• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Falcon Cycles Smethwick

Bill Parker

master brummie
Hello, I once had a Falcon Olmpic, a lightweight bike with Reynolds 531 tube and Campagnolo gears ect, a well speced machine finished in metallic lime green and with a contrasting black seat piller.

My reason for posting is I just wondered if anyone has any relatives or friends who once had any direct contact with this company. I did once visit their premises in Wills St Smethwick in 1965, not far from the Birmigham border, hence my query. I do remember the factory was under the "Coventry Eagle" banner and I dont remember seeing the "Falcon" name at all.
I have done quite a bit of research on the "net" and Im not convinced that the details are correct as some sites seem to sugggest tha tFalcon was always based at Barton-on-Humber and was always part of other cycle group.

As mentioned I am not convinced this is correct and I wonder if the Falcon name was recently ressurected by this Barton-on-Humber based concern to produce "low end" bikes. the original Falcon company had its own designer a former racing cyclist called Ernie Clements who designed Falcon frames and his signature was on the badge and frame transfers. Apparently he was still in the bike business until fairly recently based at ledbury. I wish i had known this much earlier as I might have had the chance to talk to him, unfortunatly i believe he recently died. Falcon also had their own racing team.

I am fairly certain that Falcon was part of either the TI (Tube Investments) group or Raleigh industries, or both. So telling you what I do know can anyone here supply any further details from their own knowledge base rather than that available online?
 
Try www.classicrendezvous.com. Go to British Isle they have Falcon,Coventry Eagle and Clements. Eddie Mercx bikes built by Falcon at one time. Do you have a Falcon now? John Crump OldBritcyclist in Parker.Colorado USA
 
Try www.classicrendezvous.com. Go to British Isle they have Falcon,Coventry Eagle and Clements. Eddie Mercx bikes built by Falcon at one time. Do you have a Falcon now? John Crump OldBritcyclist in Parker.Colorado USA

Hello John, and thanks for that link, interestingly that seems far more accurate information and very interesting especially as it is an American based site featuring British built bikes.
Unforntunately I dont have the Falcon now, the Olympic I had I sold to a work colleague who had it resprayed white by that well lnown local frame builder Major Nicholls.
I do occasionally ride a mountain bike and I do tend to have a look on Ebay to see whats for sale in the vintage racing section, by a pure coincidence there is a Falcon Olympic for sale. Im not overkeen on road cycling as there is far to much car traffic for my liking and the local canal towpaths are more suited to a mountain bike althought I have seen a few lightweight bikes being riddden on towpaths.
Incidently the reason I visited Wills St was because my bike had that then fashionable aluminium alloy one piece large flange hubs and I noticed the end of the forged hub were the bearings are housed has a small hairline crack in it so i took the bike back to the supplying dealer who suggested taking it back to the factory, I was about 15 at the time and quite liked the idea of doing this, nowadays I would have said "this is your problem matey not mine you sort it" but this was back in 65 and I liiked the idea of visiting the factory.
My dad instructed me to ask for the manager and he reckoned they would probably fit it with a complete new wheel as the bike was brand new. I did as instructed and they said it will be ready in a few days, they rebuilt the original wheel and fitted a new identical hube, which I thought was a bit mean!
The hub was of french manufacture as you know most of the fittings were either French or Italian, the excepation being the chain, Williams chain wheel and the Brooks B17 leather saddle. I really really wish i still had that bike!!

Thanks for your link John, incidently I like were you live !! Best wishes Bill Parker
 
I hope you are still curious about Falcon, Bill. It's quite a long story that I cover in my history of Elswick-Hopper. It is also well covered by Jim Leach in an article he did for the Veteran-Cycle Club journal, The Boneshaker, which I edit. I did get to meet Ernie at Ledbury though not before he was starting to go downhill with Parkinsons. He went to work for Roberts Cycle Industries in Smethwick in 1955/6. RCI was a trade supplier of own badge bicycles and Ernie, being a racing man thought they should make their own racing bikes. According to Frank C they found some old transfers for 'Falcon' and thought the name sounded good. 1956 was the first year that a Falcon was produced so far as I can tell and the head badge on mine clearly states 'Made by RCI'. Now Coventry Eagle just happened to move nearby when they relocated from Coventry and decided to buy RCI as their new factory was a bit small. Ernie joined them as Works Manager reporting to Douglas Mayo. The Falcon range expanded dramatically as CE knew all about racing bikes. Rolling on to 1968 CE were needing to move again (redevelopment at Smethwick) and as Elswick-Hopper had plenty of empty space, having started to 'diversify' into all sorts of random businesses they didn't understand, they moved to Barton. Mayo had a car accident shortly after the move, retired and handed over to Ernie. By 1974 he was looking for a more modern factory and bought the old Corah building in Brigg. By 1978 he had run out of cash (too many fancy cars etc.) and sold to E-H staying on as a main board director. By 1983 he had had enough and so had his fellow directors so he took the factory he had built in Newtown, Powys and the Cov Eagle name and that was Ernie gone. Falcon was subsequently sold to Casket in 1991, marking the end of Elswick-Hopper's involvement with bicycles. So that's a potted history of Falcon (they are still in Brigg) - I can supply more if you get in touch off line (copies of articles etc.) Just borrow a copy of The Boneshaker for my contact details. And before anyone says this is different to the 'official' Falcon website, yes it is. I did offer them a rewrite, and it's all in the book anyway. Website history is just so full of inaccuracies - but I guess it all gets corrected eventually....
 
I hope you are still curious about Falcon, Bill. It's quite a long story that I cover in my history of Elswick-Hopper. It is also well covered by Jim Leach in an article he did for the Veteran-Cycle Club journal, The Boneshaker, which I edit. I did get to meet Ernie at Ledbury though not before he was starting to go downhill with Parkinsons. He went to work for Roberts Cycle Industries in Smethwick in 1955/6. RCI was a trade supplier of own badge bicycles and Ernie, being a racing man thought they should make their own racing bikes. According to Frank C they found some old transfers for 'Falcon' and thought the name sounded good. 1956 was the first year that a Falcon was produced so far as I can tell and the head badge on mine clearly states 'Made by RCI'. Now Coventry Eagle just happened to move nearby when they relocated from Coventry and decided to buy RCI as their new factory was a bit small. Ernie joined them as Works Manager reporting to Douglas Mayo. The Falcon range expanded dramatically as CE knew all about racing bikes. Rolling on to 1968 CE were needing to move again (redevelopment at Smethwick) and as Elswick-Hopper had plenty of empty space, having started to 'diversify' into all sorts of random businesses they didn't understand, they moved to Barton. Mayo had a car accident shortly after the move, retired and handed over to Ernie. By 1974 he was looking for a more modern factory and bought the old Corah building in Brigg. By 1978 he had run out of cash (too many fancy cars etc.) and sold to E-H staying on as a main board director. By 1983 he had had enough and so had his fellow directors so he took the factory he had built in Newtown, Powys and the Cov Eagle name and that was Ernie gone. Falcon was subsequently sold to Casket in 1991, marking the end of Elswick-Hopper's involvement with bicycles. So that's a potted history of Falcon (they are still in Brigg) - I can supply more if you get in touch off line (copies of articles etc.) Just borrow a copy of The Boneshaker for my contact details. And before anyone says this is different to the 'official' Falcon website, yes it is. I did offer them a rewrite, and it's all in the book anyway. Website history is just so full of inaccuracies - but I guess it all gets corrected eventually....

Thanks very much for all that fascinating information, it does fully expalin why I was at the factory carrying the Coventry-Eagle name in Wills St, Smethwick which I think was off the cape Hill or at least in that area? I just wish, as I have said before, that I still had the bike! Thanks again absolutely fascinating.
 
