Pedersen Cycles

THE PEDERSEN CYCLE COLLECTION

The Gloucester Folk Museum has three examples of the Dursley Pedersen Bicycle.

A large gent's machine from 1907 , a lady's Pedersen of c 1912 and a small adult or child's model of c 1904. To these were added in 1994 the David Evans collection of photographs, notes and memorabilia.

The following information and photographs about Mikael Pedersen and his bicycles were researched and preserved by David Evans. David is the author of 'The Ingenious Mr Pedersen' published by Alan Sutton in 1979 (new revised edition forthcoming 2006).

The original archive of R A Lister, from which many of these pictures were copied, was destroyed in a subsequent factory fire.

To view the images click here.

These web pages were created in 2005 to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of Pedersen's birth.

THE PEDERSEN CYCLE

The 1880s and 1890s saw the unstable ordinary or 'penny farthing' giving way to the chain-driven smaller wheeled safety bicycle.

Mikael Pedersen - a Danish inventor who by 1893 was living in Dursley, