Map Man and The English Roadster

A new television series on about the history of various maps started last week on BBC 2 last week. Presented by Nicholas Crane, the first episode of Map Man featured a bicycle ride around the middle of the Lake District using a 100 year old St. Bartholomew’s Half Inch to the Mile Series of maps for cyclists. Not on a gleaming new mountain bike, but on a rickety old boneshaker that looked to have been rescued from a skip, or at least Mr. Crane's Granddad’s shed.

The modern cycle mechanic that Mr. Crane took the seventy years old Hercules roadster to for him to cast his eye over, looked slightly bemused, pronounced the rear rod brake ineffective and the tyres too bald to get much grip on the “technical route” (whatever that means) it was about to attempt. Nicholas asked if the very loose fitting seat wasn't some kind of “primitive suspension system, then?”. The mechanic offered to tighten the saddle, but didn't offer (at least in the programme) to adjust the rear brake (had he worked on one before?), and awarded the bike 2 out of 10 for it's suitability for the intended bummel through the hills.

Now, dear reader, the members of the Beverley Tweed Bicycling Club think Mr. Crane may just have been having a little fun at the expense of our bicycle mechanic! Now Nicholas is best known for his walking nowadays, as seen in the television series Coast, but he happens to know a thing or two when it comes to bicycles. Our dear presenter is the veteran of several bicycle expeditions and the author of a number of bicycle books. In at least one of them, he has written about how one of his long distance (and “technical”?) expeditions was completed on a Phillips roadster.

Mr. Crane knew something about roadsters only too well (and probably also knew very well that the bike mechanic didn't). The roadster may have had ineffective brakes, it may have had a loose saddle, it may have had rather balding tyres, but Mr. Crane knew from before his journey even started that the bicycle was more than capable of completing the “technical course” even if it was “50 % heavier than a mountain bike”, didn't have mountain bike tyres nor its 27 gears, and he might have to get off and push occasionally.

Mr. Crane knew this because he knows that for the first seventy years or so of the modern bicycle's existence, the roadster was the bicycle of the world, and was used for expeditions from weekends in the Lake District to, (literally), around the world circumnavigations. Every weekend, thousands of bicyclists left our towns and cities (where they used their roadsters for their daily commute to the factory, shipyard, or coal mine), rode their sturdy steeds to the Lake District (or the Highlands or the Yorkshire Dales), and then rode them over the hills, through the mountain passes, and across the flooded streams, even if they had to get off and push them occasionally. The “rough riders” and the “pass stormers” (members of the Rough-Stuff Fellowship formed in 1955) and their predecessors did this every weekend for the seventy years before the mountain bike was invented. The very first crossing of Iceland's Sprengisandur wilderness was completed by an Englishman on a Raleigh threespeed roadster complete with chaincase before it was crossed by a motor vehicle.

 

Mr. Crane may have joked about the state of an Edwardian bicyclist's bottom at the end of such a ride, the members of the Beverley Tweed Bicycling Club wager that a seventy year old sprung leather saddle is more comfortable than that of a modern seat on a mountain bike.

Members also wager that there won’t be many seventy year old mountain bikes being ridden in the future, around the Lake District or anywhere else.

"Don't sneer at old 3-speeds. They are serious bikes, built for serious use. They are meant for utilitarian cyclists, and they are still extremely appropriate for riders who don't usually go more than a few miles at a time. They are particularly at home in stop-and-go traffic, because they can be shifted even while stopped. Their English heritage: full fenders, oil lubrication, and totally enclosed gear system makes them relatively impervious to wet conditions. They may be heavy, but that is not because they were built to be cheap, but because they were built to endure extremely rough usage and neglect. Properly cared for, they will outlast us all. "

Sheldon Brown

Here Comes the Rain (Or The Case For A Chaincase)

Autumn seems to arrived here in Yorkshire. Low cloud and drizzle have dominated our skies for days (although the London-based weather forecast each day has predicted sunshine). The Beverley Tweed Bicycling Club, undaunted, indeed exhilarated by "weather", and suitably dressed for it, continue to enjoy the pleasures of bicycling in town and country.

For decades after the modern bicycle (the English roadster) was invented, most bicycles came with a chaincase as standard. It rained (and snowed) in England (and elsewhere) for millennia before that. Some chaincases even included an oil bath for the chain. As well as protecting trousers and skirts from oil. the chain and sprockets are protected from the worst of the British weather, and the dust and grime of everyday riding. This means that chains can (and do) virtually last forever, well years anyway. They don't require time and expensive cleaners to clean them; nor time, and frequent applications of expensive lubricants to maintain them.

Most bikes these days don't come with chaincases. Although apparently one or two are made for derailleur-equipped bikes, we suspect very few have been ever fitted to one, and most modern hub geared and single speed bikes don’t have them either. Some will say that mending a puncture is a “nightmare” (which means a few minutes more work ). They do add a little weight, but a roadster is an elegant, utility, transportation bicycle, not really intended for racing. Style not speed. We wonder if the reason more bikes don't have them fitted is that most cyclists are interested in fashion and wouldn't have one for fear of being off-trend or old fashioned.

The cycle trade certainly would sell less chains, lubricant, sprockets and cleaners if chaincases were common. Call us cynics (we are), but we also wonder if that might be a reason why most bicycles today don't come with chaincases.

