Watching one of my favourite cycling films again (and with 26 inches of snow here it's as close to cycling as one can get), the Dunlop film on the 1952 Tour of Britain, one sees teams organised by some of the big "rubbish" British cycle manufacturers... Hercules, BSA, Viking and even lowly Speedwell... and with Britain's top roadmen riding for them. And of course didn't Eileen Sheridan not only ride a Hercules but had a cycle named after her? I think Hercules was the earliest of the big British cycle companies to sponsor a road team. And later of course Falcon, another rubbish brand, had a reasonably successful team as did Holdsworth. I am not sure if Holdsworth cut the mustard either, wasn't it and Carlton seen as a bit downmarket among the oognoscenti?
The point being did any of this lessen the "rubbish" connotation of these big mass market firms with British clubmen? And was it one of the reasons these manufacturers opted to sponsor teams? Certainly Bianchi, Peugeot, Raleigh, Motobecane and Gios (all of which could be viewed as rubbish firms which like Dawes sold lots of bikes at all price points and almost all off the peg) derived huge marketing advantages sponsoring teams or in the case of Moto and Gios, being indeliably associated with the Bic and Brooklyn teams respectively. But they sold mostly to Continental and American customers not British ones. Even Tommy Simpson rode almost all rubbish big manufacturer French iron in his pro career, first Gitane and then Peugeot, and I gather he's rather well regarded is he not? Or was his reputation enhanced because he won riding rubbish and, worse, foreign rubbish at that?
Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA