WA Historical Cycle Club | Just for fun
WA Historical Cycle Club
Reviews
to load big map
24.01.2022 Two years ago the club ran our first maker celebration day. Club treasurer Frank West was the power behind MH Jones Day. We're all about keeping significant WA bikes right here in WA! Here's the ABC coverage from Frank's undercroft workshop - https://www.abc.net.au//saving-milton-spike-jones-/9982248
24.01.2022 Club member Barry Peterkin popped over chasing some double cable clamps for his so-close-to-finished circa-1958 Greyhound. After a couple of minutes of chat, he suddenly realised that next month will be the 60th anniversary of it's most memorable outing... The 1960 Schoolboys Championships around the Midland Junction Circuit (Under 15's). Greyhounds were a brand of general purpose bikes built by Mortlocks. That's a "built" in apostrophes because we know that Eddie Barron's ...Flash Cycles was contracted to build at least some bikes for Mortlocks for a while there. Interestingly, the Mortlocks frame# is 13787, though the BB is stamped with a 1. After plenty of research, Barry discovered his bike was the 1st of 3 unique racing Greyhounds built in this particular series, with #2 & #3 apparently "sold to overseas interests". Let's speculate that one of the features of this series was a 4Spd TdF Simplex rear derailleur. Good job Barry... almost like the day it was raced when you were... ahem... a touch younger! See more
23.01.2022 Last weekend we finally got to show our Flash bikes and our exhibition celebrating Flash's history. Among the notable riders to pilot a Flash was Phil Bristow-Stagg, one of WA's truly great sportspersons. Phil represented Australia at the 1966 Empire Games in Jamaica and took his locally made bike along for the ride. Three of his bikes have survived and are with a friend and fellow rider, it was great to have them on show for a couple of days. Do you have a Phil story? We'd l...ove to hear it. https://historicalcycleclub.com.au//9/29/phil-bristow-stagg
22.01.2022 Very sad that 1950’s champion W.A. cyclist Geoff Baker passed away last night (Friday 4th Dec 2020). Geoff was one of - if not THE - best products to come out of W.A. in the 1950’s. Selected for the Helsinki Olympics, but being the time of true amateurism and (oh dear) from W.A. . he fell agonizingly short of the funds required to get himself to the games. So here’s a young 23 year old who thinks [fill in here how you would feel] and says Got cash, I’m off to Europe to ...try my hand at the professional circuit. He ends up in central England working for BSA and takes on some of the best cyclists around and does the winter season in Denmark, the done thing for pro cyclists apparently. He performs well enough to be invited back all expenses paid and pocket money on top. In 1952 he beats two of England’s best sprinters in Shaw and Abrahams and in 1953 beats Alan Bannister who was runner-up up to world champion cyclist Reg Harris. His reputation established, Geoff is looking to earn big dollars until a crash in front of him results in him falling and smashing his face on a notoriously bad bit of track. He returns to Perth for many operations and, though he does get back on the bike, life does what it does.... The club had hoped to record some oral history with Geoff since January but with COVID, it was not to be. We look forward in time sitting down Geoff’s wife who fortunately knows much of his cycling days. We hope that we’ll be able to put together a record that will remember him for the champion he was. For anyone with a passing interest, read a wonderful article in a wonderful resource here... https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/39362940
19.01.2022 We’re up and running! It’s only morning tea time and we’ve almost doubled the number of bikes on the Flash Register.
16.01.2022 Bike restorers and painters take note :-) Check out reference photos of most, not all, of the 30+ bikes we had on show last weekend. Over the years there's a preponderance of metallic burgundy/oxblood and a dark metallic blue. Tony Ellerby had a chat with us and said that Bevan Barron favoured a special mix of light blue as seen on Phil Bristow Stagg's training bike. The pre metallic period seems to be dominated by brown, green and cream. Colours may have faded a bit in the ...60+ years though! Flash seem to be the only Perth maker to have indulged in chrome, and there were several full or part chrome bikes on show. Many of these bikes have been repainted - they're easy to spot. https://www.flickr.com/photos/wahcc/albums/72157716806590393
16.01.2022 The WA Historical Cycle Club will be displaying a few old W.A. built steelies tonight at the Westral. They include the 1925 Northam-to-Perth winning "The West C...ycle", Rod Evans' 1990 12 & 24 hr record breaking bike ... ridden at this very Velodrome... and multiple 1950's track Champ of Champs Noel Davey's bike that features a riot of lug cutouts. Get this.. 4 moons, 10 hearts and 9 clubs. Rod and Noel's bikes were built by a very young, and a very old Milton Jones... W.A.'s last master frame builder. See more
14.01.2022 Fred Tedge was one of the many cyclists who worked at Flash Cycles. Everyone we spoke to about Flash had only good things to say about him. This story was put together with assistance of his daughter Pam. https://historicalcycleclub.com.au/fla/2020//23/fred-tedge #retrocycling #midlandhistory
12.01.2022 Breaking news! ... here's the cover story from the current newsletter. Many thanks to Bitsa Bikes for his contribution. https://historicalcycleclub.com.au//8//bob-duschkas-zenith
11.01.2022 She's a Rainbow! https://historicalcycleclub.com.au//pots-of-gold-rainbow-c
09.01.2022 Here's a bit of a dig from our archive - 5 years ago we published this piece on Australian made lightweight V.E.W. components. Many thanks to Sydneysider John Johnson who provided the basis of this story. https://historicalcycleclub.com.au//20/4/26/vew-components
07.01.2022 Full house for Steele Bishop OAM talk about his association with Eddie Barron and Flash Cycles.
06.01.2022 One of seven stories we told at our Hidden Cycking History exhibition a few years ago. https://historicalcycleclub.com.au/hidden/malvernstar
06.01.2022 What celebration is complete without cake? Don't you love these Flash cupcakes from Cupcakes on Call? They were delicious too!
05.01.2022 Wow, what a busy, busy day! Highlights you say? Having Linley Munro (neé Barron) and Bevan Barron there for most of the morning Almost doubling the club's Flash register (it now has 51 bikes). We were glued to our seats for Steele Bishop OAM's recollections of his long association with Flash and Eddie Barron. Steele's first coach, Darcy Branch-Smith drove down from Geralton. He brought the Flash that he bought new in 1950! (see photo)(It's had plenty of 'upgrades'). Frame number 207 for those of you playing along at home.
05.01.2022 Not your average group ride - we had an awesome turnout for 'Ride It Rusty' at Whiteman Park this morning... (your correspondent ran out of fingers and toes whilst counting) Many thanks to Bob Sommerville for his efforts organising the event, and to participants for getting into the spirit and riding a bike they normally wouldn't be seen in public with!
04.01.2022 In 2016 we had a six week exhibition (yes, six weeks!) at the Museum of Perth. One of the bikes shown was Arthur Hartley's Speedwell. Arthur had died only a few years prior to the exhibition, at the age of 105, and the bike was on loan from one of Arthur's sons, Bruce. We learnt recently that Bruce Hartley passed away in September last year. Arthur was a teacher, and and central to the formation of the teachers' union in WA. His son Bruce, aside from a love of rugby and bikes, was a physicist at UWA. A remarkable family. https://historicalcycleclub.com.au/hidden/hartley
