Welcome to Classic Lightweights, the most comprehensive online repository on the history of British bespoke bicycle and component manufacture. This site contains a bounty of resources for anyone interested in the finest bicycles and components ever made, and the individual artisans and makers who produced them.
The site was created by Peter Underwood in 2006 as a resource for a few friends to share stories, memories and photos. Nobody imagined how the site would grow to become the definitive resource for classic lightweight British bicycles and their history. Peter and his wife Patricia’s stewardship of the site has been remarkable and highly valued by its large global readership. In recent years they had become concerned about the future of the site and were keen to secure it for future generations.
Starting in early 2020 we (the team behind the revival of Chater-Lea) took over the day-to-day management of the site. We are committed to ensuring the site will remain non-commercial and free to all who wish to use it. Work is underway to make the site easier to navigate, enhance the search capabilities and upgrade technology to accommodate additional content. This will ensure that existing and new audiences can continue to enjoy the site.
We will shortly launch a newly designed and rebuilt site but this is just step one as we plan to further develop the site including: expanding the content; improving the curation of content on the site including adding indexing and tagging for better cross-referencing; and developing new original content to share the wonderful stories from this golden age of British bicycle and component manufacturing. The site is already large (thousands of pages and tens of thousands of images) but the potential is so much bigger.
It has been a herculean task this last several months to get it to the point where the site is well designed, functions well and is secured for the future. But now the hard work really begins which is to enhance the site and allow enthusiasts from around the world to enjoy it today and everyday and to ensure the site continues to evolve. Every week we get emails from people wanting to share reminiscences, share information and share photos. We have a backlog to now bring onto the site and wish to continue to take contributions. This means we need support from both volunteers and paid professionals such as archivists, writers and designers. Your money will be used for such developments. If you cannot support in a monetary sense we would still appreciate your help either in spreading the word or if you have the time in helping us with the types of tasks outlined above.
We’ve set up a patreon page where you will find more information plus have the chance to donate and help us on this long journey!