Researching your retro ride and cycling history

[bridgethegap71]

That's interesting that there isn't one, I thought Canberra Bicycle Museum website used to have something..I haven't been on this forum for quite a while, I'm not very tech savy with website creation but I'd be happy to help or assist does anyone out there have the ability to start one or resurrect what is already out there?

[hiflange]

The West Australian Historical Cycle Club maintains a list of WA bike makers - there are over 100 listed there. A lot of blokes in sheds have their own lists but these rarely see the light of day. A publicly accessible Australia wide list would be great. It could easily run to 1000 makers though so setting it up would be a big job. Ongoing hosting of such a list would need consideration too.

[bridgethegap71]

The West Australian Historical Cycle Club maintains a list of WA bike makers - there are over 100 listed there. A lot of blokes in sheds have their own lists but these rarely see the light of day. A publicly accessible Australia wide list would be great. It could easily run to 1000 makers though so setting it up would be a big job. Ongoing hosting of such a list would need consideration too.

So we couldn't just start up a gallery on here with makers names and details? A bit like BMX Museum already has with their alphabetical list..https://bmxmuseum.com/

[bridgethegap71]

The West Australian Historical Cycle Club maintains a list of WA bike makers - there are over 100 listed there. A lot of blokes in sheds have their own lists but these rarely see the light of day. A publicly accessible Australia wide list would be great. It could easily run to 1000 makers though so setting it up would be a big job. Ongoing hosting of such a list would need consideration too.

I've just checked out The West Australian Historical Cycle Club website, what a wonderful database for WA bikes, love the head tube badge gallery..must have taken a lot of time to compile..

[P!N20]

So we couldn't just start up a gallery on here with makers names and details?

You sure can, go for it!

I asked a similar question here: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=70837&p=1494596&hi ... n#p1494596

[bridgethegap71]

So we couldn't just start up a gallery on here with makers names and details?

You sure can, go for it!

I asked a similar question here: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=70837&p=1494596&hi ... n#p1494596

I've love to but don't know how, I'm hopeless with forums etc but it could be something like BMX Museum A-Z of bike manufacturers..

[hiflange]

So we couldn't just start up a gallery on here with makers names and details? A bit like BMX Museum already has with their alphabetical list..https://bmxmuseum.com/

You could, but people have tried and failed before. Forum threads aren't spreadsheets or databases and simply don't lend themselves to lists.

Wikipedia does lend itself to lists and already has a list of bike manufacturers from around the world. It's far from comprehensive but each listing links to a referenced article about the manufacturer. Another benefit of running the list on Wikipedia is that updating isn't dependent on a single person or entity. The downside of Wikipedia is the 'notability' requirement - with smaller or less well known brands there may not be enough verifiable information to create an article, a necessary step to making the list useful.

I've taken the bull by the horns and created a list of Australian bike brands and builders using the seven linked articles about Aussie bike brands from the worldwide list.

[Tmuir]

Trove scanned newspaper articles could be a good source for a number of manufactures as many of the brands would of atleast posted adverts in their local newspapers. Links to these newspaper adverts could be used to establish enough basic information to meet Wikipedia's standards. From the adverts you should be able to give an approximate start date of the company and end date, or atleast when last advertised.
For example the earliest advert I can find for Kookaburra is 24 November 1932
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/arti ... %20bicycle
So it would be fair to say it started circa 1932
and the last mention I can find of it being 30 April 1938, so it would be fair to say last known advert April 1938.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/arti ... 20bicycle#

and al l sorts of other goodies, like the business was at 73 Adelaide St Fremantle in November 1934
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/arti ... %20bicycle

But in 1936 was in Market St Fremantle
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/arti ... %20bicycle

I can even find evidence that Kookaburra cycles ran a social riding club in 1932 and 1933 in Freamantle.

If I can turn that up on a small brand that only lasted 6 or so years in the 1930s in 15 minutes imagine what can be found on other brands.

Though it would be a hell of a job to capture that for all the brands and put it in a wiki.

[hiflange]

Though it would be a hell of a job to capture that for all the brands and put it in a wiki.

Not such a big job if a heap of people are doing it. The other hitch with Wikipedia is the learning needed to create a new article. I'm sure there are a few Wikipedians on BNA though. Perhaps they'd be happy to create the stubs using text and references generated by others?

We are blessed - Trove is such an amazing resource - a couple of Trove references and 50 words about Kookaburra is enough get started. The same would be true of so many Australian brands.

[bridgethegap71]

Though it would be a hell of a job to capture that for all the brands and put it in a wiki.

Not such a big job if a heap of people are doing it. The other hitch with Wikipedia is the learning needed to create a new article. I'm sure there are a few Wikipedians on BNA though. Perhaps they'd be happy to create the stubs using text and references generated by others?

We are blessed - Trove is such an amazing resource - a couple of Trove references and 50 words about Kookaburra is enough get started. The same would be true of so many Australian brands.

I've just had a look on Trove and it is amazing, I could look on there for hours.. it's clear we have some very capable forum users on here.. so what are the first steps, how can we all help get this going?

[hiflange]

I've taken the bull by the horns and created a list of Australian bike brands and builders using the seven linked articles about Aussie bike brands from the worldwide list.

Wow, within a few days the list on Wikipedia has grown from 7 to 39! The vast majority are just links out to currently operating bike brands so there's not a lot of depth of information there, but nonetheless it's impressive.

[bridgethegap71]

I've taken the bull by the horns and created a list of Australian bike brands and builders using the seven linked articles about Aussie bike brands from the worldwide list.

Wow, within a few days the list on Wikipedia has grown from 7 to 39! The vast majority are just links out to currently operating bike brands so there's not a lot of depth of information there, but nonetheless it's impressive.

