- Title:
- Ellis & Co. Geared Facile Racer
- Object name(s):
- cycle bicycle
- Brief description:
- This bicycle was made by Ellis and Company, London. It is an example of a transitional cycle from a Penny Farthing to a safety bicycle, also known as a Dwarf Safety bicycle. The front wheel of this bicycle is not as large as that of a High Ordinary or Penny Farthing. It has a smaller front wheel similar to the front wheel of a small Ordinary. The bicycle's front wheel has lever pedals and exposed gears.The Facile was an attempt to make Penny Farthing cycles safer, by adding gears and treadles to the front, drive wheel. This geared the wheel up so it was equivalent to a large wheeled Penny Farthing. The Facile bicycle was patented by John Beale in 1878 and it enjoyed considerable popularity and commerical success. The Facile was one of the most successful types of safety bicycle on the market prior to the introduction of John Kemp Starley's Rover safety bicycle. This actual bicycle was presented to Percy [P.A.] Nix of the Brixton Ramblers Bicycle Club for completing 297 miles in 24 hours on this geared Facile on 20th October 1888. The prize was awarded by Ellis and Company and included a diamond ring, a gold medal, and a silver plated tea and coffee service. Percy Nix was a prominent racing cyclist and record breaker of his day. He was especially known for his marathon rides form Lands End to John O Groats and from London to Brighton and back in a day. This is how the 'Cycle Record' magazine described some of his achievement in 1884 – ‘Mr. Nix rode in several race sand succeeded in getting into the finals for both the one mile and two miles events at the Crystal Palace, and came first in an open mile race at Ravensbourne. On July the 24th he won the Brixton Ramblers championships and in other events showed form. On October 4th he started at midnight from Devises on his first 24 hours’ ride, via Slough and Biggleswade and back, and accomplished the distance of 236 miles riding a 55inch Ordinary* and received the club long distance record.’ His achievement riding 297 miles in 24 hours on a geared Facile only stood for a year when in 1889 a Mr A Holbien covered 324 miles riding a Coventry made Premier bicycle. The magazine ‘Cycle Record’ wrote this about Percy Nix in January 1889 – ‘The record of performance, undoubtedly places Mr. Nix in the front rank of road scorchers of the day, and we trust we shall this year have the pleasure of recording what is evidently the height of his ambition, - that is, to do the 300 miles in 24 hours.’ *A ‘55inch Ordinary’ was a Penny Farthing bicycle with a 1.40m diameter front wheel.
- Collection:
- Culture Coventry
- Dimension:
- 47''
- Object name:
- cycle bicycle
- Object number:
- RT.A551/13
- Object production date:
- Date - earliest / single:
- 1887
- Date - latest:
- 1887
- Object production organisation:
- Ellis & Co. Ltd.
- Responsible department/section:
- Coventry Transport Museum
Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/da853bd9-8e2c-3498-99cf-b23568101774
Use licence for this record: CC BY-NC
Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/da853bd9-8e2c-3498-99cf-b23568101774, Culture Coventry, CC BY-NC
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