Jack travels over the Yorkshire moors to Nelson, Lancashire to visit one of the oldest and most venerable companies in British cycling. Cotton mill worker Wilf Carradice began producing his indestructible canvas saddlebags in the 1930s and in 2011 sales are booming. Owner and MD David Chadwick tells the story of a family business and [...]
Archive | History RSS feed for this section
Another day for you and me in Carradice
Read more · Comments { 6 } · Art and design, England, Gear, History, People, Podcast, Style, Touring
Paris-Brest-Paris: part one
The 1200km Paris-Brest et retour was first raced in 1891 and is the oldest bicycle race still in existence, currently held as a brevet de randonneur every four years. Kieron Yates shares the agony and ecstasy of his second outing in an event that is only for the toughest of the tough. Next week we’ll [...]
Season opener: Time Travelling
As Mark Cavendish wins the world championship road race for Britain for the first time since 1965, we’re back in the saddle for a new season. On this week’s show, a trip back in time. Blue Door Bicycles is a new bike shop in south London with a long history. Owner David Hibbs has been [...]
Rob Penn on Looking for the Perfect Bike
Cyclist, journalist and author Rob Penn travelled the world to put together his perfect bicycle. We talk about how his journey of discovery sheds light on the history of the bicycle and the contribution of bicycle technology to modern life. Rob is speaking at the Hay Literary Festival on 3rd June and is organising a [...]
Cyclosportives are the glamping of amateur cycling – but there is an alternative
One of the highlights of the last season of the show was Kieron Yates’s feature Up the ‘Uts, looking at the historic 32nd Association of cycling clubs, whose membership is dwindling even at a time when cycling is booming. In the discussion that followed both Kieron and Nigel Wood, chairman of the Dulwich Paragon club, [...]
Abercrombie and all that
Utterly brilliant primer on the post war history of road building in London. Better than TV.
Bart Kyzar: Man on a Mission
The messenger bag is one of the defining elements of the “new urban bike culture” and Bart Kyzar has been making bombproof bags for bicyclists since the mid-1990s, first with Chrome and now with Mission Workshop, based in San Francisco. Last summer Mission Workshop opened a new store at the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane. While [...]
