Barnsbury Boy - Raymond Silk: Bike Lovers Everywhere
A few weeks back one of the GoBBS (can’t recall who, exactly [PK telling porkies - ed]), was relating back to when he delivered firewood on his Freddie Grubb bicycle, (very impressed I was too, he deserves to be a millionaire by now). I got to thinking about the bikes we all used to ride, one of my mates had a Claud Butler, another one, Billy (who went to Finsbury Park Secondary Modern, and thought I was clever because I was at a Central School!!!), had a Maclean. We had quite a few frame builders in our local area, there used to be Condor, in Balls Pond Road, Maclean were based in a little arcade at at the Angel where all the buses used to stop outside, and the dream bike a Hetchins, who traded from Seven Sisters Road.
Some of these bikes though were probably beyond the reach of most families. Anyhow, I clearly remember getting my first proper bike, my dad decided we would buy it on a Sunday morning in Club Row and I did not feel too happy about this, as when my dad took me to get stuff, it was not exactly the stuff that I would have chosen. My first recollection of this was when he took me to buy a new overcoat, (somewhere opposite the Arsenal cafe on Holloway Road as I recall, I am sure it was a Royal Airforce Army Surplus Coat, as it was a sort of blue colour, worse still it was far too large and the sleeves covered up my hands, the salesman pinched the back of the coat in and told me to hold out my arms in front of me, ’see, it fits’ he exclaimed.
Anyhow back to the bike, I was hoping for a Claud Butler, sadly I was slightly disappointed, I ended up with a Triumph Torrington, even worse, it had Sturmey Archer gears, I could hardly make out I was Jacques Anquetil with Sturmey Archer gears could I? Still at last I had a decent bike, as time went by, I did manage to fit a Cyclo Benelux derailleur, which must have been quite a feat, as it would have involved fitting a new rear wheel as well, all accomplished with a few rusty spanners and a pair of pliers. I actually remember the first long distance ride atttempted on my new bike, I must have been around thirteen or so and a few of us decided to ride to Southend. They had a cycle path along most of the A127 in those days, so not quite as dangerous as today; off we set with our jam sarnies and orange juice on our long journey, little realising that it was going to take us three and a half hours to get there! Just time for a quick go in the Kursaal, but we were all so knackered that we had to get the train back home, putting our bikes in the goods carriage. Funny thing is mum didn’t have a clue where I was and I was expecting to get into trouble, but I didn’t, happy days!
Barry Page
Great story about the bicycle. Apart from the obligatory three-wheeler when a tot, my pride and joy was a bog-standard Hercules. My Dad bought it secondhand and it was in a sad state. However, as you know with a little TLC the machine was transformed into a road warrior’s dream. New tyres, brake pads, lights, a paint job (hand applied black enamel), etc. I kept it secure in the storage locker at the bottom of a flight of stairs leading into the street so it wasn’t nicked.
Sadly, this all came to a crashing end. In 1958, I was knocked off the bike by a (as it turned out) drunk driver just outside the Duchess of Kent pub – Ellington Street and Liverpool Road. The bike was demolished and I was catapulted over the handlebars whereupon my head struck the granite curbstone and I was out like a light. Rushed to The Northern Hospital, they gave me four hours to live. Fortunately I rallied and survived, but with a concussion, fractured skull and permanent ear damage.
My next bicycle was a Moulton Special, but that’s another story.
John Tythe
I’ve been whizzing about on two wheels since the age of 12, when my aunt Kit bought me my first bicycle from Petticoat Lane market. It cost ten shillings, and was a bit too big for me, had a fixed wheel, but it was my first bike and I loved it. 27” wheels fitted with Palmer Pixie Green Wall Tyres, made it look a bit different. A Brooks B15 Narrow leather saddle also looked a bit odd, but it was so comfortable, that I still ride a B15 today. None of these new fangled Gel saddles for me! Initially I was only allowed to ride round the block, which after about 10 minutes became a couple of blocks, which gradually became further and further. London, especially the City, was becoming my playground.
After a couple of years, I bought a second hand Norman bike, with a Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub gear, that made the ride so much easier. Of course the B15 was transferred, I liked my comfort!
The National Cycling Proficiency course and test was taken, achieving 100% pass and I was enrolled into the Islington Team, to compete in the National Cycling Proficiency Championships. Islington Council, ahead of its time in sex equality, entered a team of boys and girls, the only team to do so. The girls turned up in party frocks and ribbons in their hair. All very pretty, but totally unsuitable for riding a bicycle around an obstacle course. We were soon eliminated, even though the boys scored highly. Positive discrimination is not a good thing!
1965 saw the end of the Norman, when I discovered the total in-effectiveness of rubber brake blocks on wet steel rims. I was unable to stop and ended up, (or is that down?) under the trailer of an articulated lorry. I mostly scrambled away from the oncoming wheels of the trailer, ducking under the axle, but the nearside double wheels ran onto my lower left leg, and when someone got the lorry to stop, it unfortunately stopped on my leg. I can report that two lorry wheels and the trailer are very heavy! It seemed an age before the lorry reversed off my leg, and I was able to crawl out.
The bike frame was bent at the bottom bracket, where my knee was resting, and the rear wheel was never going to get unbuckled again. But the spokes had supported my leg and I emerged with just a grazed knee and a bruised calf muscle. The Casualty Dept. at St. Bartholomew’s, X-Rayed my leg twice, as they could not believe that it could not be broken. Lucky John! I still give articulated lorries a wide berth when they are turning!
I stopped cycling for a while, until my next bike a Wearwell, was purchased from my pal Graham Whitehead. It had a slight kink in the top tube, but was otherwise OK. Graham must have ridden his bicycles the same as he rode his motor scooters – into things!!! I didn’t use it much as I was entering the motoring era of my life. I eventually broke the bike down and sold the bits, with another frame to Len Bovingdon – He was pleased with his buy!
1973, I purchased my first new bicycle, a Raleigh 20, StowAway, a folding bicycle! Car parking was getting harder to find around Studd Street, so I would park in Highbury New Park, take the bike out of the boot of the car, and cycle for 5-6 minutes, to Studd Street. The car was parked a mile and a half nearer to home in Enfield, and I would get home up to half an hour earlier, than I would when parking and walking elsewhere.
1978 Another new bicycle, a Raleigh Europa, was purchased along with another B15 saddle. I rode from Cheshunt to Studd Street (16 miles each way) daily on this bike, did the London to Brighton bike ride, and covered some 80,000 miles on it. Some people won’t be surprised to know that I still have this bike and the StowAway. Oh, and learned that leather brake blocks work well on steel rims – wet or dry!
1991 saw the introduction of Mountain bikes and I bought one of these, with 15 gears, and an awful saddle. On went the B15 – much better. It was, and still is a rubbish bike, today's mountain bikes, like my daughter’s Stump Jumper are much better. But, as with everything, you only get what you pay for! £75 against £2000, says it all really.
1996 saw my first motorcycle purchase. Thirty years after I could have rode one! A Yamaha V80. 80cc semi automatic, step through, bought to do the ‘Knowledge’ on. It did that very well, and I learned that I liked riding a motorcycle, but not sitting in the London traffic. I stopped doing the Knowledge after 6 months. 1997 I bought a Honda CG 125, rode some 16,000 miles and took my test on that, and it doesn’t take long for the lure of a bigger bike to take hold.
1998 saw the purchase of my first big bike, a Honda Hornet CB 600F, affectionately known as Blue Soo. She is blue, and the registration ends ‘SOO’. Me and Blue Soo covered 111,000 miles over the next 8 years, and we featured in the Motorcycle Magazines UBG and Ride. She was semi retired because of the purchase in 2006 of a Honda ST1300 Pan European. 1300cc and 126 brake horse power, make this a very fast and powerful motorcycle. The ABS, dual linked brakes, makes stopping it very easy & reassuring. I’ve only covered 47,000 miles so far on this bike. Hopefully, I have a few years of motorcycling left in me.