When the Dutch took the English roadster to their roads (and their hearts) in the 1890s, they took the chaincase with it. The Dutch are a practical as well as a stylish people, like their Dutch bicycles, and saw the benefits of having an enclosed chain as well as hub gears.

To the members of the Beverly Tweed Bicycling Club, the benefits and style of enclosed chaincases is something we like very much. We certainly admire the looks of our Pashleys, and other roadsters that are fitted with them.

  

When other cyclists are cleaning and lubricating their chains, we raise a  glass ( or a cup) to chaincases, while we enjoy out tea and cake.

 

 

The Beverley Tweed Bicycling Club's First September Bummel*

The Beverley Tweed Bicycling Club enjoyed its first September ride today. Leaving Beverley in mid-afternoon, the club donned tweed and mounted their trusty steeds, and bicycled eastwards towards Leven and beyond. The sunshine promised for today by the weather forecast didn't quite materialize , although it came close on a couple of occasions in the afternoon. This was the first club run along the bicycle path from Beverley to Leven. The opened this year after being built with Government bicycling infrastructure monies. It certainly made the experience of riding a velocipede more pleasurable when not forced to share the carriageway with motor vehicles. The path is often used by our lycra-clad brothers and sisters. Hopefully, this will mean more of them will see the benefits of segregation of bicycles from motor traffic. In fact, there only seemed to be a couple of minor downsides to the path. Firstly, there was having to give way to motor traffic at every driveway and side road. Surely the priority should be to the bicycle path and not to traffic crossing it. The Dutch and the Danes have got this right, we need to learn from them. The other downside is it meanders strangely through existing lay-bys and moves around strangely for no apparent reason rather than taking a more direct way. At one point the path narrows considerably as it occupies what was the existing footpath in front of some cottages, which would make an interesting bottleneck with bicyclists and pedestrians travelling both ways.

But all in the all, the path receives the thumbs up and the Club would like to see the path extended all the way to Hornsea. Well, we can hope...

The route goes through Tickton village after going over the footbridge over the River Hull. Members paused to remove their caps at the memorial to the crews of two Halifax bombers from 78 Squadron RAF Breighton killed in 1943 in a mid-air collision after being diverted to Leconfield due to thick fog.

At the end of the path, the club followed the road to Leven (part of the former main White Cross to Bridlington road before the by-pass was built but now a quiet road leading to Brandesburton before re-joining the main road). The Club planned to visit the canal, but some doubtful route planning led to an interesting diversion. Following the road through the village of Little Leven heading towards the airfield, the Club caught a glimpse of standing stones through some trees. We rode over and found an old churchyard. Reading the informative noticeboards the Club discovered this was the site of the now long-demolished church of St Faith with only its churchyard remaining. It was built in 1350, replacing s a wooden church on the same site, and used as a church until 1843. It was partially demolished in 1844 although its chancel remained in use for funeral services until the graveyard closed in 1876.  The chancel was finally demolished in 1883 as by then it had become unsafe and was in danger of collapse.

Retracing its wheel tracks, the Club found its way back to Leven and then down to the canal. A pleasant hour was spent next to a bridge. The Club took Tiffin, and relaxed watching the wildlife on the canal in what afternoon sunshine there was. “Tiffin” to Beverley Tweed Bicycling Club members may consist of tea, and sandwiches, followed by more tea, followed by cake, followed by more tea.

The club then returned back to Beverley. The trusty steeds (English roadsters) seemed to enjoy their bummel* through the country lanes as much as their riders. Some could not resist showing a surprising turn of speed. One or two riders of modern road bikes, still known as racing bikes or racers to Club members, seemed surprised to see roadsters on their jaunt so far from town.

The homeward journey seemed a little shorter than the outward one. After riding through Tickton, instead of going back over Hull Bridge, the Club turned left and followed the Weel Road back to Beverley, crossing the river at the old shipyard and onto the Grovehill Road. On arriving home, and “stabling” their steeds for the night, some members may have enjoyed a wee dram ...

"A 'Bummel'," I explained, "I should describe as a journey, long or short, without an end; the only thing regulating it being the necessity of getting back within a given time to the point from which one started. Sometimes it is through busy streets, and sometimes through the fields and lanes; sometimes we can be spared for a few hours, and sometimes for a few days. But long or short, but here or there, our thoughts are ever on the running of the sand. We nod and smile to many as we pass; with some we stop and talk awhile; and with a few we walk a little way. We have been much interested, and often a little tired. But on the whole we have had a pleasant time, and are sorry when it's over."

 

From "Three Men On a Bummel" by Jerome K. Jerome.

A Beverley Tweed Bicycling Club Member's  English Roadster Outside The West Door of Beverley Minster.

The Beverley Tweed Bicycling Club

 

 

 

 

Do you ride a bicycle in Beverley and the East Riding of Yorkshire?

Do You Like Beautiful, Practical

Traditional English Roadsters Or Dutch Bicycles?

Do You Like Cycling In Everyday Clothing Made Of Practical And Natural Materials?

Do You Prefer Style To Speed? Elegance To Exertion?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Beverley Tweed Bicycling Club.

Because There's More To Cycling Than Lycra And Racing

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