Go to the Archive
index
During the
1950s, several cycle makers produced special cycles for fitting
cyclemotors to; among them were BSA (including New Hudson and Sunbeam
variants), Elswick, Mercury, Phillips, Triumph and Sun. They
would be supplied as a complete bike, or missing the rear wheel if a
Cyclemaster was to be fitted.
Common features were:
Phillips produced a range of such machines. The variations available included lady’s or gent’s frames, and drum or rim brakes on the front wheel.
The first illustration is of the
gent’s rim braked version; note the dropped top tube on the frame,
allowing a lower saddle position. The effect of the braces on the
front fork must have been minimal, but at least they make it look
stronger. The mudguards are bigger and stronger that on a normal
pedal cycle; although extra mud protection made a good selling point,
the most likely reason for them was that normal mudguards would not be
reliable in supporting the weight of the number plates.
The second illustration is of the Phillips Motorised Bicycle. Phillips sold this as a complete machine but the cycle parts are the same as used on the separately sold cycle.
This picture shows the chain cover, which is missing from the bike in the first illustration, and the handlebar and front wheel variations of the hub-braked model.
The final two pictures are of
a lady’s machine. Taken from 20-year old colour slides, the
pictures are not of the finest quality but they are of particular
interest because they show the rear carrier. The carrier is
offset to the left so that the carrier stay keeps clear of the
Cyclemaster’s fuel tank. This was a cunning re-use of
tooling by Phillips. The offset carrier was originally produce
for military cycles; the offset made room for slinging a rifle
alongside the bike frame.
The rear view of the lady’s machine shows the lithographed badge that Phillips fitted to the rear mudguard.
In addition to the Motorised
Bicycle, another complete machine utilised the Phillips cyclemotor
frame. This was the Vincent Power Cycle: a Phillips cycle sold
with a factory-fitted Vincent Firefly engine unit.
First published, April 2000