Since 1998, I’ve made many new friends in the motorcycling fraternity. Club meets around the country, travelling new and interesting roads, seeing new places, lots of good food and beer, motorcycling is a whole new perspective on travel.
Some of these bikes though were probably beyond the reach of most families. Anyhow, I clearly remember getting my first proper bike, my dad decided we would buy it on a Sunday morning in Club Row and I did not feel too happy about this, as when my dad took me to get stuff, it was not exactly the stuff that I would have chosen. My first recollection of this was when he took me to buy a new overcoat, (somewhere opposite the Arsenal cafe on Holloway Road as I recall, I am sure it was a Royal Airforce Army Surplus Coat, as it was a sort of blue colour, worse still it was far too large and the sleeves covered up my hands, the salesman pinched the back of the coat in and told me to hold out my arms in front of me, ’see, it fits’ he exclaimed.
Anyhow back to the bike, I was hoping for a Claud Butler, sadly I was slightly disappointed, I ended up with a Triumph Torrington, even worse, it had Sturmey Archer gears, I could hardly make out I was Jacques Anquetil with Sturmey Archer gears could I? Still at last I had a decent bike, as time went by, I did manage to fit a Cyclo Benelux derailleur, which must have been quite a feat, as it would have involved fitting a new rear wheel as well, all accomplished with a few rusty spanners and a pair of pliers. I actually remember the first long distance ride atttempted on my new bike, I must have been around thirteen or so and a few of us decided to ride to Southend. They had a cycle path along most of the A127 in those days, so not quite as dangerous as today; off we set with our jam sarnies and orange juice on our long journey, little realising that it was going to take us three and a half hours to get there! Just time for a quick go in the Kursaal, but we were all so knackered that we had to get the train back home, putting our bikes in the goods carriage. Funny thing is mum didn’t have a clue where I was and I was expecting to get into trouble, but I didn’t, happy days!
Barry Page
Great story about the bicycle. Apart from the obligatory three-wheeler when a tot, my pride and joy was a bog-standard Hercules. My Dad bought it secondhand and it was in a sad state. However, as you know with a little TLC the machine was transformed into a road warrior’s dream. New tyres, brake pads, lights, a paint job (hand applied black enamel), etc. I kept it secure in the storage locker at the bottom of a flight of stairs leading into the street so it wasn’t nicked.
Sadly, this all came to a crashing end. In 1958, I was knocked off the bike by a (as it turned out) drunk driver just outside the Duchess of Kent pub – Ellington Street and Liverpool Road. The bike was demolished and I was catapulted over the handlebars whereupon my head struck the granite curbstone and I was out like a light. Rushed to The Northern Hospital, they gave me four hours to live. Fortunately I rallied and survived, but with a concussion, fractured skull and permanent ear damage.
My next bicycle was a Moulton Special, but that’s another story.
John Tythe
I’ve been whizzing about on two wheels since the age of 12, when my aunt Kit bought me my first bicycle from Petticoat Lane market. It cost ten shillings, and was a bit too big for me, had a fixed wheel, but it was my first bike and I loved it. 27” wheels fitted with Palmer Pixie Green Wall Tyres, made it look a bit different. A Brooks B15 Narrow leather saddle also looked a bit odd, but it was so comfortable, that I still ride a B15 today. None of these new fangled Gel saddles for me! Initially I was only allowed to ride round the block, which after about 10 minutes became a couple of blocks, which gradually became further and further. London, especially the City, was becoming my playground.
After a couple of years, I bought a second hand Norman bike, with a Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub gear, that made the ride so much easier. Of course the B15 was transferred, I liked my comfort!
