How a Bicycle is Made (1945)

doh777

Enjoy

http://vimeo.com/39401575

seamus

Interesting to see the origin of the term "bottom bracket" and that the basics of framebuilding haven't changed much.

Though working with furnaces, chemicals, cutting and polishing wheels and there's nary a set of gloves or eye protection to be seen :eek:

Lumen

doh777 wrote: »

http://vimeo.com/39401575

For all those who think their 21st century job is boring:

"So the moving parts, such as the wheel hubs, are filled with little steel balls and packed with grease. This worker can fill over 1000 hubs in an 8 hour day."

PressTheButton

The bicycle is a comfortable and cheap way of getting about.
A great boon to man, ideal for shopping, easy to park, handy for work.
A faithful friend, ever ready to take tired workers back home and after work to bring relaxation, health and happiness."

Credit: British Council Film.

gaffmaster

Wow!

Steel really IS real.

jinkypolly

That was great, very interesting.

Health and safety, what's that?

Mycroft H

I love the way the bike is enamelled with just your bare hands.

wayne0308

Interesting stuff! My grandmother has a Raleigh of a similar vintage which hasn't been cycled regularly in probably 15 years. She got it when she was in her mid twenties from a neighbor, she's 85 years old now and still has the bike in the shed.

I was looking at it yesterday as I'm very tempted to do it up, it's still in great nick, no rust on the frame that I could see although I'd say the inside of the frame is probably a different story though, the shiny bits still have some of their gleam. Really interesting to see exactly how the bike would have come together in the factory. Thanks for the vid!

clod71

great video doh777

"an important accessory to a bicycle are the mudguards..."

tomasrojo

Ah, I can't watch it; my netbook is just spinning its wheels without ever starting the video.

Alan Sillitoe's novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning features a lot of descriptions of working in a bicycle factory about this time. The factory is clearly Raleigh; Sillitoe worked there as a teenager.

Captain Havoc

Here's one of those puppies on our farm screaming to be renovated:


I love the way they use "solution" a lot.

wendell borton

Great vid but a bit sad to see considering the current state of the manufactoring industry.

http://www.lentontimes.co.uk/streets/triumph_road.htm

topcat77

"Careful designing, reliable materials & expert craftsmanship in every stage of manufacture"

So it's not up to modern day standards of "copy a design, cheapest materials & general operatives in every stage of manufacture"?

Mycroft H

topcat77 wrote: »

"Careful designing, reliable materials & expert craftsmanship in every stage of manufacture"

So it's not up to modern day standards of "copy a design, cheapest materials & general operatives in every stage of manufacture"?

I dunno. I'm not sure how long the modern carbon fibre designs will stand up to the test.

There is one of those bikes that was bought by my great grandfather during the 1930s in the shed and its still in serviceable condition.

Lumen

BX 19 wrote: »

I dunno. I'm not sure how long the modern carbon fibre designs will stand up to the test.

It's not so much the frame material, but design features like integrated headsets are not designed to last indefinitely.

Cartridge bearings in bottom brackets, headsets etc presumably aren't going to be serviceable once those cartridges are out of production.

piston

I ride a 1939 Elswick on a reasonably regular basis. It is completely original apart form the tyres, tubes, brake blocks, chain and freewheel and has been used regularly all through it's long life, I got it when the original owner died, he rode it until he wasn't able anymore. Paintwork and chromework aren't perfect but are presentable. The period original (Lucifer of Switzerland) bottle dynamo light set has less drag than any of the modern bottle dynamos I've used. I've let other people ride this bike and everyone is amazed at how well it rides. It's heavy but that's because it was built to last, not because it was cheap. It never feels heavy and unresponsive to ride like a cheap mountain bike.

The general quality of British bikes dropped of a cliff from the late 1950s onwards, combined with the fact that Raleigh bought up nearly all their competitors like BSA, Rudge, Humber and the rest, thus killing any kind of innovation as all the bikes were basically re-badged versions of the same thing.

seamus

A lot of the decline would have been due to the success of the car. In the period of the video, the bike was the person's workhorse - transport, delivery, commuting, leisure, etc.

So people were willing to fork out a fair shilling for a good bike that served their needs and would last for several years.

As families got their first cars, suddenly the car was doing the hard transport work, and bikes were slowly moving into the leisure category where people were less inclined to spend additional money on a bike that's not in daily use.

The changes in bike technology coming from the likes of the TdeF would also have affected manufacturing quality - as bikes became leisure objects, people wanted them to look more like the sports bikes used in the TdeF but without any increase in cost. Bikes needed to be lighter and more complicated at the same price point, so the only thing you can squeeze then is your quality.

This accelerated even further in the 80's and 90's as MTBs became popular and these bikes needed to be both light and strong. Which you just can't do on a budget.

This has left us with the lovely legacy of the BSO which breaks when you ride it out of the shop.

tomasrojo

They were good bikes for utility use in a rainy country anyway. It's a shame that they became a bit of a joke ("High Nelly" soubriquets, etc.), since if you want many years of use with minimal maintenance and an ability to carry loads, they're really pretty good bikes.

Also can be used for escaping a cult hellbent on cutting off your finger:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hNZ_mMzytY

Mycroft H

seamus wrote: »

A lot of the decline would have been due to the success of the car. In the period of the video, the bike was the person's workhorse - transport, delivery, commuting, leisure, etc.

