 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Bicycles and accessories |
| Predecessor | Coventry-Eagle |
| Founded | 1880 |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | United Kingdom |
| Products | Boss, Claud Butler, CBR, British Eagle, Coventry-Eagle, Elswick, Exile, Falcon, Holdsworth, Scorpion, Shogun, Stinky Bitz, Townsend |
| Owner | Tandem Group plc |
| Website | www |
Falcon Cycles is a British bicycle manufacturer which was based in Brigg, North Lincolnshire, owned by Tandem Group.
In the 1880s, Hotchkiss, Mayo & Meek Ltd was established in Coventry as a manufacturer of bicycles. In 1897, the company name was changed to Coventry-Eagle when John Meek left the company. [1]
From 1898, like many bicycle manufacturers they began experimenting by adding small petrol-engines to their heavier bicycle frames. By 1899 they produced their first motorcycle, manufactured along bicycle lines from carefully manufactured components. By the start of World War I, the range included Villiers and JAP engines. [2] Sourcing engines from four manufacturers post the war into the 1920s, during the depression of the 1930s the company concentrated on producing two-strokes. Production of motorcycles continued until the start of the World War II in 1939. [3]
After the war, and not of a scale to continue competitive motorcycle manufacture, the company concentrated on racing bicycles.
In the 1930s, they had launched a range of sporting bikes under the "Falcon" brand, and it was under this marque that the company relaunched itself. Managed from the 1950s under British bicycle racer Ernie Clements, in the 1970s the company signed a global licensing agreement with Belgian-racer Eddy Merckx brand, who at the time was the leading global road cycling racer. This allowed the company to greatly expand, and export large numbers of Merckx bikes to the United States. [4]
In 1974, rival bicycle manufacturer Elswick Hopper plc began a period of expansion, purchasing Wearwell Cycles, which had been established before 1872. In 1978 the company acquired Falcon Cycles, which was operated as a subsidiary before being later merged into Elswick Hopper's factory at Barton-upon-Humber, North Lincolnshire.
By the mid-1980s, Elswick Hopper plc was a diversified conglomerate, spanning manufacturing, engineering, and distribution. But the company was losing money at both group and subsidiary level, and was in desperate need of reorganisation. Under a new Chief Executive, the group company renamed itself Elswick plc in 1984, and renamed its bicycle division Falcon Cycles, the name of its most popular selling sports bicycle brand. Ending production of bicycles under the Elswick brand in the same year, all bicycle manufacture was moved to a new factory at Brigg. In 1987 the company later added the Holdsworth and Claud Butler brands to its top of the range portfolio.
However, by the late 1980s cheap imports from Asia were flooding the UK market, and with a severe decline in the bicycle components industry, the company was reliant on importing those as well, and only assembling at Brigg. By this point, production had dwindled to just under 120,000 bicycles per annum. In an effort to stimulate sales and hence stem losses, Falcon were involved in cycle racing in the late 1980s and early 1990s, sponsoring and supplying the PMS Falcon and later the Banana Falcon teams.
Having rebuilt Elswick plc as printing and packaging business focussed on self adhesive and garment labels, the group sold the bicycle division to Casket Ltd., a company who controlled the import-only Townsend brand. Casket Ltd with their greater buying power enabled an expansion of the Falcon brand, but ran into difficulty themselves after buying a German-based bicycle manufacturer.
Sold to Tandem Group plc in November 1995, Falcon Cycles and Dawes Cycles are now the two sub-groups which make up Tandem's Cycles division.
The Falcon Cycles division is responsible for producing bikes and accessories under both its own name, as well as under the brand names of: Boss, Claud Butler, CBR, British Eagle, Coventry-Eagle, Elswick, Exile, Holdsworth, Scorpion, Shogun, Stinky Bitz and import-only Townsend brands. The Falcon Cycles division now has annual sales in excess of 300,000 bicycles. [5]
Triumph Engineering Co Ltd was a British motorcycle manufacturing company, based originally in Coventry and then in Meriden. A new company, Triumph Motorcycles Ltd, based in Hinckley, gained the name rights after the end of the company in the 1980s and is now one of the world's major motorcycle manufacturers.
