Originally broadcast by the BBC in 2017, ‘Pedalling Dreams’ is the remarkable story of Raleigh, the bicycle manufacturer who grew from humble beginnings in the backstreets of Nottingham to rapidly become the biggest bike maker in the world.
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It’s peddling dreams the rally story for the past 150 years Britain has been a nation of bike lovers and for much of that time one make has been associated with quality Innovation and britishness rally bikes born in the back streets of Nottingham rally grew to become the biggest bicycle manufacturer in the
World for over a century the company was known for its simple and practical bikes built to last a lifetime a few of the oldest still survive today I feel really proud to own this bicycle to me this is this is a work of art for Generations its designs
Were thought Second To None enjoyed by adults and children alike to be out in the fresh air where the smell that you got were flowers and trees and everything I thought that was wonderful through rare and previously unseen archive film we’ll reveal the craft skills behind rally bikes the
Frame is the basis to which all the other parts will be attached so let’s see how it’s made we’ll hear from its team Racers and from the dealers who sold the bikes and then he say well you don’t even need to start saving up you
You can just pay a few Shillings a week and it’ll be yours come into the shot and see what we’ve got and we’ll find out what went wrong and the impact it had on Rally’s workers I was almost in tears cuz you you’d built your life around that
Work and to lose your friends like that to vanish off into the distance it was really sad this is the Epic tale of the ups and downs of rally bikes this is Nottingham City Center filmed in 1902 by this time the rally cycle company had already been making bikes
Like these in the city for over a decade employing around 850 workers its Factory was turning out nearly 10,000 bikes a year which sold across the globe each with a lifetime guarantee the extraordinary story of how rally came to be begins with the adventures of a young British lawyer called Frank
Bowen one man who knows his story better than anyone is his great grandson Gregory houon Bowen great-grandfather was ahead of his time uh in in many ways really in his whole approach to life he he was a very clever man in 1870 22-year-old Frank got a job
In Hong Kong and here he made his fortune through shrewd Investments but within a decade poor health had forced him home back in England he took up cycling on the advice of a doctor after being given just 6 months to live a year later he was not only alive but fitter and
Healthier than never before great-grandfather certainly had no doubt at all that cycling had completely saved his life and taken him from being at death’s door with six months to live to being a normally fit healthy person and of course he felt a tremendous sense of gratitude to cycling looking to combine his Newfound
Love of cycling with his business skills it was here in Nottingham that Frank Bowen came across a small Workshop making a handful of bikes a week from a courtyard in rally Street he was so impressed he bought the business and in 1888 the rally cycle company was
Born taking the Heron from the Bowden family crest as its emblem under Frank’s guidance quality and Innovation would be its Hallmark in fact the company’s earliest bikes were so well made some still exist today this is collector Colin kersch and he’s riding a very special rally road
Racer hand built in 1890 it’s the oldest known rally bicycle in Britain well it sort of transports you into another era a lost era particularly at a time Beyond cars and motorbikes if you’re riding in the countryside the surroundings haven’t changed how much closer can you get to feeling it’s the
1890s I quite like companies that were Innovative and and set the fashion so the the early rally 1889 1890 they were the the first on the scene with a detachable chain wheel for example being able to replace the chain wheel with another of a different size
Was one of the few ways to change gear and even though it could take 5 minutes to do it was a major selling point I feel really proud to own this bicycle It’s a Wonderful piece of engineering it’s fabulous to ride and to me I would describe this as a work of
Art the early bikes were good but Frank Bowen had bigger plans by the 1900s he’ not only moved production to a new 5 acre Factory in Nottingham he’d also gone Global creating an export business that would last for decades with the new Factory came new technology frame joints could be brazed
In liquid brass instead of open furnaces saving time and money whilst new presses could transform sheet steel into Parts like the bottom bracket meaning rally could do away with cast iron components the All Steel bicycle was born they were stronger than the competition and with the acquisition of
Gear manufacturer stery Archer easier to ride too the detachable chain wheel replaced by a groundbreaking three-speed Hub enabling rally Riders to change gear at the flick of a leite this unique archive footage is taken from the first filmed rally advert made in the late 1920s but Frank Bowden never saw it
