Condor Cycles in London has been building top-quality racing bikes for 75 years, and their story is also the story of British bike-racing since World War Two.
Condor-sponsored riders have ridden in the Milk Race, the Tour de France and in World Track Championships.
Road-racing, time-trialling, track racing, women’s racing, amateur and professional – this book is a complete survey of British cycle-sport from 1950 to 2000.
Foreword by Alf Engers and over 200 hundred photographs.
The Condor Years
Condor Cycles was founded in London in 1948 and has been building high-quality bikes and sponsoring racing teams ever since. This book is the story of Condor, and through their eyes the story of British cycle sport from the post-war years down to 2000. It tells of the great names in British cycling during that time: Reg Harris, Eileen Sheridan, Ray Booty, Norman Sheil, Bill Bradley, Les West, Beryl Burton, Hugh Porter, Alf Engers, Phil Griffiths, Mandy Jones, Ian Cammish, Malcolm Elliott, Andy Wilkinson, and many, many more. These were riders who won the Milk Races, set legendary time-trial records, or won world championships, but it is also the story of bike–racing at the grass roots, where humbler riders also competed for lesser glories. It tells the story of cycle sport’s slow emergence from the age of the amateur clubmen who raced in their spare time, to the slick modern world of professional televised racing. No book has ever presented a panorama of British cycling like this before. With a foreword by time-trialling legend Alf Engers, and packed with over 200 historic photographs, this is a must for all those cyclists who lived through these years.
Pen to Paper
