King of Scorchers

I managed to buy this 1892 bicycle receipt in France. It mentions the model as K.O.S which is the ‘King Of Scorchers.’  In 1894, George Hendee, founder of Indian Motorcycles, bought a batch of ‘King Of Scorchers’ bicycles from Centaur, and rebadged them as the ‘Silver King’ for his first year of cycle sales. You …

King of Scorchers Read More »

Risen from the Deep

  Like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, this Ariel ‘Featherweight’ X Frame strides out of the River Ouse to take its rightful place in bicycle history. George Morris of the Referee Cycle Co patented most permutations of X Frame bicycle. He had an arrangement with Charles Sangster of Components Ltd to make and sell …

Risen from the Deep Read More »

Baby Bliss & The America

Before cycle racing became the world’s primary sport in the 1890s, ’trick cycling’ was all the rage in the United States.  Before he became world champion cyclist, a young Major Taylor started out as a trick cyclist. Another trick cyclist was Leonard Harmon Bliss, who was 6ft 3 inches tall and a heavyweight – at his peak …

Baby Bliss & The America Read More »

Shake rattle and Roll

This is a promotional youtube video I made 6 years ago. A friend mentioned recently that he enjoyed watching me riding a velocipede, and I admitted that I had to cut the film at that spot as I was trying to ride as slowly as possible past my iPhone camera propped up with stones on …

Shake rattle and Roll Read More »