Scotland was home to some fine lightweight bicycle framebuilders for much of last century. Unfortunately, those great names, led by Glasgow’s Flying Scot marque, no longer feature in the cycling world. Some simply went out of business in the 1950s and 1960s when the bicycle as the main form of mass transportation, inexorably gave way to the car. Some other framebuilding businesses disappeared when the man at the head of what was often a one-person operation died.
Sadly for those who value old lightweight bikes as much for their historic relevance as their engineering qualities, only the firm of David Rattray appears to have gone as far as to produce brochures of their products. Some of these catalogues can be see at Bob Reid’s great Flying Scot website. This lack of literature makes it difficult to piece together the stories surrounding the other great bikes such as those produced by George Elrick, E & S Worrall, the McNeil Brothers, D.W. Lindsay, et al.
This website gives fans of vintage lightweight bikes a taste of Scotland's cycling industry as it was last century. Scotland's best frames were easily a match for anything else produced during the classic era.
"It is quite clear to me as a framebuilder that the quality of at least the Flying Scot is equal to a Masi for sure." Brian Baylis, respected US frame builder.Although there were several skilled craftsmen building fine machines, the country did not play any significance in the components industry, an unexpected failure given Scotland's 20th century reputation for engineering.
So enjoy this Caledonian journey into the world of the Flying Scot, George Elrick's Stirling-built frames, the combined efforts of Hamilton brothers Ernie and Stan Worrall, the Dundee competitors Lindsay and Gibb and many more interesting and talented characters.
And if you can add to the history then please get in touch. All contributions welcome!
Bruce Robbins
Dundee