Because he died in 1921 by that time he transformed a Backstreet Workshop into what was claimed to be the biggest bicycle manufacturer in the world inspiring thousands of people to enjoy the health benefits of the Pastime that had once saved his life life I’m rather proud of him for doing
That I think he was farsighted ahead of his time a a passionate Enthusiast and somebody who had the determination and energy to carry his after all very Grand schemes through to fruition Frank’s son Harold continued to expand the company and by the 1930s rally was a household
Name this was the Golden Age of the Bic icle when thousands rode rallies for their daily commute the company introduced its First Assembly lines to satisfy Demand yet its focus remained on quality and craftsmanship over mass production and while traditional bikes like these remained the company’s Core Business another Market was taking
Off children’s bikes then as now one of life’s great rights of Passage was getting your first bike and being taught how to ride it in 1930 10-year-old Margaret Dutton from Huddersfield was given her first bike by her father I just like the whole look of it the tires looked good it was shining
It was lovely nice saddle I thought oh I could ride that dad said that’s the best you can get a rally by I said will you ride with me because I I might be a bit nervous so he said of course I will I felt on top of the
World he taught me to ride my bike and really I never looked back at witson in 1930 Margaret and her dad set off on an epic adventure to cycled a 100 miles from Huddersfield to R in a day through some of Britain’s most beautiful rolling Countryside it was like magic you know
To be out in the fresh air where the smell that you got were flowers and trees and everything I thought that was wonderful there was hardly any traffic at all and we went right through the countryside it was pretty difficult going uphills but I did have gears on my
Bike I had three gears and always when you got to the top there was a lovely downhill and uh dad would come and and ride beside me and then we used to chat a bit and and he said how do how are you liking it Marg what do you think oh I
Said Dad it’s great is this it’s lovely it was early evening by the time Margaret and her dad got to real the following day they set off for home again for a 10-year-old it was a remarkable achievement and one of the proudest moments of Margaret’s life I
Boasted to all my friends anyway I CED to real and you know they used to say you couldn’t cyle all that way in one day and said we’ll go and ask my dad if he was with me the company continued to expand throughout the interwar years and in
1932 it bought one of its main Rivals Humber but by then it had another serious competitor based in Birmingham Hercules was founded in 1910 and by the mid 1930s claimed like rally to be the largest cycle manufactur in the world mass production rather than quality and Innovation was its aim and
Hercules claimed it could make a bike in less than 10 minutes that’s why it didn’t have the cache of the rally and cost less than half the price as school boy Ron McGill discovered my father had said to me I think I’ll buy you a bite for
Christmas I said okay we went to the shop near are the gleaming rallies costly he said no you settle for a Hercules so I had to buy the Hercules bike which was good it was a good sound bike but this the rally was little bit up market and we never he never really
Had the money to buy me a really expensive bike Ron never did get his rally and by the end of the decade the big bicycle companies had more to think about than just sales in September 1939 Britain declared war on Germany in Nottingham Rally’s bicycle production was slashed to just 5% of
Normal output and instead as this rarely seen film footage reveals the company switched to the manufacturer of Munitions what bikes they did make were mostly for use by the Armed Forces like this experimental folding model designed for the Commandos among those who joined the workforce was 14-year-old Harry
Hardy well as a boy I was doing all the jobs that the men were doing yeah she got a bit tired at the end of the day because wa sometimes wake 6 till six you know I but war was on and we were always happy because we
Were doing things for the war I mean with making Army bikes and that it felt a bit proud of doing them you know by the time the fighting was over the factory had produced over 380 million parts for the Armed Forces company chairman sir Harold Bowen
Had this message I would like to take this opportunity of paying my tribute to all our staff and employees for their great and sustained effort for this Factory has been working working on a thre ship basis night and day for six long and weary years we shall in the future once again
Resume our position as leaders of the cyle industry throughout the world rally had done its bit for Britain but now it was time to get back to building bikes after buying competitor rud wh worth rally launched its first post-war Trade Fair these pictures show the latest models being revealed to its enthusiastic
Dealers and to prove to the world that it was back in business the company released this film to show off its high-tech production techniques here is a factory in the heart of industrial Britain a planned response to the world’s demand for bicycles we’ll go into the chief
Designer’s office and hear him tell two visitors just how a bicycle is made I could go miles and miles on one of these father so you should there’s 100 Years of bicycle manufacturer behind that model is our latest type strong reliable yet light and weight from the designer’s
Office the film takes us through every stage of the process of building a bicycle it begins with the frame the frame is the basis to which all the other parts will be attached so let’s see how it’s made the frame is made light and strong by using steel
Tubes the tubing is made by this machine strips of Steel are fed into one end and turned into a tubular shape by heavy rollers the joint is sealed by this powerful flame as the finished tube comes out of the machine it is cut to required lengths how are the tubes held together
To form the frame well they’re securely jointed together by these bracket pieces although obviously staged for the purposes of this film visits to the factory like this really did happen particularly for Rally’s dealers it was hoped that if they understood the craft skills involved in the production
Process it would Inspire them to sell more bikes Arnold suner was 15 when he was taken on a tour of the factory in 1950 his family had sold rally bikes and Anon sea since the 1920s the rally Factory was an amazing place here red hot Bars of Steel are
Being forged the first thing that hit me was an orchestra of industrial sounds of different frequencies and there were so many of these wonderful skilled skilled people in the factory the front fork and back stay are Polished by holding them against Emory Wheels I came across a man who was assembling The
Hub this man he will put his hand in a box full of ball bearings and by Magic he’d throw the ball bearings at his finger and the ball bearings would just go right around this worker can fill over 1,000 hubs in an 8-hour day to me I thought the this fell is a
Miracle man you know I I came across another place and these guys were dipping the frames into this tank of black liquid this gives the bicycle its luster and shine and enables it to keep its new appearance for a long time and when I went into this wheel
Assembly plant you’d have a long row of women and they were there uh all day lacing up building wheels these girls are so expert that they can fit a tire and a tube in 50 seconds I’ve never stopped thinking such a deeper impression it made going around the rally
Works I I’m 81 now but the memories of that visit to the rally Bicycle Works are still fresh in my mind so that’s how a bicycle is made yes careful designing reliable materials and expert craftsmanship in every stage of manufacturer turn out a British bicycle Second To None the factory was a place
Of Wonder to 15-year-old Arnold and many on the payroll thought of it as a great place to work although it did have its downsides a growing assembly line meant some jobs were becoming boring and repetitive While others were dangerous and noisy and as they were paid according to how many parts they made
The company comp’s Craftsmen had to work hard for their money the toughest thing for me was doing the jobs and passing them to the next operator because he couldn’t keep going unless you were doing your job they give you a good doing if you w’t keep it up and keeping them going
Cuz they say if you don’t dab in we will get no money in the T weend so you dabbed in despite the hardship Harold Bowen took a paternalistic approach to leadership so employees were thought of as part of the rally family and outside of work they were well looked
After home movies show workers and their families enjoying a sports day on the company’s playing fields and there were regular dances held at the firm’s own Ballroom rally had its own Medical Center and convalescent home but top of the list for many was the annual paid outing and the favorite destination was
Blackpool you never got days out like that with anybody else did you and it was all paid for I took my wife with me and uh would have a walk up and down the prom go on the pier up the tower lovely we used to paddle and go out as far as we
Could as far as the uh I didn’t get up your trousers and something like that and then at Night the Lights would come on and we get on a bus and go around the lights it was a cracking de it made you feel that you wanted and they were looking looking
After you in all respects yes rally realized the importance of leisure time not just for its workers but also as a way of promoting its latest bikes in the 1950s the company’s marketing material focused on The Great Outdoors portraying a new bicycle Golden Age in which cycling was a lifestyle
Choice rally bikes were used not just to get to work but as a means of Escape too usually with the companion of your dreams much of this artwork featured the traditional Roadster perfect for cycle touring but the company had to find ways to sell its drop handle bar sports bikes
Too back in the 1890s it had done this through the sponsorship of successful sprint races like world champion AA Zimmerman but it had been decades since it had signed a superstar racer that was until re Harris came along we pick out the event of the day