Well done guys, where there's a will there's a way.. will be very useful.. : ) All the WA brands already done, wish I knew how to edit/update wiki..

[hiflange]

wish I knew how to edit/update wiki..

Lifelong learning! - Lots of good resources on Wikipedia, sign up (free) and dip your toe in the water with a few easy edits; tidying up some grammar or sentence structure somewhere or adding a reference/citation.
I'm trying to add Flash Cycles at the moment, one of WA's best known brands of yore, and I'm up against the notability problem already. It doesn't auger well for adding smaller brands

[bridgethegap71]

wish I knew how to edit/update wiki..

Lifelong learning! - Lots of good resources on Wikipedia, sign up (free) and dip your toe in the water with a few easy edits; tidying up some grammar or sentence structure somewhere or adding a reference/citation.
I'm trying to add Flash Cycles at the moment, one of WA's best known brands of yore, and I'm up against the notability problem already. It doesn't auger well for adding smaller brands

Ok, I'll have a go on wiki, but can't we just do Trove resources as mentioned previously or can't you find small brands on there either?

[P!N20]

Wow, within a few days the list on Wikipedia has grown from 7 to 39!

Great stuff.

Can someone delete Shifter Bikes? They are a bike shop that doesn't manufacture bicycles.

Edit: same goes for Goldcross.

Edit edit: Mambo? The Copier Company? Hmmm...

[hiflange]

Ok, I'll have a go on wiki, but can't we just do Trove resources as mentioned previously or can't you find small brands on there either?

There are no rules so anyone can do Trove resources, it's just that dumping them in a thread here doesn't really make them much more accessible than they are on Trove.

Trove has great list and tag features, if you're looking for a brand check under Lists as well as under the more obvious Newspapers and Magazines category.

The brand name appreciation threads on BNA are good places to consolidate brand specific info and again they're a bit easier to find than sifting through a more generic thread like this one. If one doesn't exist just start it and see who shows up

[find_bruce]

There are a couple of key concepts on Wikipedia

• Reliable sources: all information should be supported by a reference to a source that is independent of the subject, with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy. The ironically named Truth newspaper probably isn't a reliable source for most things, even though it is available on Trove pre 1954. It doesn't need to be available online - eg books are usually reliable sources, even when they're not online. It's also ok to use archived websites as references, such as the Canberra bicycle museum
• Notability on Wikipedia refers to the subject of the article - it's not about how many bikes, years or the "importance" of those bikes, but rather what reliable sources say about the maker. Self promotion by pr hacks means that companies are carefully scrutinised for notability. Mere mention in a newspaper article is not going to cut it. Instead look for articles, including magazine articles dealing with the manufacturer & their history, people etc. A mention on page 356 of a book won't cut it, but a chapter certainly would. Websites such as the WA historical cycle club's page on Flash cycles can help establish notability, as can exhibitions put on with the support of organisations such as the state library etc. Notability can be controversial such as the absence of an article for Donna Strickland until after she won a nobel prize.

Lists are a bit different on wikipedia - the list itself can be notable, or it can be used for fulfill informational, navigation, or development purposes. Because the group is notable, individual entries don't need to be. Restricting the scope of the list, such as only notable entries, can be done for the purpose of keeping a list to a manageable size, but it doesn't have to be.

[Tmuir]

I've been gathering information together for a wiki article on the Kookaburra brand, but have been going at it another way to pass the notable requirement.
I'm instead putting the article together about the owner of Grady's Cycle agency that made the Kookaburra as Arthur Grady is notable by being the first person ever to circumnavigate Australia by motorcycle. At one point he had to even dismantle his motorcycle and carry it across a river in parts that was head deep and rebuild it on the other side.
There are many references to him on the net and in newspapers and as part of his article will include the bicycles. I've been mainly gathering references and only just started writing the article, but think it will be atleast another week before I'm read to submit it to wiki.

For Flash Cycles you could always tie it to the entry already in wiki for the Perth SpeedDome which is on Eddie Barron Drive, the found of Flash Cycles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth_SpeedDome

[Imwit]

On this.. the Canberra Bicycle Museum had an extensive list on their website. It’s archived from 2009 on Trove.

https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20090 ... Place.html

And Torana68 had a really good one on his ozpushies yahoo group that he might be willing to share.

Looking through that CBM list just now I have already solved a couple of mysteries that had bugged me for ages

[hiflange]

Sadly the Canberra Bike Museum resource is littered with error, at least for the WA section. And with no way to correct it, its usefulness is limited as everything has to be verified.

[Imwit]

Sadly the Canberra Bike Museum resource is littered with error, at least for the WA section. And with no way to correct it, its usefulness is limited as everything has to be verified.

It definitely looked a work in progress. But it looks like there are some sections of it that were well researched and I’m not sure where else that information would be found.

[ldrcycles]

I've taken the bull by the horns and created a list of Australian bike brands and builders using the seven linked articles about Aussie bike brands from the worldwide list.

I've been doing a bit of work on the wikipedia page for my hometown so I'll be able to chip in here. So far I've just removed Parlee (no idea how that got on there ) and added Healing, but plenty more to go when I get a chance.

[Dumpsterides]

I'm new to the forum. Hi all,

I have a 2 Star Malvern Star bike that I am trying to find out what model it is, and hopefully what colours it originally came with.

Serial number on top of LHS seat post reads:

6M22748

Thankyou if you can help.

[hiflange]

Welcome to the forum

6 = 1946, M = made in Melbourne

This (now very long) thread has some great info about MS serial numbers. You might find some pics of Malvern Stars with original paint in the thread too, not sure.

[Dumpsterides]

To hiflange,

Thanks for your quick response to my question.

Dumpsterides.