Hyde Bros Cycle frame builders, Winchester 1950s

[vcballbat]

Hi all, who remembers the Hyde Bros Cycle shop in Parchment st, Winchester 1940-50s era?

I have been in contact with Gordon Hydes son Jim Hyde and he has given me the privelage to look through his Cycle scrap book.
In the book it has news paper cuttings refering to King alfred wheelers cycling club events, also reference to Charlie Marriner who worked in the shop and built his own frames & later went on to break the British 1 hour record in 1947.
Heres a link to a website that his son Julian Marriner set up to commemorate his Dads achievements - http://www.charliemarriner.co.uk/
Heres some pictures that are inside the scrap book

Gordon Hyde


The Shop


Price List's


Frame Decals (Jim still has a stack of these originals)


A complete Hyde Bros Bike (Gordons bike)


Would be great to hear if anyone out there remembers more about Hyde Bros or owns one of their bikes please reply on here.
Many thanks all.

 

[David B]

Many thanks for sharing that - I've only lived in the area 6 years or so but nice to see a bit of bike-related history. It turns out that I've spent an awful lot of time and money in that shop in its current guise (including buying the odd cycling book!):

Interesting that the modern-day 74 Parchment Street has a more "old-school" shop front and all of that plate glass has gone!

The "Caer Gwent" trademark threw me momentarily, turns out it was the Celtic name for Winchester in pre-Roman times - dunno if it persists as an alternate placename in modern Welsh though.

Yet another edit - here's how the King Alfred Wheelers fit into the history of club cycling in the city:

http://www.vcventa.co.uk/about-our-club/timeline/

By the looks of it, the Kingsgate RCC may well have been a pro-BLRC offshoot formed by Wheelers members (as happened in a good few '50s clubs) - I'm assuming the latter would have been NCU affiliated originally?

David

 

[AlexW]

Hi all, who remembers the Hyde Bros Cycle shop in Parchment st, Winchester 1940-50s era?

I have been in contact with Gordon Hydes son Jim Hyde and he has given me the privelage to look through his Cycle scrap book.
In the book it has news paper cuttings refering to King alfred wheelers cycling club events, also reference to Charlie Marriner who worked in the shop and built his own frames & later went on to break the British 1 hour record in 1947.
Heres a link to a website that his son Julian Marriner set up to commemorate his Dads achievements - http://www.charliemarriner.co.uk/
Heres some pictures that are inside the scrap book

Gordon Hyde


The Shop


Price List's


Frame Decals (Jim still has a stack of these originals)


A complete Hyde Bros Bike (Gordons bike)


Would be great to hear if anyone out there remembers more about Hyde Bros or owns one of their bikes please reply on here.
Many thanks all.

Thanks for sharing this. I'm currently trying to find out more about Hyde Bros in Winchester as the organisation I work for (Hampshire Cultural Trust) has an original Hyde Bros bicycle in our collection which we're looking to put on display in Winchester City Museum.
I'd love any more information you have so we can include it in the interpretation text alongside the bicycle.
I realise I'm responding to this post years after it was originally shared, but anything you can share would be fantastic.
Alex

 

[vcballbat]

Hi Alex, I'm from Winchester and as school boy in the 70's I was in VC Venta. Jimmy Hyde's Gents Hairdresser of Chisel Street would sponsor some of our road race events. Many years later I became Jim's neighbor and when he saw I still had a keen interest in vintage racing bikes he told me of his dads shop in Parchment Street and brought down dad's bike from the loft. His dad Gordon was a member of King Alfred Wheelers which later became Kingsgate Wheelers and then VC Venta. Jim moved back to Winchester a few years ago but I can put you in contact with him as I'm sure he would be thrilled to share his memorys of his dad's shop with you and love to see one of his dad's bikes in the Winchester City Museum.

 

[AlexW]

Oh my days! That would be great if you can put me in touch with Jim Hyde. I'd love to meet him and hear some of the memories of his father's shop. My email address is [email protected]

 

[vcballbat]

Hi Alex, I have sent you a PM.

 

[Billcycle]

A bit more info. In 1953 I started at Peter Symonds school and was keen on cycling but had an old modified roadster like most of my mates. So we looked enviously at some of the equipment adorning our school cycle sheds and the wall outside it.

One of the "gen" bikes belonged to Mick Burridge, who recently died. He was several years my senior and had a Hyde Brothers Caer Gwent, which was copper plated and very beautiful. A bit too big for Mick but it was his pride and joy and we were all impressed. Later he had it sprayed pink. Like Charlie Marriner's father, Mick was keen on cricket and in later life looked after the cricket grounds of Winchester College.

Here is a picture of the cycling team at the school in 1952 from this website:
https://petersymondsschoolnostalgiacorner.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_9946.html
I can not recognise the personnel but some of them will still have been there in my day. Around that time this group started the Venta Olympic club (a BLRC club) which later amalgamated with the Kingsgate Road Club (an NCU club). The BLRC (British League of Racing Cyclists) ran mass start road races and the NCU (National Cycling Union) ran circuit races off public roads and track racing. There was much rivalry between the two with the "League" men being flamboyant and the "Union" guys more serious - and it was only when both Winchester clubs lost lots of members to National Service that the Winchester clubs were forced to combine - coming up with the snazzy title "Kingsgate and Venta Road Club". The Jersey was a copy of Ferdy Kubler's Swiss Road Champion red jersey with white cross, which was a bit fresh but the instigators presumed that we were far away enough from Switzerland...
I later rode for this club and today am a proud member of the KVRC Old Boys - a few survivors. We have the Swiss vest again and I managed to get Ferdy to put his signature in the pattern before he died.

Later on the BLRC and the NCU also combined to create the BCF (British Cycling Federation) which meant you could race road, track and circuit races needing only one licence.

Cheers, Billcycle
PS. I tried downloading the pics in the vc.balbat post but they might have expired. Would love a copy if anyone has some.

 

[Billcycle]

Here is the retro jersey with Ferdy Kuble's signature...