The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) was a major British industrial combine, a group of businesses manufacturing military and sporting firearms; bicycles; motorcycles; cars; buses and bodies; steel; iron castings; hand, power, and machine tools; coal cleaning and handling plants; sintered metals; and hard chrome process.
A hub gear, internal-gear hub, internally geared hub or just gear hub is a gear ratio changing system commonly used on bicycles that is implemented with planetary or epicyclic gears. The gears and lubricants are sealed within the shell of the hub gear, in contrast with derailleur gears where the gears and mechanism are exposed to the elements. Changing the gear ratio was traditionally accomplished by a shift lever connected to the hub with a Bowden cable, and twist-grip style shifters have become common.
Sturmey-Archer was a manufacturing company originally from Nottingham, England. It primarily produced bicycle hub gears, brakes and a great many other sundry bicycle components, most prominently during its heyday as a subsidiary of the Raleigh Bicycle Company. In the past, it also manufactured motorcycle hubs, gearboxes and engines.
A fixed-gear bicycle is a bicycle that has a drivetrain with no freewheel mechanism such that the pedals always will spin together with the rear wheel. The freewheel was developed early in the history of bicycle design but the fixed-gear bicycle remained the standard track racing design. More recently the "fixie" has become a popular alternative among mainly urban cyclists, offering the advantage of simplicity compared with the standard multi-geared bicycle.
Sir Hubert Ferdinand Opperman, OBE, referred to as Oppy by Australian and French crowds, was an Australian cyclist and politician, whose endurance cycling feats in the 1920s and 1930s earned him international acclaim.
Frederick Thomas Bidlake was an English racing cyclist of the late 19th century, who became one of the most notable administrators of British road bicycle racing during the early 20th century. The annual Bidlake Memorial Prize, was instituted in his memory. He was a timekeeper in cycling, motorcycling and for seaplane races in the 1930s.
Land's End to John o' Groats is the traversal of the length of the island of Great Britain between two extremities, in the southwest and northeast. The traditional distance by road is 874 miles (1,407 km) and takes most cyclists 10 to 14 days; the record for running the route is nine days. Off-road walkers typically walk about 1,200 miles (1,900 km) and take two or three months for the expedition. Signposts indicate the traditional distance at each end.
A roadster bicycle is a type of utility bicycle once common worldwide, and still common in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and some parts of Europe. During the past few decades, traditionally styled roadster bicycles have regained popularity in the Western world, particularly as a lifestyle or fashion statement in an urban environment.
Sheldon Brown was an American bicycle mechanic, technical expert and author. He contributed to print and online sources related to bicycling and bicycle mechanics, in particular the web site Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info. His knowledge of bicycles was described as "encyclopaedic" by The Times of London.
The Raleigh Bicycle Company is a British bicycle manufacturer based in Nottingham, England and founded by Woodhead and Angois in 1885. Using Raleigh as their brand name, it is one of the oldest bicycle companies in the world. After being acquired by Frank Bowden in December 1888, it became The Raleigh Cycle Company, which was registered as a limited liability company in January 1889. By 1913, it was the largest bicycle manufacturing company in the world. From 1921 to 1935, Raleigh also produced motorcycles and three-wheel cars, leading to the formation of Reliant Motors. Raleigh bicycle is now a division of the Dutch corporation Accell.
The Road Records Association (RRA) is a British cycle racing organisation which supervises records on the road but not in conventional races. It is one of the oldest cycle sport organisations in the world, formed in 1888.
Raymond Charles Booty, sometimes nicknamed "The Boot", was an English road bicycle racer. In 1956 he was the first man to beat four hours for the 100 miles (160 km) individual time trial.
The International Cycling Association (ICA) was the first international body for cycle racing. Founded by Henry Sturmey in 1892 to establish a common definition of amateurism and to organise world championships its role was taken over by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 1900.
Thomas Edward Godwin (1912–1975) was an English cyclist who held the world cycling record for most miles covered in a year and the fastest completion of 100,000 mi (160,000 km).
Marguerite Wilson (1918–1972) was a record-breaking cyclist from Bournemouth. In 1939 she broke the Land's End to John o' Groats and 1,000-mile (1,600 km) records. When World War II stopped her efforts in 1941 she held every Women's Road Records Association (R.R.A.) bicycle record. For her achievements she was celebrated in the Golden Book of Cycling and received the Bidlake Memorial Prize.
David Duffield was best known as a commentator on British Eurosport working mainly on the channel's professional cycling coverage for many years. In the 1950s Duffield was an accomplished amateur cyclist who specialised on the tricycle, earning himself the trike 100 mile record and in 1956, the UK End-to-End record with a time of 3 days, 12 hours and 15 mins. He was a member of the Birmingham-based Beacon Roads Cycling Club.
Cyril Heppleston was an English cyclist from Bradford who broke the 100-mile, 200-mile and 12-hour competition records in 1937, and was the only man to beat 250 miles in 12 hours in open competition. He was regarded as 'among the greatest English unpaced time-trial riders.
John James Henry Sturmey (1857–1930), known as Henry Sturmey, is best remembered as the inventor with James Archer of the Sturmey-Archer three-speed hub for bicycles, but he was a technical editor and journalist heavily involved as a pioneer of the cycling and automotive industries. Born at Norton-sub-Hamdon, Somerset, on 28 February 1857 he died aged 72 at his home in Coventry on 8 January 1930.
Oserick Bernard "Ossie" Nicholson was an Australian cyclist who twice held the World Endurance record for distance in a calendar year.