Happy to be of service. Just checking on location the first factory bought by Coventry Eagle I have down as Hartford St, Hockley. The RCI factory was, I am sure, in Wills St. I would love to know more about Roberts Cycle Industries - there appears to be nothing on the internet and when I contacted a Smethwick history group I recall they had nothing either. I guess there must be something in the archives, somewhere!
 
Re Coventry Eagle cycles, my father Joe Roach used to work for Mr Mayo at the Coventry Eagle factory in Tile Hill Coventry. He used to build and braze the frames. This was back in the 1950s. He used to picked up in the works van outside The Smiths Arms pub on Winson Green Road at about 6 15 am along with other workers, I remember a lady that lived in Norman Street, whose name was Beattie Buffery she used to build the wheels and "true" them by putting the correct tension on the spokes with a little spanner. Before they worked at Coventry Eagle they used to work at The New Hudson cycle works in Garrison Lane and Icknield Street. I think they also worked for a while at BSA in Armoury Road. My mother used to work at the New Hudson as a wirer up in the chromium plating shop doing handle bars , seat stems and wheel rims.
 
Happy to be of service. Just checking on location the first factory bought by Coventry Eagle I have down as Hartford St, Hockley. The RCI factory was, I am sure, in Wills St. I would love to know more about Roberts Cycle Industries - there appears to be nothing on the internet and when I contacted a Smethwick history group I recall they had nothing either. I guess there must be something in the archives, somewhere!

I wonder if Sandwell libraries might be able to help, a long shot but worth a try.
 
Well Bill, where to start. I could just refer you to my book: Elswick-Hopper The story of a great British cycle maker, £18 if you order it from Waterstones, but that would be cheeky. The sequence of events is as follows: Ernie Clements goes bust and takes a job with Roberts Cycle Industries at Smethwick. He becomes works manager and talks management into letting him develop a sports range. According to Frank Clements he and Ernie find a box of old Falcon transfers in the loft at RCI and think it's a good name. So the Falcon brand is born in 1955/6. I actually have a frame with a Falcon/RCI headbadge. Coventry Eagle then move to Smethwick and take over RCI, including Ernie C. Note the owner is now Coventry Eagle - MD Mayo and they like the Falcon idea so incorporate as one of the CE range. On to 1968 and the site is being redeveloped at the same time that Elswick-Hopper is diversifying and has spare factory space. So CE relocates to Barton on Humber, my home town since 1971. Douglas Mayo has a car smash and retires - Ernie buys him out and becomes MD. He renames the firm Falcon Cycles. He then decides the Barton works are a bit old and buys a factory in Brigg, relocating in 1978 (ish). Runs out of money and sells to Elswick-Hopper with a seat on the main board. Persuades them to open a brand new factory in Newport Wales, and in 1983 when he has had enough he sells his shares for the Newport factory - where he has also hired the great Barry Hoban. That venture cost Barry dear when it went bust in the 1990s. So Falcon is now part of Elswick-Hopper Cycles, part of Elswick plc. Then becomes Elswick-Falcon and is finally sold to Casket plc. It has never been part of Raleigh TI though Raleigh TI did supply most of the E-H range from around 1967-1979 on a deal that saw Raleigh badging production on behalf of Elswick-Hopper. The latter was able to undercut their supplier's own range! So there you go - don't believe all you read on the net. Questions?

Hello, I once had a Falcon Olmpic, a lightweight bike with Reynolds 531 tube and Campagnolo gears ect, a well speced machine finished in metallic lime green and with a contrasting black seat piller.
My reason for posting is I just wondered if anyone has a, remember the factory was under the "Coventry Eagle" banner and I dont remember seeing the "Falcon" name at all.
I have done quite a bit of research on the "net" and Im not convinced that the details are correct as some sites seem to sugggest tha tFalcon was always based at Barton-on-Humber and was always part of other cycle group.

As mentioned I am not convinced this is correct and I wonder if the Falcon name was recently ressurected by this Barton-on-Humber based concern to produce "low end" bikes. the original Falcon company had its own designer a former racing cyclist called Ernie Clements who designed Falcon frames and his signature was on the badge and frame transfers. Apparently he was still in the bike business until fairly recently based at ledbury. I wish i had known this much earlier as I might have had the chance to talk to him, unfortunatly i believe he recently died. Falcon also had their own racing team.

