Vintage Bicycle Advertisements; good, bad. ugly...

[Brucey]

you might like this one too, then; more a dream than a reality of course, but what is life without dreams?

Yes - but who's the bloke?

its your dream, so whoever you like...

cheers

[Brucey]

Popeye rides again!

five wingnuts on one bike...

[RubaDub]

This thread is for folk to post vintage cycle ads which they find interesting; here's a few to get you going



cheers

You weren't asking for favourites Brucey - but this has to be mine -

Quiet English scene.
Quiet English village.
Quiet English young lady.
No motors.
Someone enjoying quiet, relaxed leisure cycling,
No pressure,
No rain, and whilst you can't see it, the sun is shining..............
All when the world was young - a world that will never come back - peace and quiet.

Those were the days - the days when I first road from Halifax via Keighley to Morecambe Bay with my school gaberdine strapped around the top tube in case it rained, on what is now A629, A62 and A683 which were quiet and there was little traffic - and the few motorists respected the life of a 12 years-old cyclist.

Tony Hadland in 'Raleigh, past and presence of an Iconic Bicycle Brand' says the 'Lady in Red' first appeared in Dutch Raleigh's 1922 catalogue and he points to the un-English village scene in the background as evidence that neither the girl or the advertisement are of English origin.
Certainly the cottages in the background look continental to me.

[RubaDub]

The Irish Cyclist December 1903 and a not so subtle appeal to nationalist sentiment.

[JohnW]

you might like this one too, then; more a dream than a reality of course, but what is life without dreams?

Yes - but who's the bloke?

its your dream, so whoever you like...

cheers

He's not in my dream Brucey.

[JohnW]

This thread is for folk to post vintage cycle ads which they find interesting; here's a few to get you going



cheers

You weren't asking for favourites Brucey - but this has to be mine -

Quiet English scene.
Quiet English village.
Quiet English young lady.
No motors.
Someone enjoying quiet, relaxed leisure cycling,
No pressure,
No rain, and whilst you can't see it, the sun is shining..............
All when the world was young - a world that will never come back - peace and quiet.

Those were the days - the days when I first road from Halifax via Keighley to Morecambe Bay with my school gaberdine strapped around the top tube in case it rained, on what is now A629, A62 and A683 which were quiet and there was little traffic - and the few motorists respected the life of a 12 years-old cyclist.

Tony Hadland in 'Raleigh, past and presence of an Iconic Bicycle Brand' says the 'Lady in Red' first appeared in Dutch Raleigh's 1922 catalogue and he points to the un-English village scene in the background as evidence that neither the girl or the advertisement are of English origin.
Certainly the cottages in the background look continental to me.

OK - sorry - actually I think you're right - but that's spoilt it for me now.

[Brucey]

Yes - but who's the bloke?

its your dream, so whoever you like...

cheers

He's not in my dream Brucey.

In my dream, I am that man... which means the ad is probably working for me; the basic idea is that you identify with the characters in the ad, because you either want to be with someone like them and/or be someone like them.

cheers

[Brucey]

Hercules were the brand that you might buy if you couldn't afford a Raleigh or a Rudge. Just not quite as well made, and arguably much better value. Here they seem to be trying to pitch their 1939 'Model G' machine slightly up-market; the province of dapper pipe-smoking chaps, rather than impoverished scruffbags. FWIW I have owned a machine of this type complete with 28" wheels and quadrant shifter. Being a scruffbag, I didn't keep it long...

[RubaDub]

1902

[Brucey]

Columbia were a long standing American bike brand, who had been making bicycles since the days of the 'ordinary'. Of course they had to try to move with the times, and in the late 60's/early 1970s that meant making chopper style bikes. Their effort here seems to lack springs on the seat and the front wheel looks as if it might have suspension, but actually the complicated mess of parts is all bolted together rigidly; no suspension here. Redeeming features (not that anything could entirely redeem this machine....) include that there are two brakes and the gear lever is not entirely designed as a weapon of mass evisceration. The handlebars were clearly for those who couldn't make up their mind if they wanted a steering wheel or not. I'll have mine in groovy green please.

[Brucey]

from the 1930s, I think. 'Cruising' is a word which has had many uses, I'm not sure they would use it in a bicycle ad these days...

[RubaDub]

Cycling magazine 1919

[Brucey]

ah the 1970s... the decade that taste forgot? Would anything about this encourage you to go out and buy a bike?

[Brucey]

The Gios brothers of Turin must have thought they could do no wrong when they were lucky enough to have the irrepressible Roger de Vlaeminck ride their bikes. Just look at that bike; classy or what? All the way from its purposeful angles to its immaculate Super Record Groupset, 'super bicis' like this one suddenly went to the top of everyone's drool-list.



However most folk had to make do with a lesser Gios branded product such as this;



Yes, if you parked your nearly-all-steel-and-plastic Gios using the approved 'stone under the sidestand' accessory, a man would park his Gios van across the road, and release a dog which would jump over your bike on command. Or something. Mind you it could be worse, you might end up with one of these out of the Gios lineup;



The Gios easy rider; an ideal present for kids who, er, want to emulate the stars of the film...? Rehab clinic booking and bullet proof vest an optional extra...?

[Sweep]

ah the 1970s... the decade that taste forgot? Would anything about this encourage you to go out and buy a bike?

Bit cruel on the 70s there I think brucey
A much maligned decade.
I quite like that ad - and it is multiracial.
Great thread - some wonderful Raleigh artwork. Almost deserve a museum/gallery.
Does the cycle museum in wales have a poster/ad section?