I ask because an ancestor of mine made a tour of Brittany, in 1888, on a tricycle tandem, with her new husband. They started in Caen and reached the south of Brittany when a wheel collapsed. No one could fix it, so they finished the tour by train. It was a time of great experimentation, particularly in tandems, so I am looking for a photo.
She left a journal, so I know photos were taken. I have enquired at local archives but no luck. Do you know if anyone has copies of local papers from the time? Or is there a French vintage cycle club, which might help?
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hello Charlie , I put a message at tonton vélo forum , I 'm King ,( kingfisher alcedo atthis for the story )
so wait ans see , but what was the journal to drive research ? https://forum.tontonvelo.com/viewtopic.php?t=55641
It appears to be from page 184 in the document at the first link below. Strickland was also listed in the official directory of the World's Columbian exposition, May 1st to October 30th, 1893. This is available at the second link below.
I got the year wrong, it was the second half of May, 1885. They started in Cherbourg, Valognes, Coutances then Granville, where there was definitely a photo. Avranches, Pontorson, Dinan, Ploermel and the wheel collapsed in Vannes.
She was called Fanny and her husband George Brayshay.
I think we had better move to ffison (at) tiscali (dot) co (dot) uk. I have started with gallica.
I finished the ribs and moved on to the inwales, quite complicated pieces of woodwork, let alone the steaming, so I have reused the originals.
The original screws holding them to the strips and outwales were mild steel, so had rusted. I had to use a hollow drill to release the shanks from the wood, so the inwales were quite heavily perforated. To strengthen them, and perhaps keep moisture and bugs out, I glued 1" dowels in. I then had to mark where new brass screws could go, avoiding the dowels, the rusted remains of the original screws
the ribs and the holes where the screws holding the coaming will go, at approx 4" centres.
It seems inwales and coamings are unusual on a Strickland, so I've drawn a rough of the construction and a couple of photos of the well-worn originals. The inwale has to be relieved underneath to clear the ribs. The original ribs were consistently 3/8" half-round, ie 3/16" thick. The ones I had a local firm machine from rock elm planks are not so consistent, so they needed work for the inwale to fit.