So people were willing to fork out a fair shilling for a good bike that served their needs and would last for several years.

As families got their first cars, suddenly the car was doing the hard transport work, and bikes were slowly moving into the leisure category where people were less inclined to spend additional money on a bike that's not in daily use.

Definitely. I was talking to a friend of mine who grew up in the era of the heyday of the bicycle. He was an ardent Leitrim GAA supporter and would cycle all the way from Leitrim to Dublin to see them play in Croke park. He would leave on Friday morning to see them play on the Sunday. He said he could not imagine kids today going to that sort of effort to get somewhere.


In saying that the day of the bicycle is long gone, there seems to be a bit of a resurgence recently. I've never seen so many people out on bikes be it for leisure or commuting.

seamus

My grandfather didn't get his first car until 1971 (he was in his mid-fifties). Up until that he had cycled everywhere, every day. That would have been fairly typical.

I wouldn't say the day of the bicycle is long gone, far from it. Its use in many aspects has been made obsolete - it simply can't compare with a small van for deliveries, for example. But as we know for on-demand deliveries like couriers and deliveries which have short distances (like standard mail), the bike is still a more logical choice.

Car use is in decline and will remain in decline. Fuel costs will continue to rise and will outpace all inflation and earnings. EVs will bolster it somewhat, but in this country in particular, frugality and the memories of the recession will last quite a long time. This will mean that vehicles will be used for less journeys in order to save costs, and people will favour walking or cycling with their kids to local activities rather than pile everyone into the car to drive 1,000 metres.
It's this kind of activity which will normalise cycling and walking as ways of getting around and encourage the children to continue cycling and walking when they get older.

Stopped on the Canal bridge at Rathmines earlier this week and there was one man there with his child's back attached to his by one of those big towing bars, and a woman with her child in one of those trailers. And they stopped and chatted about it while waiting for the lights.
It was great to see.

hardCopy

I see a few kids in trailers and towed bikes cycling to school in Marino/Glasnevin each morning.

I've also noticed a few female friends in particular opting for the modern High-Nelly type bikes on bike to work schemes.

I do think cycling is becoming more mainstream.

I'm just back from a couple of days in Odense and was so impressed by the popularity of cycling there, we're a long way behind but I do think things are improving here.

RINO87

great video, had never noticed the raleigh logo on the chainwheel before!! I'd love one of those bikes, built like a tank!! I remember my dad never being able to cycle one of my bikes because of the srtaight handlebars, he was so used to the curved style!!

The guy that runs on yer bike in galway seems to be a real enthusiast about them too, has a few mint bikes on display on the shop, including some of the "built in ireland" ones, doubt he'd ever part with them.

There is another guy that runs a Bike shop on main st Birr Co.Offaly. Used to be a "motor engineers" back in the day, but later focused on bikes mostly. Its an absolute treasure trove for vintage bikes to this day, the shop is a jumble of old bikes, parts and accessories. The window is packed with old parts, everything in the shop is in little labled drawers, marked with things like "mud guard brackets, 1/4" bearings" etc. There are some lovely vintage models on display, but if you get talking to the guy who runs it, ask him to see whats out back, tons of different models of old raleigh bikes. People often wonder is the place a museum or a shop because apart from one or two modern bikes everything else appears to be "not for sale" as he says himself!!

Just found a picture of it there, alas the pumps are no more!

piston

I think it's sad that we've lost sight of how great these type of bikes actually were. Built to last, easy to maintain, comfortable to ride, as weatherproof as any bike will ever be and way more practical for the average commuting/utility cyclist than anything you're likely to find in the shop today.

Just note that in countries where utility cycling remains common, like Holland or Denamrk, the traditional roadster or some modern incarnation of it with the same features like chainguard, hub gears, hub dynamo, etc is the still the bike of choice.

Mycroft H

RINO87 wrote: »

great video, had never noticed the raleigh logo on the chainwheel before!! I'd love one of those bikes, built like a tank!! I remember my dad never being able to cycle one of my bikes because of the srtaight handlebars, he was so used to the curved style!!

The guy that runs on yer bike in galway seems to be a real enthusiast about them too, has a few mint bikes on display on the shop, including some of the "built in ireland" ones, doubt he'd ever part with them.

There is another guy that runs a Bike shop on main st Birr Co.Offaly. Used to be a "motor engineers" back in the day, but later focused on bikes mostly. Its an absolute treasure trove for vintage bikes to this day, the shop is a jumble of old bikes, parts and accessories. The window is packed with old parts, everything in the shop is in little labled drawers, marked with things like "mud guard brackets, 1/4" bearings" etc. There are some lovely vintage models on display, but if you get talking to the guy who runs it, ask him to see whats out back, tons of different models of old raleigh bikes. People often wonder is the place a museum or a shop because apart from one or two modern bikes everything else appears to be "not for sale" as he says himself!!

Just found a picture of it there, alas the pumps are no more!

Might make a point of taking a spin down there some day. I love shops like that. There is not many of them round anymore

RINO87

Its a class spot alright, Id say its best to ring ahead though, last I heard the guy running it had a few health problems and it wasn't opening every day. This is the only number i could find http://www.goldenpages.ie/dolan-p-l-sons-birr/1/