Pedals before pistons

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As current holders of the RAC Historic Award for Restoration, we are car people—with a long history and many fabulous connections within the industry. We know and love pre-war cars, and PreWarCar.com website has been our first read of the day for many years.

Our delight at the introduction of a dedicated bicycle section is not purely because we’re also bicycle people, but because we see the two worlds as inextricably linked—bicycles started everything.

We all know that many of the marques we admire began life as bicycle makers: Peugeot, Morris, Triumph, Hillman, Darracq, Puch—to name just a few. We know which components transferred from bicycles to motorcars: the spoked wheel, pneumatic tyres, differentials—even the tubular frame made its way into car design. But the link between the two is more than just mechanical—it’s philosophical. Though bicycles began as the expensive toys of the ruling classes, they sparked an ideological shift: the beginning of truly independent, accessible personal transport.

Before the bicycle could be pulled from the shed and pedalled along a lane—breeze in your ears and the day’s possibilities at the twist of your handlebars—travel relied on either the horse, with its entire infrastructure from saddles to stables, or on the railways, fast but rigid and limited.

The bicycle meant personal freedom—truly solo travel.

As a fellow Sussex-based cycling enthusiast of a bygone era once wrote:

“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark—just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.”

Whilst we wholeheartedly agree with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s advice above, we ask you, too, to remember: as we whizz along in our motorcars on the modern road network, we owe a debt to those bicycle pioneers who pushed the literal pedals of progress and paved the way for so much of what we now take for granted.

Words and photo by Anna Kilpatrick for Julian Parker Ltd

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