The Schwinn Bicycle Company is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets bicycles under the eponymous brand name. The company was originally founded by Ignaz Schwinn (1860–1948) in Chicago in 1895. It became the dominant manufacturer of American bicycles through most of the 20th century. Schwinn first declared bankruptcy in 1992, in 2001 Schwinn went bankrupt again and was purchased by Pacific Cycle, now owned by the Dutch conglomerate, Pon Holdings.
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Holdsworth was a bicycle manufacturer in London, England. It was created by William Frank Holdsworth, known as "Sandy", and the brand is now owned by Planet X Limited based in Rotherham, Yorkshire.
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Sparta B.V. is a Dutch bicycle manufacturer based in Apeldoorn that also produced motorcycles and Mopeds. It is the largest electrical bike manufacturer in Europe.
Rex, Rex Motorcycles, Rex-Acme, was a car and motorcycle company which began in Birmingham, England in 1900. Rex soon merged with a Coventry maker of bicycles and cars named Allard and then later in 1922 the company merged with Coventry's 'Acme' motorcycle company forming 'Rex Acme'. The company existed until 1933, and, in its heyday, was considered one of the greatest names in the British motorcycle industry.
British Eagle was a cycle manufacturer, initially based in Mochdre near Newtown, Powys, that previously closed in the mid-1990s. At some point it received financial support from the Development Board for Rural Wales. UK Companies house shows British Eagle Cycles Limited was dissolved on 5 July 1994. A similarly named "British Eagle Cycle Company Limited" was registered in Peterborough on 11 July 1989 and dissolved on 29 June 2004. It seems to have been associated with Falcon Cycles and Coventry Eagle. Recently in 2020 "British Eagle" registered with Brothers Bike Co INDIA.
Triumph Cycle Co. Ltd., based in Nottingham, England, was a bicycle manufacturing company.
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Coventry-Eagle was a British bicycle and motorcycle manufacturer. Established as a Victorian bicycle maker, the company began under the name of Hotchkiss, Mayo & Meek. The company name was changed to Coventry Eagle in 1897 when John Meek left the company. By 1898 they had begun to experiment with motorised vehicles and by 1899, had produced their first motorcycle. The motorcycles were hand built from components and finished carefully, Coventry-Eagle motorcycles proved reliable and by the First World War the range included Villiers Engineering and JAP engines.
Claud Butler was a London-based bicycle dealer and frame-builder, who from 1928 created a chain of bicycle-retail shops in London and the Midlands. His company was one of the most successful of the inter-war era but failed after World War II and the resultant boom in motor buses and motor cars. The Claud Butler brand was bought from the receivers by other companies, and they are now produced by Falcon Cycles, a division of Tandem Group.
Tandem Group is a British-based designer, developer, distributor, and retailer of sports, leisure, and mobility products. Based in Castle Bromwich, West Midlands, the company is listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.
Elswick Hopper was a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of bicycles, formed by the merger in 1913 of the Elswick and Hopper cycle companies. The residual bicycle brands are now owned by Tandem Group
The Viking Cycle Company was an English bicycle company. Founded in 1908 in Wolverhampton as a bicycle repair shop, it became a manufacturer and sponsored a racing team. The company closed in 1967; the business was purchased and reestablished as Viking Cycles, an assembler in Derry, Northern Ireland. The brand was later sold to Avocet Sports of Manchester, which imported rebadged bicycles into the UK under the Viking name. Following the acquisition of Avocet by the Indian company Hero Cycles, the brand name has been used by its Insync Bikes division.
The WearwellCycle Company was a bicycle manufacturing company founded in 1889 in Wolverhampton by the five sons of Henry Clarke, founder of the late Cogent Cycle Company. Wearwell were also motorcycle manufacturers under the Wearwell Stevens, Wolf and Wulfruna brands.