of rides out with Farnworth Wheelers during 1921, but that seemed to be enough to convince him that they were too slow so he is clearly planning to break out. The other comment that we should note is how Charlie already seems to have developed a strong aversion to “petrolised demons“.

Finally, this page also includes the earliest known picture of Charlie. This picture was actually taken in 1925 – some 3.5 years later than these initial jottings, by which time he would have been approaching his 21st birthday.