At the meeting of the bche wheelers the Thousand MERS International cycle Sprint taking part British amateur Sprint Champion re Harris Holland’s champ Corb and the two Manchester wheelers Dove and Bannister at the half distance Harris was well in the lead amateur Champion regj turned Pro when he signed to Rally in
1949 the same year that he won the first of four World professional Sprint titles launching the memorable slogan regge rides a rally with his charm and good looks he was soon as well known as sporting Heroes like Stanley Matthews and Sterling moss and just as well liked to
A popular cyclist from Manchester goes the sporting Public’s highest honor Harris who won his well titled reg’s success sold bikes and his name was associated with one of the company’s Best Loved models the Lenton Sports aimed at the sports Rider as well as the Leisure cyclist the bike was as
Good on country lanes as it was on time trials and with the reg Harris seal of approval selling it was like a ride in the park for dealers like Arnold sner you’d say to the customer now if you want something really different something that you’re going to be able
To get to work faster on you know and at will weekend you can go off into the country you you better have a a rally Lenton made famous by re Harris and you all know about re Harris you know the fastest cyclists in the world these are
The sort of bikes that he would want you to buy this is your inspiration to get on your bike get fit and to do the sort of times that re Harris did being a canny Salesman Arnold was not above using social occasions as a way to sell the
Bikes as a member of the cycle touring Club he often went on group trips into the countryside and riding his own rally Lenton he had a captive audience of course you’re riding on your rally Lenton bicycle and you seem to be going along better than all the others then
When you’re chatting to them you could say hey ah have a have a ride on this see what you think and then after about half an hour riding you you say well what do you think and the person who had to say well it’s certainly better than my old bik
Yes when I save up enough money I must really get one of these and then you say well you don’t even need to start saving up you you can just pay a few Shillings a week and it’ll be yours come into the shop come into the shop and see what we’ve
Got and yes going out riding in a group of people and making direct comparisons with the some of the rubbish bicycles that they had certainly helped uh cycle sales reg Harris boosted sales to men so the company attempted to do the same for women by signing a female racing
Star but their target was one acquisition they failed to make her name was Eileen Sheridan some men believe a woman’s places in the home but E’s husband likes to get her out of the house even if it’s only into the garage for in this homemade gymnasium he supervises the exacting training that
Has brought her 11 Championship medals and 23 National place-to-place records Eileen was Britain’s top time trial Rider and as a record-breaking amateur she’d had the major manufacturers chasing her signature well first of all uh rally were after me but they offered me so very little I think they thought you
Know it’s a girl she won’t mind then Hercules sent me a telegram and they made me a marvelous offer so that was very great relief rally missed out when e signed for competitor Hercules in 1951 her challenge was to break as many distance and place- toop Place records
As she could and as a result raised the Brand’s profile nicknamed the pocket Hercules because she was only 4′ 11 in tall Eileen was known for her infectious smile even when racing I was just happy and I suppose that was good for adver advertisements they all felt that if
They rode a Hercules they were all smiling maybe they were within a few years Eileen had broken all the women’s records by a large margin but perhaps her greatest achievement was captured in this news reel from 1954 when she set a new record for the journey from L end to Jonah groz
Completing the gruelling 872 miles in 2 days 11 hours and 7 minutes for Hercules Eileen’s success meant sales well one of the the professionals and the Hercules team a you know alen they sold thousands and thousands of bikes when you were getting those records thousands he
Said so that the fact that I was a pocket Hercules or whatever um it sort of went down very well by this time Hercules and a few other bike companies were owned by tubing manufacturer tube Investments together they were now even bigger than rally and in an industry
Driven by mergers and Acquisitions it was turning into a battle in which only the strongest would survive nevertheless rally was still a global brand producing a million bikes a year most of which were exported to happy customers around the world however its bikes didn’t just go overseas to be sold many went abroad
With their Intrepid owners part of a growing fashion for cycle touring on the continent a pastime made easier with new lightweight bikes and deria gears the company didn’t introduce the deria until 1955 and few models had them this one was fitted alongside the existing three-speed Hub by engineer David saw
Before he set off for Austria The Experience would change his life it was so enjoyable traveling in Austria traveling in this beautiful mountainous terrain finding yourself going up long gradients and I never had to walk up a hill eventually you would reach a summit it was inspiring