The National Cycling Proficiency course and test was taken, achieving 100% pass and I was enrolled into the Islington Team, to compete in the National Cycling Proficiency Championships. Islington Council, ahead of its time in sex equality, entered a team of boys and girls, the only team to do so. The girls turned up in party frocks and ribbons in their hair. All very pretty, but totally unsuitable for riding a bicycle around an obstacle course. We were soon eliminated, even though the boys scored highly. Positive discrimination is not a good thing!
1965 saw the end of the Norman, when I discovered the total in-effectiveness of rubber brake blocks on wet steel rims. I was unable to stop and ended up, (or is that down?) under the trailer of an articulated lorry. I mostly scrambled away from the oncoming wheels of the trailer, ducking under the axle, but the nearside double wheels ran onto my lower left leg, and when someone got the lorry to stop, it unfortunately stopped on my leg. I can report that two lorry wheels and the trailer are very heavy! It seemed an age before the lorry reversed off my leg, and I was able to crawl out.
The bike frame was bent at the bottom bracket, where my knee was resting, and the rear wheel was never going to get unbuckled again. But the spokes had supported my leg and I emerged with just a grazed knee and a bruised calf muscle. The Casualty Dept. at St. Bartholomew’s, X-Rayed my leg twice, as they could not believe that it could not be broken. Lucky John! I still give articulated lorries a wide berth when they are turning!
I stopped cycling for a while, until my next bike a Wearwell, was purchased from my pal Graham Whitehead. It had a slight kink in the top tube, but was otherwise OK. Graham must have ridden his bicycles the same as he rode his motor scooters – into things!!! I didn’t use it much as I was entering the motoring era of my life. I eventually broke the bike down and sold the bits, with another frame to Len Bovingdon – He was pleased with his buy!
1973, I purchased my first new bicycle, a Raleigh 20, StowAway, a folding bicycle! Car parking was getting harder to find around Studd Street, so I would park in Highbury New Park, take the bike out of the boot of the car, and cycle for 5-6 minutes, to Studd Street. The car was parked a mile and a half nearer to home in Enfield, and I would get home up to half an hour earlier, than I would when parking and walking elsewhere.
1978 Another new bicycle, a Raleigh Europa, was purchased along with another B15 saddle. I rode from Cheshunt to Studd Street (16 miles each way) daily on this bike, did the London to Brighton bike ride, and covered some 80,000 miles on it. Some people won’t be surprised to know that I still have this bike and the StowAway. Oh, and learned that leather brake blocks work well on steel rims – wet or dry!
1991 saw the introduction of Mountain bikes and I bought one of these, with 15 gears, and an awful saddle. On went the B15 – much better. It was, and still is a rubbish bike, today's mountain bikes, like my daughter’s Stump Jumper are much better. But, as with everything, you only get what you pay for! £75 against £2000, says it all really.
1996 saw my first motorcycle purchase. Thirty years after I could have rode one! A Yamaha V80. 80cc semi automatic, step through, bought to do the ‘Knowledge’ on. It did that very well, and I learned that I liked riding a motorcycle, but not sitting in the London traffic. I stopped doing the Knowledge after 6 months. 1997 I bought a Honda CG 125, rode some 16,000 miles and took my test on that, and it doesn’t take long for the lure of a bigger bike to take hold.
1998 saw the purchase of my first big bike, a Honda Hornet CB 600F, affectionately known as Blue Soo. She is blue, and the registration ends ‘SOO’. Me and Blue Soo covered 111,000 miles over the next 8 years, and we featured in the Motorcycle Magazines UBG and Ride. She was semi retired because of the purchase in 2006 of a Honda ST1300 Pan European. 1300cc and 126 brake horse power, make this a very fast and powerful motorcycle. The ABS, dual linked brakes, makes stopping it very easy & reassuring. I’ve only covered 47,000 miles so far on this bike. Hopefully, I have a few years of motorcycling left in me.
Since 1998, I’ve made many new friends in the motorcycling fraternity. Club meets around the country, travelling new and interesting roads, seeing new places, lots of good food and beer, motorcycling is a whole new perspective on travel.