Photo Detectorist EP 6 – Competitive Cycling in the UK Photo archive c.1920-50.

This video describes a photo archive dating from c.1920 – 1950. What you are viewing are scans of glass negatives.

This collection is now sold.

We buy, research and sell photographs and negatives from late 1800s to 1950s. We have supplied 1500+ to museums and national archives.
Do get in touch if you have an archive to sell or want to buy or find out more about any of the photographs.

Hello episode 6 this collection of negatives is special on two counts it size over a th000 glass plates and also what it represents much of the history of competitive cycling from the 1920s to 1950s it’s an astonishing Archive of very high quality images taken by an expert photographer it’s amazing the collection

Has survived intact even more surprising that so far I don’t know who the photographer is I’m going to start by looking at some stunning cycling designs from the 1920s I love these images they represent people trying to get to grips with an emerging technology here we are outside a bicycle

Shop look at the strangeness of this bike design firstly it looks rather large the pedals are high off the ground the lower part of the frame runs through from the center of the back wheel up to the front of the frame in a straight line it’s a built for a

Giant no brakes we call these fixed gear bikes and the fixed gear came back into fashion just a few years ago we can also date this image from the posters in the shop window here is another design I remember very clearly in the early 1990s when suspension was added to what

We then called mountain bikes I remember thinking how clever the design was here we are back a century ago and this bike has quite a sophisticated suspension system on both front and at the rear of the frame here’s another this time without suspension with very thin multiple tubing it’s got unusual

Forks perhaps made this way in an effort to use less steel overall and bring the weight of the bike down perhaps the final bicycle in this section it’s a lovely recumbent machine a later design it was called the cycle ratio and was officially launched at the annual lightweight Cycle Show in London in

1935 1936 featured an event which was new to me the six day race the images here are from the the first time it was held in Wembley in London as the name suggests it took place over 6 days and was entered by teams comprising of two cyclists the field was

International the winners of the main prize would be the team that covered the most distance in six days cycling 24 hours a day it was a crazy endurance event one half of the team cycled while the other was resting or sleeping teams had their base in the

Middle of the track here is the base for the French Riders they were sadly eliminated on the last day and the Australian Smith Brothers and here are the belgians who are second because of the nature of the event there were long periods where nothing much happened and the cycling was quite

Relaxed as you can see here a writer reading a cycling magazine the winning team covered 1,939 miles in their six days quite an achievement around 200 of the glass negatives in this collection featured the London cycling track heren hill many different races were recorded and often the details of the races

Scratched into the negatives it’s an archivists dream the subject matter Framing and sharpness of these photographs are compelling I’ve looked for similar photographs of these early races at heren Hill and none are better than those taken by our guy this image shows the demonstration race of Penny faring bicycles and you

Can see it’s a busy event included are images of the international pre-olympic trials in 1936 that took place here and also the 1948 post-war Olympics check out these images is a motorcycle used to gain higher speeds on the track providing a slipstream for the cyclists here’s the start of a short

Sprint time trial and also the Finishing Line some rather stylish local digies more more motorbikes and cyclists a lovely shot of the finish of a women’s race from the 1948 Olympics we move on to 1950 and the tour to France think these shots are the best in the

Collection here the crowd wait for the entire tour Entourage to climb up the valley and pass by on the roads and another Mountain route check out the road conditions in these shots and no more than a dirt track there’s also some sponsorship by shinano as can be seen

Here and here no special tires or suspension just brute force and effort here is a peltin passing through a village and a soul rider in the mountains here is one of my favorites it’s cyclist passing through a feeding station getting sustenance to keep them going going during this 100 plus mile

Stage of the race here is the overnight cycling maintenance crew at work a rare shot this stunning image shows the race leader in full flow through a town a great capture in every way perfectly focused and composed too I’m only scratching the surface of this collection it’s hard to do justice

To over 1,000 photographs and a lifetimes work of this unknown individual what we can be certain of is that our photographer was completely dedicated he was technically brilliant just very talented he also Must Have Spent hours editing this collection to leave only the best images if you could only thank him for

Capturing the past and preserving it in the way he did please share if you like the video and also subscribe to get updates thank you