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

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
Brucey
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Re: Vintage Bicycle Advertisements; good, bad. ugly...

Post by Brucey »

Jessie Bartlett Davies (1860-1905) was an operatic singer, actress and Broadway star. Endorsing bikes was presumably a lucrative sideline.

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drossall
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Re: Vintage Bicycle Advertisements; good, bad. ugly...

Post by drossall »

Brucey wrote:in the early days of popular cycling, 'riding schools' were required

As a Christmas present last year, I got a reprint of a book from those days. They used to teach tricks and stunts that we would think quite extreme!
Brucey
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Re: Vintage Bicycle Advertisements; good, bad. ugly...

Post by Brucey »

I wonder, do kids still dream of a bike for Christmas? Or do they dream of the latest electronic gadget instead?

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rotavator
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Re: Vintage Bicycle Advertisements; good, bad. ugly...

Post by rotavator »

Some rather nice Toulouse Lautrec posters here:
https://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/7672/vintage-cycling-posters#6
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Sweep
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Re: Vintage Bicycle Advertisements; good, bad. ugly...

Post by Sweep »

rotavator wrote:Some rather nice Toulouse Lautrec posters here:
https://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/7672/vintage-cycling-posters#6


If memory serves one of those was sketched in the oh so glamourous Catford, south east London.
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Brucey
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Re: Vintage Bicycle Advertisements; good, bad. ugly...

Post by Brucey »

Ever Ready lights/batteries

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Presumably the batteries didn't look prominent enough in the copy, so I think they changed the relative sizes of the batteries and lights. To my eye, as drawn, it looks like the No.800 battery is too big to fit inside the front light.

I could never work out if Ever Ready were really intending to make money by selling lots of batteries or lots of lights. Given that you could get lower wattage bulbs for the lights (which seemed to work just as well), I rather suspected the former.

cheers
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Brucey
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Re: Vintage Bicycle Advertisements; good, bad. ugly...

Post by Brucey »

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12 hours light? IME this was optimistic; the chances of the thing working for as long as 12 hours without developing yet another intermittent contact or the bulb blowing (again) were pretty slim.

cheers
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francovendee
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Re: Vintage Bicycle Advertisements; good, bad. ugly...

Post by francovendee »

Oh the days of Ever Ready lamps. Often when you needed to use one it didn't work. Open it up and you'd find an 'orrible mess from the leaky batteries
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Sweep
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Re: Vintage Bicycle Advertisements; good, bad. ugly...

Post by Sweep »

francovendee wrote:Oh the days of Ever Ready lamps. Often when you needed to use one it didn't work. Open it up and you'd find an 'orrible mess from the leaky batteries

Yes, was there ever anything so badly designed?
Surely foreign folks didn't have to put up with such junk? Or didn't they ride in the dark?
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Oldjohnw
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Re: Vintage Bicycle Advertisements; good, bad. ugly...

Post by Oldjohnw »

John
Mike Sales
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Re: Vintage Bicycle Advertisements; good, bad. ugly...

Post by Mike Sales »

Sweep wrote:
francovendee wrote:Oh the days of Ever Ready lamps. Often when you needed to use one it didn't work. Open it up and you'd find an 'orrible mess from the leaky batteries

Yes, was there ever anything so badly designed?
Surely foreign folks didn't have to put up with such junk? Or didn't they ride in the dark?


The French Pile Wonder lamps were pretty ropey.
Are not dynamo lights the rule in countries where cycling as transport is taken seriously?
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
9494arnold
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Re: Vintage Bicycle Advertisements; good, bad. ugly...

Post by 9494arnold »

You can get the Howe one as a Shower Curtain.
Honest.
Nebulous
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Re: Vintage Bicycle Advertisements; good, bad. ugly...

Post by Nebulous »

No idea what she's advertising, but put me down for half a dozen.

BTW Recognise her?
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drossall
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Re: Vintage Bicycle Advertisements; good, bad. ugly...

Post by drossall »

Oldjohnw wrote:https://www.bmstores.co.uk/products/eveready-rechargeable-bike-lights-2pk-349098

They are called "Professional series". With a few honorable exceptions, sports equipment called "Professional" should not be touched even by a beginner. Not a good start.
drossall
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Re: Vintage Bicycle Advertisements; good, bad. ugly...

Post by drossall »

Mike Sales wrote:
Sweep wrote:
francovendee wrote:Oh the days of Ever Ready lamps. Often when you needed to use one it didn't work. Open it up and you'd find an 'orrible mess from the leaky batteries

The French Pile Wonder lamps were pretty ropey.

Most people I knew ended up buying Wonder because Ever Ready never were.
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