Norris sorry about what might appear to be nit-picking regarding the " City of London" but they are very fussy about their boundaries, traditions and police force etc. They wouldn't even let trams into the City in the old-days! Nearest they got was Southwark Bridge. I was indentured as an apprentice Letterpress Machine Manager (printer) to a firm in the "City of London (within the square mile). If you were a city time served Compositor you were allowed to carry a sword within the city. The only tradesmen to have this privilege, defenders of the freedom of the press. Didn't do them much good in the Times dispute against Murdoch at Wapping! Better get on with the cycling content before Dale gives me a rollicking for being off topic. I started taking an interest in cycling when I was 9 or ten years of age. A group of us use to ride around London together visiting the many famous cycling shops back then. Would have been around 1959. We had a London Transport bus and trolleybus map which we used to cycle London with. Great if the cycling shop was on a trolleybus route you could follow the wires. Condors in Grays Inn Road and Balls Pond Road were both served by trolleybus. Sure Norris is right about Condors becoming popular with the usage of this name. Have been told that no one in their right mind would ride a bike called Conway, everybody took the piss and said what is that thing your riding a bike or a f-----g pen! Conway Stewart were famous fountain pen manufacture way back then in the early 50's, so the name change was a very wise move. Plus having Bill Hurlow building your frames, a real master craftsman you couldn't go wrong. They also sponsored a team the Mackerson-Condors in the early 60's which was succesfull. Plus they made a name for "Butchering" Brooks B17 saddles. One of the first firms to provide this service. Condor's were real popular in the late 50's and 60's especially in the London areas and home counties mostly Essex and Hertfordshire. This popularity carried well on into the late 1980's around these parts. The funny thing is that the clubs I rode with from 61 to 82 all had more riders mounted on non London makers. Langsett, Mercian Pennine, Ellis Briggs, Upperdine, Harry Quinn were all real popular with our local clubmen. If they were on a London made frame it would invariably be a Condor, Gillott or Pat Hanlon, Don Farrell with the occasional Mal Rees or Ken Ryall. Our local London builders were just not that popular.
Best wishes and be lucky. Michael Butler Huntingdon UK.
>From: "Norris Lockley" <Norris.Lockley@btopenworld.com>
>To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
>Subject: [CR]Condor cycles and their gegraphical location
>Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2004 01:05:07 +0100
>
>Thanks Mike for pointing out the correct location, vis-vis the City of
>London, of the Condor Cycle shop, but any location within half a mile of a
>Tube station anywhere in London is near enough to the City for a northern
>country-bumkin like me!
>
>Cunning little snippit of local information that, about the derivation of
>the name Condor. Having checked the entry on the Hetchins'.org site I 'm
>still not certain whether or not the "Conway" Condor shop was well-known
>for its frames, or whether that renown, together with Bill Hurlow's
>contribution, started after Monty Young became the owner.
>
>Other members of the List have pointed out the comparative rarity of the
>condor species of bird, and I can only confirm that Condor frames, in the
>north of England in the 50/60s were as rare as the birds. The first
>reference I ever saw to the bike species was an article in the Sunday Times
>colour supplement, sometime in the mid 60s I think, showing the a typical
>bike that Monty was supplying to members of the British team for that
>year's Tour de France. I didn't actually see a frame in the "flesh" - it
>happened o be a Fleur de Lys model - until about 1980.
>
>If you remember Mike, those were the days when northeners still wore woad
>and had to have their passports stamped at Potters Bar!
>
>Norris Lockley.. wishing I had not sold the Hurlow Condor with the No 1
>lugset...Settle, outer reaches of the UK.. and a lloonngg way from EC1.