Glasgow's Cycling Heritage

[Dugald]

A great story Dexter! I just finished reading it and I must say this fellow "Shug" must have been a great cyclist. I wish I'd known him, but I don't even recall having heard of him. I knew of his contemporaries such as Kenny Laidlaw (first Scot to ride the Tour?), Ernie Scally (the whisky plunderer), Jimmy Rae, and of course Ray the "Boot". The only Scottish rider I recall riding in the prestigious Berlin-Warsaw-Prague road race, the co-called Peace Race, was Govan's Ian Steele, and he of course, actually won it. I guess Ian would have been a bit older than Shug.

Aside from his ability as a cyclist, it seems Shug was a fine fellow in many other ways. I enjoy hearing about this kind of Scottish cyclist. Smoking? Yes, there were quite a few Scottish cyclists smoked in my day too including, I regret having to say, myself. Johnny McKenzie (Douglas), the man who beat Reg Harris in Glasgow, was a very heavy smoker. I don't recall any of the big names among the road riders in Scotland who smoked.

The obituary tells us Shug made his exit during a "habble". I'm sure that's the way he would have wished to go; although on second thought, he'd probably have preferred to have been leading the field up the hill rather than following behind. Dave Bedwell, the winnigest BLRC rider and a contemporary of Shug, died in a habble just like Shug, only Dave won the prime.

[Aulyin]

I have taken this from the '1st bicycle accident: 1842' after receiving an invite from Dugald.

"I see that this year is the 170th anniversary of the 'true bicycle', a bicycle you could ride without putting your feet on the ground. After reading on a bit I found that, 3 years later, Kirkpatrick MacMillan rode his new invention from Drumlanrig Castle to Glasgow in 1842, taking him two days to do the 68 miles. When he arrived there, he knocked down a wee lassie and was fined.

Is this not a perfect opportunity to promote cycling, especially this years Tour of Britain Cycle Race?

Get people on their bikes.

Dumfries & Galloway are having a bike fest in May.
http://www.originalbicyclefestival.co.uk/

Cheers, Aulyin"

Could I just add a suggestion? Organise a race to commemorate the invention of the bicycle 170 years ago this year (or the 1842 ride from Drumlanrig to Glasgow). This is the year of the Homecoming and one of the things we are supposed to be celebrating is innovation, what better way than to promote the invention of the true bicycle than introducing an annual cycling event over the tracks of the inventor: Kirkpatrick MacMillan, the De'il on Wheels?
Drumlanrig has a small bicycle museum, Glasgow has a transport museum, the corridor between the two is filled with innovation. Perhaps the saying "If only Burns had owned a bike, we'd all be cried Burns" gave Kirkpatrick, who lived just along the road from Ellisland, the idea::):. The Chris Hoy Challenge Cup:idea:

Cheers, Aulyin

[rico]

http://www.theflyingscot.com/

The website seems to be backup in full. it would be good to get a lot of the history should be added to wikipedia for prosperity in case this site goes down again.

[rico]

I saw an interesting post on the Mercian blog about headtube badges:

[Lucky Poet]

A slightly random request, but have any of you ever heard of the 'Vulcan' brand. That being my old man's bike of 50s vintage. I'd ask him about it myself but I'm not too good at contacting the spirits
A decent enough machine though: 531 throughout and all that, with those spindly highly-raked forks they seemed so fond of in those days. Any info would be much appreciated - a cursory Google revealed not a lot. (I think it's only the frame that's original though; he was fond of upgrading parts back in the day.)

<Edit> I just noticed the 'Vulcan' badge on Mori's linked pics. It's been a long night. Still, at least the brand isn't a figment of my fevered imagination.

[Dugald]

I saw an interesting post on the Mercian blog about headtube badges[/url]:

An interesting array of headtube badges Rico. The only ones I can identify are the two Raleigh badges shown, but this is because its outline shape is readily distinguishable. I thought I might have seen a Hetchins too, but i don't think there's one there; well not that i could see anyway, even with the use of my magnifying glass.

[Dugald]

I don't recall a "Vulcan" make frame Lucky Poet, but if it was made with 531 tubing back in the 50's, then it would have been considered a good bicycle. This was good tubing and even today there are still people here who prefer this kind of tubing to all the carbon fibre stuff that one sees around. Over the past five years or so I sold four good good bikes all with frames of tubing comparable with the 531-tubing. I sold them to the same dealer and he wanted them because there was a market for good steel frames.

Yes, those those spindly highly-raked forks were indeed popular back then. I used them myself. They were part of the long wheel base (42"... I think! ) and parallel 72° down tubes made so popular by the current international Italian super star, Fausti Coppi.

[Dugald]

Aulyin, your suggestion for a Kirkpatrick MacMillan memorial bike race sounds like a good idea. I hope someone takes you up on your suggestion. I know these roads quite well and they'd provide all that's needed for a good "into Glasgow habble". I particularly like your title, "The Chris Hoy Challenge Cup"... certainly Chris merits a race bearing his name. and Kirkpatrick of course deserves, at the very least, a habble into Glasgow to remind us where the bike came from in the first place.

[Dexter St. Clair]

I saw an interesting post on the Mercian blog about headtube badges[/url]:

An interesting array of headtube badges Rico. The only ones I can identify are the two Raleigh badges shown, but this is because its outline shape is readily distinguishable. I thought I might have seen a Hetchins too, but i don't think there's one there; well not that i could see anyway, even with the use of my magnifying glass.

Clean the specs Dugald there's a Flying Scot in there, a Reg Harris a Condor and a BSA.

Actually if you go to the link and then hit the photo you will see the big picture.

[Aulyin]

Thanks a lot Dugald (I think). I Googled - Glasgow "Habble" - to see what you were talking about:
Urban Dictionary: habble rabble ... habble rabble - 1 definition - The meaningless rambling often associated with elderly history teachers.

I posted a "Pedal Power Project" suggestion onto the project board seeing as though you're the only one interested here. Cutting it fine just now if we expect to get anyone to take the idea seriously this year.

Thanks for the input.

Cheers, Aulyin

[Dugald]

Clean the specs Dugald there's a Flying Scot in there, a Reg Harris a Condor and a BSA.
Actually if you go to the link and then hit the photo you will see the big picture.

Thanks Dexter, I cleaned my specs and had a clear picture of all the badges. I wasn't able to identify them all, but I did manage to pick out the Dawes, Viking, Ephgrave, the Flying Scot, Carlton, BSA, and of course the Raleigh. I had never heard of a Reg Harris frame, but I imagine anything carrying his name would be worth a try.

[Dugald]

Dumfries & Galloway http://www.originalbicyclefestival.co.uk/

Thanks a lot Dugald (I think). I Googled - Glasgow "Habble" - to see what you were talking about:
Urban Dictionary: habble rabble ... habble rabble - 1 definition - The meaningless rambling often associated with elderly history teachers.

I posted a "Pedal Power Project" suggestion onto the project board seeing as though you're the only one interested here. Cutting it fine just now if we expect to get anyone to take the idea seriously this year.Thanks for the input. Cheers, Aulyin

Sorry about the word "habble" Aulyin. I guess it's a word that was used strictly among Glaswegian cyclists, I don't know. Who knows, perhaps it is not longer in use. Anyway, it simply means a "scrap", an ad lib ' race' if you will, with fellow cyclists met on the road. A habble could last 100m or 100 miles, I've been in them at all distances. Usually start with someone doing a bit of half-wheeling; then again, there was always the well-established sprint finish to the Erskine Ferry, Renfrew Cross, or first up the Westferry...no end to such places.

I had a look at the Dumfries & Galloway "originalbicyclefestivel" site and found it very interesting. It seems a great deal of effort has already gone into this series of events. I know only too well what you mean by getting anyone " to take the idea seriously ". I've been through that, and it can be very discouraging. There is either an interest or there isn't; if there isn't, arm-twisting won't make any difference, cycling is definitely only for those who want, entirely on their own accord, to ride or even race on a bicycle.

In North America there is a great deal of interest in cycling and it's growing. They went through their fascination with the automobile about 50 years ago; Britain is going through that just now. I spoke to a young fellow, the proprietor of a guest house where I over-nighted in Largs, while on a bike tour. He'd be about 30 yrs old, and he asked me why I'd ride a bike. "Was it because it's cheaper than a car?", he asked me... the poor man's means of mobility attitude. I'd learned long ago that it was a waste of time to try and explain, and simply left it there. He told me he had never ridden a bicycle since the day he obtained his drivers' licence.

I should mention that there are quite a number of Hidden Glasgow contributers who are very knowledgable about bikes and appear to have a genuine interest in cycling, and if you look through the posts on this thread you will see that it seems quite a few still ride bikes... might mention too, that our hostess and mod. exemplaire, Sharon, got herself a bicycle last year and seemed to enjoy it, well for a while anyway.

Aulyin, I can only wish you luck in your effort to get an organised Kilpatrick MacMillan 'habble' from Drumlanrig into Glasgow. Cheers, and good luck!

[Lucky Poet]

Jacques Anquetil five time Tour de France winner liked a smoke as did Eddy Mercyx who enjoyed a few Cubans off season.

I dimly remember a photo printed in Cycling in the late 80s of a pair of cyclists in the Anquetil era celebrating the end of the Tour de France with a cigar and glass of cognac while fresh off their bikes and still in their racing gear. There's something very appealing about that attitude

Dugald, thanks for introducing me to the word 'habble', and for mentioning half-wheeling too - something I've not heard in a while

I'm maybe being old-fashioned, but I'd far rather have a good steel frame than aluminium or carbon fibre etc. (Steel tends not to fail without warning, for one thing!)

[Aulyin]

So, Dugald, Sharon & LP, how do we get people interested in an annual Pedal Power Project race-day from D&G to Glasgow, without going through the same rig-ma-roll (ending up with no interest) of previous failing projects?

It's either a good idea or a bad idea.
It either needs to be promoted or needs to be forgotten.

I am not a cyclist, but this interests me and I believe other closet cyclists (you/we know who you are!) would like to be included in something like this; something which will build up over the next three years to become part of the history of Scotland 2012 (b a b b l e on). I think I've said enough. ssshhhh.
I was beginning to hit the keys a weeee bit hard, getting a weeee bit too excited about bikes. What next?

See what you/s can do.

Cheers, Aulyin

[Dugald]

So, Dugald, Sharon & LP, how do we get people interested in an annual Pedal Power Project race-day from D&G to Glasgow, without going through the same rig-ma-roll (ending up with no interest) of previous failing projects?
It's either a good idea or a bad idea.
It either needs to be promoted or needs to be forgotten.
I am not a cyclist, but this interests me and I believe other closet cyclists (you/we know who you are!) would like to be included in something like this; something which will build up over the next three years to become part of the history of Scotland 2012 (b a b b l e on). I think I've said enough. ssshhhh.
I was beginning to hit the keys a weeee bit hard, getting a weeee bit too excited about bikes. What next?
See what you/s can do. Cheers, Aulyin

Sorry Aulyin, there's not much I can do to help you in your Pedal Power Project endeavours.I live in Canada now and in any case, I'm more than a wee bit past organizing bicycle races. Good luck! Cheers, Dugald.