Robin Longbottom looks at how cycling took off in the area

DURING the 1870s and 80s, the penny farthing bicycle – also known as the ordinary or high wheeler – offered a freedom of travel that was previously only available for those who could afford to keep a horse, or hire one.

Riding a high wheeler became a craze throughout western society and one Anglo-American, Thomas Stevens, even rode around the world on one.

However, after the development of the safety bicycle, its days were short lived. The safety bicycle had several advantages over the high wheeler – both wheels were of similar size, it had independent pedals that powered the rear wheel via a chain and both feet could touch the ground. A triangular, or diamond shaped, frame provided robust support for men and a step-through frame enabled women to cycle in their long and somewhat cumbersome dresses. With the addition of pneumatic tyres, the safety bicycle presented a safer and more comfortable ride.

Enthusiastic cyclists banded together to form clubs. Keighley Cycling Club numbered 20 members in 1887 and Craven Cycling Club held an inaugural dinner at the Black Horse in Skipton the following year. In May, 1889, the Keighley and the Craven clubs cycled to Settle where they met up with the North Ribblesdale Cyclists for “a friendly run”. Such was the popularity that Bartholomews Maps (founded 1826) published a new series of two-inch to the mile linen maps especially for tourists and cyclists.

Clubs held annual sports days with half-mile, one-mile, 100-yard and 200-yard flat races being strongly contested. In 1893 the Keighley club offered nearly £100 in prizes, a considerable amount of money considering that working men were earning little more than £1 a week. In later years criterium, bike races of several laps around a closed circuit, took place in Victoria Park, Keighley, together with a hill climb up the ‘Twines’ at Thwaites Brow. From the 1890s time trials, in which a cyclist races on the road against the clock, became popular and remain so up to the present day.

With the rise in the popularity of cycling came specialist cycle manufacturers, and repair and retail shops. Major manufacturers, such as Humber and Raleigh, made Nottingham a major centre of manufacture in the 1890s. However, small one-man cycle makers produced bespoke machines to order. In Cross Hills, John Coates Green opened a cycle shop in the late 1890s at 33 Main Street. He built bikes from scratch, brazing the tubular frames, enamelling, and nickel-plating handlebars and accessories.

His cycles were retailed under the name JG Cycles-Ladies’, Gents' and Juveniles from £5 10s. He listed his business as 'official repairer to the CTC' – the Cycling Touring Club that had been founded in the day of the high wheeler. However, by 1911 he had given up making cycles and relied solely on retailing and repairing. He left Cross Hills some years later to work for a cycle retailer in Doncaster.

Despite John Green’s departure, Cross Hills remained a hub for the cycling fraternity. In about 1910 another cycle shop had been opened in Lothersdale Road by Richard Riley. Known as Dick Riley’s, the business traded from there until the early 1960s when it relocated to the bottom of Main Street.

Dick Riley ran the business until his two sons, Ralph and Herbert, took over, from which time they traded as Riley Brothers. Herbert left the business after the death of his father in 1955, leaving Ralph as sole proprietor. Ralph’s wife, Margaret, gained local fame writing poems to advertise the shop and its services in the local Advertiser.

Ralph Riley retired in 1996 and sold the business to Tony Booth, who traded as All Terrain Cycles. He eventually relocated to Salt’s Mill in Saltaire, ending over 100 years of cycling history in Cross Hills.