But you didn’t want to race down because you had to tell yourself that you were traveling on those roads for perhaps the only time you would ever travel on them you needed to go down slowly enough so you took in all the wonderful views after several tours in Europe
David decided he loved cycling so much he would leave his job and take his bike around the world the journey took him three and a half years the period of traveling when I look back on it it was a lifechanging life enhancing experience the Raleigh the Raleigh bike
Had become such an integral part of my life and um an experience like that it stays with you and you continually relive it as I do know throughout the 1950s confidence at rally remained High and the company continued to buy out its main competitors including Triumph and in 1957
BSA but there was trouble ahead head that year war hero vicount Montgomery came to Nottingham to open a huge new Factory but a dramatic slump in the market meant it would stay empty for years the cause was a fall in exports and a rise in the popularity of the car
As living standards increased so too did car ownership and the bike fell out of favor cycling to work was seen as a Preserve of the poor and more commuters decided to drive busy roads made cycling increasingly dangerous too more cars meant more accidents so many cyclists decided to give up their
Bike the impact on the industry was enormous by the end of the decade bicycle production in the UK had fallen by 40% something had to change in 1960 rally was swallowed up in a merger with its main comp competitor tube Investments the bicycle business that had begun life in a back street in
Nottingham was now part of a group that controled 75% of the UK Market I think we were all rather sad uh that it had been taken over on the other hand it was much better that that happened than that rally and TI slowly killed each other off which was the
Alternative rally kept its name and absor abbed tube Investments Brands including old rival Hercules but what the management hoped would be a new golden age was just the start of a long period of uncertainty and unrest Morale on the shop floor declined as redundancies loomed and when chairman
Sir Harold Bowen died in 1960 the company lost the sense of paternalism that had made it special discontent was on the rise and it was reflected in a groundbreaking feature film released that year set in the rally Factory Saturday night and Sunday morning told the tale of Arthur Sean a rebellious anti-hero
Fed up with his life on the bicycle production line I’m 154 it was based on a book written by ex rally worker Alan Silo 950 bloody five another few more and that’s a lot for a Friday £4 feing to for 1,000 of a day no wonder I’ve always got a bad back with
Its gritty realism controversial storyline and career defining performance by Albert the film became a Smash Hit I’d like to see anybody try to grind me down that would be the day what I’m out for is a good time all the rest is propaganda in the real world the threat
Of job losses and pay cuts was making real life Arthur setin out of the once loyal Workforce sparking a series of industrial disputes rally was having an identity crisis bike sales continued to fall too as the Young Generation rebelled against the old way of life embodied by Rally’s traditional roadsters what the company
Needed was a new design that captured the spirit of the times and he’s getting away on a revolutionary bicycle the cyclist is Alex Molton well-known designer of suspension units for cars 5 years of development have produced the first bike with suspension designer Alex Molt’s revolutionary small wiel bike came along
At just the right time he offered to make it with rally but the company turned him down only to copy it with its own version the rsw1 16 had fat tires instead of suspension and was a slow ride but it marked the beginning of a new era for rally in which its designs
Became both fashionable and fun 2 best of all was the chopper releas in 1970 it’s arguably Rally’s most iconic bike motoring journalist Mark Hughes got one for his 10th birthday there’s just no way once you’d seen that as a 10-year-old kid there’s just no way you couldn’t have
That it was just just irresistible you it was just lust that’s the only way you could describe it a near as it was 10y old lust as a boy Mark had Ambitions of becoming a racing driver but in the meantime the chopper was the next best
Thing with its small front wheel and big back wheel that’s what Formula 1 cars of the time looked like it’s just like something from a different planet best of all it had a gear stick a proper gear stick like a car the pedals gone round and round in
My head they were they were the revs of the engine and I’d be making the noise inside my head and then you change the gear when you got a maximum revs and then you next gear and you have to do them very fast the big thing for me was to always
Go as fast as possible at all times break as late as possible go through the corner with as much lean as possible without the pedal quite hitting in the ground that’s what it was all about there were downsides to the chopper though with most most of its
Weight at the back it was easy to tip up and the gear stick could cause painful accidents but having mastered it Mark will always have a place in his heart for his old bike if I’m walking the dog and see a nice little mud path with the right
Sequence of Corners in it I think oh i’ love the chopper down here Chopper would be fantastic around this corner still now the chopper was an instant hit but there’s controversy behind the bike’s success because two men claimed to have designed it hello oh good morning Mr I
Understand you want to word with me oh yes I do George thank you Alan Oakley was Rally’s design director he’d been with the company since the 1940s and had been responsible for the rsw1 16 he was absolutely dedicated to Rally one of his friends said well Alan was rally and rally was
Alan and the passion of Designing and designing bikes and also the engineering part of it um he just loved it The Story Goes that the company wanted a new bike to rival the Schwin Stingray a low rider design that had taken America by storm this early attempt was made by rally in
America launched in Britain as the Mustang in 1966 it was a flop so it was up to Alan Oakley to come up with something better one of the super things that happened to me was in 1967 and my then board uh said get on an airplane and go to America go
Anywhere else you like but come back with a better product than the curreny they’ve got or we are producing for them according to Rally folklore inspired by his trip Allan scribbled the first designs for the chopper on the plane home back in Nottingham he and his team
Put his plans into action and the chopper was born Allan died in 2012 but it’s a story his wife Karen can confirm Allan bought the design back and they created it at the rally uh the team completely and looking through his briefcase I found this which I’m sure is the original
Design which would then become the iconic Chopper bik I think the company liked the idea of Allen’s original sketches so much it used the concept in its advertising campaign but there’s a problem because designer Tom Karen also claims to have designed the chopper I just had no idea that the somebody
Dr had Ambitions to design the chopper uh it it it it never occurred to me Tom ran design agency Ogle and says rally gave him the brief to design the Schwin rival and he’s got convincing evidence too what what we have here is a copy of
The first sketch I made after a meeting with the Raleigh um and that was my usual way of operating I’d sketch books and I would put ideas down down there and it features of course the big wheel at the back and the front wheel being small which is key because um they made
It like a a dragster or a Formula 1 car where all the power comes from the back and then it had a nice straight frame unlike the Schwin that they were trying to compete with which had a very curvaceous frame I knew it was a very good
Design so I don’t know what more I can do to prove it the design Council has given credit for the Cho to Tom but whatever really happened the bike has become an icon of the 70s and one which will always be snonymous with the name rally the Chopper’s success was good for
Morale as well as sales and by the end of the 70s industrial relations had improved but work on the assembly line could still be boring and repetitive Clive Hodgson seen here in this archive film would be the first to admit it he lived for the
Weekend I think a lot of people would do that when if they work in in that type of work you know or a monotonous job you’d find some Outlet in your mind to break away from that otherwise you’d end up going around the bend I think around
The twist we’re going to carry on now with a super number from back 1958 this is Big Joe Turner and boogie boogie country girl take it away Live’s Outlet was rock and roll and as a part-time DJ he spent most weekends playing 50s records at clubs around the
Country he even managed to bring a bit of the weekend back to the Daily Grind of the assembly line of course I knew a lot of the words to to the songs we used to have laugh and sing sing some of them we got different people used to sing
Different parts and uh we used to have a laugh and one of one of favor what we used to go along with one ain’t got no own by Clarence Frogman enry it went sort to like this I ain’t got no home a no place to WR I ain’t got no
Home no place to WR I’m a lonely boy I ain’t got a home because it just took away that monotony and people begin to know me after the time you know and they you said I hope he going off again is going off or whatever you know away from all the singing the
Company had been looking to increase its market share in the one place where it had never really gained a foothold Continental Europe and the quickest route to sales was through a successful racing team the best way to promote bikes is trying to get to the the biggest level
You can get to and uh the T France is possibly the biggest thing if not equal to the Olympic Games the people who go are in the hundreds of thousands millions over a 3-we period so if you could have success in the to front especially with television it’s free
Advertising so in 1974 the company opened a new Factory in ilon called The Specialist bike development unit here in contrast to Nottingham’s assembly lines bespoke handcrafted racing bikes were made for a brand new TI rally racing team each Rider had an individual bike that was made for him
They say there’s two ways you ride a bike you either sit in it or you sit on it if you sit in the bike you are part of the bike if you sit on the bike because it’s a little bit too long or you you’re a little bit too high you
Waste energy with super lightweight 753 tubing silver brazing and the latest campanola deria gears the bikes made at the sbdu were world class and in a short time the team began to compete in and then win some of Europe’s top races the real breakthrough came in
1977 when rally won the team prize in the tour to France and as a result hundreds of cycle dealers across Europe began stocking rally bikes and there was better news to come just 3 years later cycling in the tour to France has been won by you zilk of
The Netherlands riding a British rally it’s the first time the Nottingham base rally company has won the coveted individual first place now zil’s win will help them further their share of the valuable Continental Market where sales now total a quar of a million a year from almost nothing a few years
Ago thanks to the Craftsman of the sbdu rally had become a serious player in the European market and its racing team was the best on the planet meanwhile another sport had taken off that was set to transform the world of science cycling and appeal to Fashion conscious youngsters it was called bicycle
Motorcross BMX for short originating in America the BMX craze was sweeping across Britain these small agile bikes brought a new level of fun to cycling the lightweight design enabling Riders to perform jumps and tricks with ease the three-speed grifter launched in 1976 was similar but BMX bikes were
Single speed and the company was reluctant to get involved rally was in a difficult position because BMX was a single speed bicycle rally had a sister company called steri Archer who made three-speed gears and all our kids bikes had three-speed gears and therefore for me to say we need BMX everyone was going
That that doesn’t have any use for you know you can’t do a three-speed BMX Ivon Ricks was an influential figure at rally who transformed the ladies Market with a range of bikes designed just for women advertised like fashion accessories in the latest colors in the early 80s she convinced
The company that it should start making BMX bikes and in 1982 the burner was launched to begin with no one knew if it would sell well and I actually went down to the factory and saw all these bicycles coming down in bright red and yellow and green and I thought oh my
Goodness me but ivonne’s instincts were proved right and the burner flew off the production lines to give its publicity an extra push the company began to sign up the best riders in the country for a new team and one teenager from walam Stow was top of its list of targets his
Name was Andy ruffle whatever you’re looking for you’ll find it in BMX there really are no words to describe a sport like ours riding for competitor Mongoose Andy had a huge fan base and had already achieved the rare feat of becoming national champion in both BMX racing and
Freestyle but a move to Rally was too good to refuse if felt like I’d arrived you know having been through you know my whole childhood you know on rally grifters and you know getting a rally Chopper that kind of stuff you know it felt like a full circle thing
You know it just doesn’t get any better than that Andy and the team were hired to raise the profile of the company’s BMX bikes not just by winning races on them but also through publicity appearances which could draw in over 2,000 fans it was always strange cuz I mean we
Were teenagers and yet you know we were treated kind of like pop stars I guess and I think one of the most amazing things for me was um the lengths that you know these kids would go to to get an autograph and also where they would want
Autographs we had girls that would want autographs in strange places um and then there was you know there was kids that where I would sign their for heads you know Andy ruffle rally number one on the top of their forehead really strange Andy finished the season as British champion before leaving the
Sport to pursue a life in the media but rally will always remain close to his heart I mean I think I’m really fortunate that you know the last year of my career was with one of the biggest brands in the world and um I’m very proud of that you know we were
Successful rally sold a lot of bikes um and I had the best time ever Andy left the sport he loved just as the BMX boom began to fade meanwhile the company switched its attentions to another American Invasion mountain bikes launching the Maverick in 1985 although with stiff competition from American brands sales were
Initially disappointing we always had a credibility problem because the imported bikes were all lightweight and and things like that and and rally still had this image of being sturdy and reliable and you know dare I say heavy still over the next few years the Company formed a new mountain bike
Racing team launched an upmarket model with Shimano gears called the mtrs and introduced shock absorbers on the activator rally would go on to sell over 3 million m mountain bikes however the mountain bike boom led to the decline of the traditional racer and rally disbanded its racing team
