My parents cycling memories

[Deleted member 1258]

In the 1950's my parents had a Tandem and sidecar, I have vague memories of rides round the Kent countryside. This picture was taken in the late 1950's, might be outside my Grans house but I'm not sure, it shows my Mum, me on the back of the bike and my sister in the sidecar.

 

[biggs682]

In the 1950's my parents had a Tandem and sidecar, I have vague memories of rides round the Kent countryside. This picture was taken in the late 1950's, might be outside my Grans house but I'm not sure, it shows my Mum, me on the back of the bike and my sister in the sidecar.

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that is one wicked looking bit of kit

 

[Deleted member 1258]

that is one wicked looking bit of kit

If my memory serves me correctly the sidecar was built by my Dad on a motorcycle sidecar chassis, I remember seeing it without the body on one day and it was a hefty piece of kit.

 

[biggs682]

have asked dad to dig out any of his old race cards that he might have along with any other pictures

he use to belong to Coventry Demons and he keeps mentioning the " Clarions" but unsure on that

 

[Vapin' Joe]

No one in my family cycled as a sport or leisure activity and when I joined a club and started racing I'm sure they thought I was mad, especially when they found out some of the rides were over 100 miles. I got used to the gasps of horror when they found out how much a decent bike cost - "You could have bought a car for that", etc.

 

[mjr]

No one in my family cycled as a sport or leisure activity and when I joined a club and started racing I'm sure they thought I was mad, especially when they found out some of the rides were over 100 miles.

I knew my parents rode when younger because I remember it, but it wasn't until I rode a few hundreds that I was told a grandmother cycled quite a bit, including a day trip from the Midlands to the Welsh coast amongst others.

 

[Poacher]

My parents lived in Nettleham, about 4 miles NE of Lincoln during the 1950s.
To save money on bus fares, they cycled to town. Trouble was, they only had the one bike between them, so one would set off cycling, ride for about a mile and leave the bike by the side of the road. The other would set off walking, get on the bike (which was still there, unlocked, of course!), ride for about a mile until they'd overtaken the walker, then swap over. Tell that to the young folk of today and they'd laugh in your face!

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

My parents lived in Nettleham, about 4 miles NE of Lincoln during the 1950s.
To save money on bus fares, they cycled to town. Trouble was, they only had the one bike between them, so one would set off cycling, ride for about a mile and leave the bike by the side of the road. The other would set off walking, get on the bike (which was still there, unlocked, of course!), ride for about a mile until they'd overtaken the walker, then swap over. Tell that to the young folk of today and they'd laugh in your face!

I'm sure there's an O level maths question in that story

 

[Levo-Lon]

My parent's were not really cyclists but my wife's parent's used a tandem for everything like the @dave r one above' with a similar sidecar.
they rode from wolverton to london for their honymoon,and had a side car fitted for the 2 kids..
1000's of miles..father in law used to cycle to customers houses to carry out repairs when he worked for the Electric light company until a van became the norm.i guess thats why he is still with us at 95..yes he is frail but his chest and heart are very good.

 

[PeteXXX]

My dad used to cycle to work from Eltham to North Woolwich until he needed a van when he bought a hardware shop in Lee Green The shop was next door to Young's Cycles! That's where I was given a Young's Racing bike. (How I wish I still had it now!!)

My memories of dad cycling was walking to the post box at the end of the road when he was due to ride past on his way home from work, so I could sit on the cross bar for the last 100 yards of his ride.

Mum also used to cycle, but never in my memory.

Year and location unknown, but I would guess 1930's or 40's?

 

[biggs682]

We tub well got some more pictures today some of my dad doing a 20 mile tt between Coventry and where the M45 now finishes best time of 1hr 06 mins on his fixed gear Claud Butler

Then the group photo is the start of a club 100 mile in 8 hrs where you started as a club and had to all finish as a club !!

ATTACH=full]122735[/ATTACH]

Next up is a rest stop on a tandem ride with another couple never seen these pics before

 

[hondated]

Both of my parents were cyclists back in their younger days , in and around Coventry.

Any time we go that way a tale or two is told and quite often certain bikes are referred to.

Well we visited my parents earlier and dad's 1949 racing license was bought out for inspection along with his discharge papers from 1951.

Mum still claims to have done a 10 mile road race in under 28 minutes I can't get near that today!!!

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Thanks for sharing that as I really enjoy stories about those who were doing what we all love many years before us.

 

[hondated]

As I said in my previous post thanks everyone for sharing your stories with us as I really enjoy reading them.

 

[hondated]

We tub well got some more pictures today some of my dad doing a 20 mile tt between Coventry and where the M45 now finishes best time of 1hr 06 mins on his fixed gear Claud Butler

View attachment 122734

Then the group photo is the start of a club 100 mile in 8 hrs where you started as a club and had to all finish as a club !!

ATTACH=full]122735[/ATTACH]

Next up is a rest stop on a tandem ride with another couple never seen these pics before

View attachment 122736

Brilliant

 

[Vapin' Joe]

I've got a book celebrating the first 100 years of my old club, the Goodmayes Wheelers. It was published in 1957 (Unfortunately the club folded in it's centenary year) and some of the mileages described that were routine back then would make the mind boggle today. 200 mile time trials were not uncommon, with competitors riding long distances to the event the day before and home again on the day after or even the same day. And that was virtually all done on a single fixed gear on bikes that were heavyweights by today's standards.