I am fairly certain that Falcon was part of either the TI (Tube Investments) group or Raleigh industries, or both. So telling you what I do know can anyone here supply any further details from their own knowledge base rather than that available online?
 
Many thanks for clearing this up, it appears to be quite a complex story and back in 1964 Falcon had a good name for making bikes that were well shall we say a cut above the average, my Olympic cost about £36 in '64 which was quite a lot of money I think their San remo that the racing team used was about £72 at that time. They also made a penny farthing back in the 60s and I believe they could be purchased.

Later models just looked like badge engineered and I feel they did not have the individuality of the proper Falcons ie things like wrap around seat stays a feature I thought was unique but I have seen a photo of another manufacturer who used the same design feature. This was all a long time ago, I was lucky in having such a nice machine at the age of 15 and I wish I still had it. I have seen the occasional olympic model of E-Bay but they are the later ones and all they have it common with my 64-65 model is the name, thanks again Elswick-Hopper for taking the time to explain things.
 
Bill
the eagle came before the falcon name it was first made way back in time
i did meet the lady whom her family was the orinional makers i met this disabled lady and her husband way back in the seventys
whom i used to meet every month at her house she apparently was the sister to the guys family whom brought the name theeagle into the markets
of cycles ; about five years ago or may be four years when i first come on the scene of the forum there was a question about the eagle cycles and its birth ; i did do an article of this family at the time ;she lived in castle bromwich ; she was an elderly lady at the time
i am just trying to think of her name and her husband was a chairman of a social club some where in birmingham;
he was a very smart emaculately dressd at all times
and she told me of her family and about her share of the company she holded at the time of the bussiness and she told me it was years ago before
i ever met up with her ; of course the name of the eagle was sold and changed names ;i do also recall the falcon name but i also think it was just a transfere name on it ; also i had mentionioned about the raleigh bike being built in park lane [ or park rd ] up in smethwick just up past the albion ground it was at the time by the back end ofhandsworth cemetry ] way back in time i will do my best to try and recall there names ; there bussiness started way back in the era
of the early 1900s up at the old george baines bakery in lozells before baines bakery came along and moved in after them ;
it was a small family bussiness in those days ;
but any way i did do some mention as i said abiut five years ago on the eagle bikes then; but as they say the site was hacked .;
best wishes Astonian;;;;;
 
My brother had a Falcon Olympic. He did a paper round to save half and Dad put the rest for his Christmas present. It was a lovely bike. When I got older I used to go out on it while he was at work..lol
 
Re Coventry Eagle cycles, my father Joe Roach used to work for Mr Mayo at the Coventry Eagle factory in Tile Hill Coventry. He used to build and braze the frames. This was back in the 1950s. He used to picked up in the works van outside The Smiths Arms pub on Winson Green Road at about 6 15 am along with other workers, I remember a lady that lived in Norman Street, whose name was Beattie Buffery she used to build the wheels and "true" them by putting the correct tension on the spokes with a little spanner. Before they worked at Coventry Eagle they used to work at The New Hudson cycle works in Garrison Lane and Icknield Street. I think they also worked for a while at BSA in Armoury Road. My mother used to work at the New Hudson as a wirer up in the chromium plating shop doing handle bars , seat stems and wheel rims.