Closing down the factory in ilon but not before it had produced a pair of bikes that would make history in 1986 broadcaster Nicholas Crane and his cousin Richard set off on an extraordinary cycling adventure riding bikes they’d had made at the sbdu he hasn’t looked at his photos for 30
Years This Is Us on the the beach in the be Bal at uh patenga point on the 1st of May 1986 with our brand new straight from the factory rally bikes twinkling in the Bangladeshi sun and I can tell from the way we’re standing that we’re both just absolutely desperate to get on
Those amazing bikes and start pedaling to towards the Himalayas Nick and Richard were attempting to cycle over 3,300 M from Bangladesh across the Himalayas to a place in Northwestern China which they’d calculated to be the point on the planet furthest from the Open Sea what they called the center of the
Earth getting there over mountains and across deserts would push man and machine to their limits no one had ever done it before it’s always going to be more exciting if you think you’re doing something either not many people do and best of all if nobody’s ever done that’s an amazing
Feeling the best way to achieve their goal was to travel fast and light so they carried no tent or food and little water instead they relied on their ability to get from place to place as quickly as possible and the kindness of strangers along the way no risk has enormous rewards and the
More exposed you become the more the joys of humanity um get reaffirmed it took them 58 days but after surviving blizzards sandstorms and just a couple of punctures Nick and Richard finally made it to the Center of the Earth and it was thanks in part to their handbuilt
Bikes when I look at this last picture of the two was holding the bikes up it’s interesting that the you know the the language of this image is of two bikes being celebrated the bikes with this mechanic iCal constant the only variables were our our bodies and Minds today 30 years after making
History Nick still has a souvenir of his journey come and look in here this is the rally this is the bike that I rode with dick to the place in the world most distant from the can see the center of the earth and it’s pretty much exactly as it was the day we
Finished the ride it’s still part of my life and um it’s an Immaculate bike it’s still the tires are still pumped up and it still works perfectly and uh it’s been knocked about a bit because it was a rough old ride but uh I’m never going to let it
Go in 1987 the year after Nick and Richard’s Epic Journey a series of buyouts began that signaled the end of The Glory Days for rally in the UK after the mountain bike boom sales had continued to drop and by 1998 they were the lowest they’d been since
1970 rally was falling out of fashion the company was finding it impossible to square its ambition to make high quality as well as mass-produced bikes and the growth in rival manufacturers made the situation worse in 1999 it made a shock announcement 100 Years of British biking
Tradition came to an end today when the cycl maker rally auctioned off its manufacturing equipment from now on the bike frames will be made abroad and the factory in Nottingham will concentrate on assembly and painting but that was only the beginning 3 years later rally announced it was closing its Nottingham factories
For good from then on its bikes would be made in the far East Clive Hodson was one of the remaining 281 assembly workers who lost their jobs he’d worked at rally for over 40 years to finish just like that and everybody vanish into the distance really sad really sad you know and when
It finally comes in I was almost in tears because you you’d built your life round that work and to lose your friends like that to vanish off into the distance it was really sad they were the best years of my Liv with the people I’ve met and the work I
Did I really enjoyed it it was really a sad moment yeah today rally is owned by Dutch company Axel and its bikes continue to be made overseas the rally brand is not as popular as it once was but as the fashion for cycling continues to increase there is optimism for the
Future it’s even launched a new road racing team hoping to live up to past glories for us at Team rally the future is looking really bright the bikes that we’re using the militus is the top of the range bike from rally it’s carbon fiber light comes in just on 7 kilos
Under 7 kilos but it’ll set you back about £6,000 it’s a nice bike using the old colors which everybody where we’ve been they love the rally bike they still relate it back especially the old the old fogies as we call them it just brings back memories of the 70s and the 80s for
Them it remains to be seen how successful rally will be as bespoke by produced by rival companies are now associated with the quality and craftsmanship rally was once a byword for whatever the future holds for rally for some people the name will always conjure up images from the
Past from happy memories of times spent learning to ride your first bike to days out touring the British Countryside from the Simplicity of riding in the street with friends to Epic Journeys far and wide Rally For Better or Worse will always be associated with the golden age of the British bicycle