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If your layout is British and set before mid fifties you probably need more bicycles


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With regard to the provision of bicycles, can any member recommend suitable figures in 4mm scale to accompany them both astride and pushing. In addition seated figures for vehicles without roofs, sports cars, tractors etc .

 

Thank you

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5 hours ago, Stoker said:

You might also want more motorcycles. They were very common back then, probably more so than cars among poorer families.

Agreed, but anything bigger than a BSA Bantam would be the exception not the rule.  Various mopeds of the NSU Quickly type were very common.  

 

Bicycle handlebars would be almost all the swept back 'butterfly' type.  Some sports cyclists sported drop 'racing' bars, but these were by and large a middle class bunch and would not use the bikes for commuting.  Anything with a straight or straight-ish mountain bike type handlebar screams modern!

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8 hours ago, The Johnster said:

Agreed, but anything bigger than a BSA Bantam would be the exception not the rule.  Various mopeds of the NSU Quickly type were very common.  

 

Bicycle handlebars would be almost all the swept back 'butterfly' type.  Some sports cyclists sported drop 'racing' bars, but these were by and large a middle class bunch and would not use the bikes for commuting.  Anything with a straight or straight-ish mountain bike type handlebar screams modern!

NSU Quickly, that takes me back, when I was about 12 or 13.... I had a battered one of those, another mate had one too, we got em going and used to take them down the back alleys or the 'rec' if we were feeling brave!;)

The first ever engine I took to bits and sussed how they work, happy days!

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I'm not entirely sure what period this thread is really aimed at, or if it is meant to cover quite a long span, but I do think that a mid-50s cut-off is a bit too early, in that the really steep rise in car ownership didn't really impact until perhaps ten years after that.

 

Thinking about where I grew-up, in the early 1960s, round a close of 20 3-bed semi houses, inhabited by what might might be called skilled blue-collar through to white-collar, in a small rural town, the situation was:

 

Dad - Bus, then progressed to feeble moped when he changed jobs.

Mum- Walk

 

Mr S - Light moped

Mrs S - Walk

 

Mr & Mrs C - Walk

 

Mr S - Bike (he drove the BR 'mechanical horse' at the goods depot, and sometimes brought it home to lunch)

Mrs S - Walk

 

Miss ??  (spinster) - Walk

 

Mr & Mrs ? - Walk

 

Mr & Mrs H - walk

 

Mr & Mrs P - Bikes, of the most incredibly antique style

 

Mr & Mrs ?? - Walk

 

Mr & Mrs ?  (retired couple) - Austin A35 Estate to carry all his fly-fishing tackle!

 

Mrs ? (widow) - walk

 

Mr & Mrs ? - Walk

 

Mr M - Moped, but progressed a 'three wheeler'

Mrs M - Walk

 

Mr A - Walk

 

Mrs S (widow) - almost house-bound

 

Mr B - A big, loud motorbike with sidecar (he was a window cleaner)

Mrs B - Walk

 

Mr & Mrs E - Spanking new Hillman Minx (he was chief mechanic at the local dealership, so a succession of new ones came with the job)

 

Bikes weren't massively popular, partly because the area is very hilly, but what is amazing thinking back is how many men walked to work ....... even a small town provided a very wide variety of employment.

 

By c1970, car ownership had risen steeply, from 2:20 houses to c7:20. My mother still lives there, and it now stands at c18:20, several with two cars, and the road is utterly clogged!

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Certainly on the council street we were on, there were around 60 houses and only about half a dozen cars, that was when we left the area in 1971.

Dad had small motor bikes but progressed to a vespa.. Better for keeping office clothes neat and dry.. He has never learnt to drive a car..

As Nearholmer said most walked to work, with a few on bikes. I cycled to school 2.5 miles away, though many walked..

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You're quite correct, I'd certainly include the 60s in this, I too was a kid in this era, though more urban/sub urban base..

I can't think of many, or any, of my mates dads that had a car for instance, fairly flat topography so bikes weren't difficult to get around on, small motorbikes, scooters and mopeds were definitely common..

The Reliant type 3 wheelers I think you could drive on a motor bike licence, and even on L plates, so saw these occasionally.

Funnily enough I also remember a window cleaner bloke round our way who took his ladders round on a sidecar combo...

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14 hours ago, The Johnster said:

Agreed, but anything bigger than a BSA Bantam would be the exception not the rule.  Various mopeds of the NSU Quickly type were very common.  

 

Bicycle handlebars would be almost all the swept back 'butterfly' type.  Some sports cyclists sported drop 'racing' bars, but these were by and large a middle class bunch and would not use the bikes for commuting.  Anything with a straight or straight-ish mountain bike type handlebar screams modern!

Bicycles of the 20s /30s/40s typically had full chain cases and rod brakes.  For these the handlebars had to sweep back 90 degrees as the lever ran parallel to the bars.  The 18" wheel was common rather than the post war 16" which usually coincided with cable brakes and later much narrower 17" applied to sports bikes with drop handlebars.

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And, bikes lasted a long time, partly because they were built like tanks, and partly because they were expensive.

 

Raleigh very cleverly operated a ‘hire purchase’ system from a very early date, it was in being by 1890, which helped their sales.

 

My grandparents had a bike each as a wedding present in the early 30s, and these same bikes were their sole personal transport until my grandfather died aged 84 - he was riding it until the very last day.

 

So, bikes were good value too!

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I live on a Gough Cooper estate of semi-detached houses, built 1960-1964. Only the largest design was built with an integral garage, though smaller sizes (such as mine) had side access wide enough for a car. This probably reflects expectations of car ownership at the time. There is a restrictive covenant on the freehold, requiring front gardens to be chiefly laid to grass - by now a dead letter; we're among the last holding out against the block paving. At least this means no more than 1.2 out of the 2.7 cars per household are parked on the road!

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For more or less the entirety of the steam era, right to the end of it, the bulk of waged labourers lived within sight of their place of work.  They walked or cycled to and from it.   Clerical and shop workers tended to be concentrated in city centres and commuted by suburban train, tram, or bus.  Managerial types (the bowler brigade) commuted by train from whatever their city’s version of Metroland was with first class season tickets, and maybe drove to the station. 

 

Using a a car to drive to work, even if you had one, was comparatively rare unless your profession meant you had to attend clients outside normal hours, like a GP. 

 

The late 60s, coinciding with the end of steam and the expansion of the motorway network, heralded a major social change during which commuting in private cars became the usual and predominant method except for London, and including waged as opposed to salaried labour. If you were employed, you wanted a new house out of town...

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10 hours ago, Porkscratching said:

...........................

Funnily enough I also remember a window cleaner bloke round our way who took his ladders round on a sidecar combo...

Wallace and Gromit? (A close shave)?

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Created by Nick Park, born 1958, who seems to put into his films all the things he remembers from when he was a kid in the early 60s ....... possibly every town in Britain had a window cleaner with a motorbike and sidecar in 1963, who knows?

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