"Claribel" !
I've just had quite a shock. I was reading back along this thread and suddenly you mention Norman street and my Auntie Beat !
Well that was a pleasant surprise.
Did you live in that area yourself ?
Baz
 
Bill
the eagle came before the falcon name it was first made way back in time
i did meet the lady whom her family was the orinional makers i met this disabled lady and her husband way back in the seventys
whom i used to meet every month at her house she apparently was the sister to the guys family whom brought the name theeagle into the markets
of cycles ; about five years ago or may be four years when i first come on the scene of the forum there was a question about the eagle cycles and its birth ; i did do an article of this family at the time ;she lived in castle bromwich ; she was an elderly lady at the time
i am just trying to think of her name and her husband was a chairman of a social club some where in birmingham;
he was a very smart emaculately dressd at all times
and she told me of her family and about her share of the company she holded at the time of the bussiness and she told me it was years ago before
i ever met up with her ; of course the name of the eagle was sold and changed names ;i do also recall the falcon name but i also think it was just a transfere name on it ; also i had mentionioned about the raleigh bike being built in park lane [ or park rd ] up in smethwick just up past the albion ground it was at the time by the back end ofhandsworth cemetry ] way back in time i will do my best to try and recall there names ; there bussiness started way back in the era
of the early 1900s up at the old george baines bakery in lozells before baines bakery came along and moved in after them ;
it was a small family bussiness in those days ;
but any way i did do some mention as i said abiut five years ago on the eagle bikes then; but as they say the site was hacked .;
best wishes Astonian;;;;;


Thanks Astonian, Smethwick was home to a few cycle makers and component makers also, probably the best known was Phillips (A.J Phillips and Co Ltd) of Bridge St and another well known name of Brooks in Downing St whos saddles were always specified for lightweight racing cycles but are no longer available but still quite sought after, they also made saddles bags ect.

I think I have already mentioned that I had recourse to visit the Coventry-Eagle works in Wills St, Smethwick to have a faulty rear hub replaced under warranty on the Falcon I had, the Hub was of the Large flange type, very popular then but now never seen, it was of French manufacture and made from a single piece of Aluminium, the left hand side of the hub had a hairline crack in the part then the bearings were pressed into it and presumably the pressing process had caused the crack, I seem to remember my dad saying they would probably replace the complete wheel as the bike was virtually brand new but rather meanly, in my opinion, they kept the bike and replaced the hub with a new one of the same type, and thats how I know the Falcon address ie Wills St was that of the then Coventry -Eagle works.
 
My brother had a Falcon Olympic. He did a paper round to save half and Dad put the rest for his Christmas present. It was a lovely bike. When I got older I used to go out on it while he was at work..lol

Aha Wendy, is this the first time you have "fessed up" to this? LOL! I know this is probably going to sound like a silly question but can you remember the year he had the bike? and the frame colour?
 
Hello Bill I think it may be a late confession...Ha Ha. I am not sure when he had it about 65/66 I would guess. I will ask him. I can't believe I don't remember the colour! It took me a while to get used to those fancy gears. The family joke is when he met his now wife he told her he had a Falcon Olympic and she thought it was a sports car!!..lol
 
Hi Wend. I remember I used to park my Raleigh Moped behind Bob's Falcon Olympic, in that narrow back entry, for fear of scratching his pride and joy. Can't remember the model but the colour was a lime green. I think he bought it in about 1963/4
 
Thanks John I knew you would know better than me. I will give our Bob a ring and see what he can tell us. See you Tues..xx
 
Hello Bill I think it may be a late confession...Ha Ha. I am not sure when he had it about 65/66 I would guess. I will ask him. I can't believe I don't remember the colour! It took me a while to get used to those fancy gears. The family joke is when he met his now wife he told her he had a Falcon Olympic and she thought it was a sports car!!..lol

Sounds the same vintage as mine :) I like the bit about the sports car...........I bet she wasn't to impressed when she found out the truth! Aha!! Wendy, just read Johns post re the colour, he states lime green......same colour as mine, lime green metallic with black down tube. Im fairly certain there were other colour options available at the time and there was certainly a choice of gear changers............I opted for Campagnolo Gran Sport 5 speed but i did have a double cahinwheel on the front for a bit them I later removed it for the original "Williams" one.

Best Wishes Bill
 
Bill the bike sounds the same. The gears were Campagnolo and I remember the double chain wheel took me a while to get used to. My brother Bob says he bought it around 1960 from a shop in Yardley.

I loved that bike even though it was a lads bike...ah well the cat is now out of the bag!!
 
Back
Top