One of the things I have noticed since starting this blog is how many interesting bikes I see parked up around Manchester. I have recently been noticing a lot of vintage bicycles around, in addition to a few interesting new bikes. When I can do so without looking too abnormal, I take pictures of the bikes I see around town.
A Raleigh “Conniosseur,” spotted at Sainsbury’s in Fallowfield. By the look of things the bike seems to be very similar to the Raleigh Sports. I think it goes together well with the Tourist in the middle picture.
A very similar Raleigh to the one above, this time branded as the “Transit.” I doubt modern Raleigh would name any of their bikes the “Transit.”
A Batavus BUB parked outside Piccadilly station. One of the few bikes I have ever read about at the prototype stage and seen come to market, it looks like quite a comfortable ride. One was given away as the grand prize in the LGRAB summer games. The frame design was inspired by a paperclip.
A well looked-after rod-brake roadster, a Humber according to Sheldon Brown, identifiable by the unusual fork:
Curiously, I think I may have once bid on this very bike on eBay, before it got a bit too expensive for me.
A huge double top-tube Pashley Roadster, with my Tourist to the right for scale, and a Pashley Princess to the right of that.
I’m guessing whoever owns this bike is incredibly tall.
There are some very nice old and new bicycles around Manchester. There are plenty of crap-heaps too, but they are less photogenic.
I see the Batavus outside Piccadilly so often, I think it's there every day! I'd love to be there when the owner arrives or goes back to collect it :D I've seen few Pashley roadsters and a myriad of beautiful vintage Raleigh and Peugeot. I still haven't managed to look inconspicuous when taking bikes pictures in town (doh!)...
ReplyDeleteThe photography is difficult, especially if you are out and about with a normal person
ReplyDeleteActually I'd quite like to see some of the crap-heaps too, for a laugh!
ReplyDeleteI will scout for crap-heaps and do a follow up post.
ReplyDeleteThere's a crap-heap rod-braked roadster parked up on the railings outside the MRI quite often - it's tempting to make the owner an offer for it & lavish some TLC on it.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the BuB too, and there's quite a trend for Pashley type roadsters (along the lines of the Princess) among female students at the moment, it seems.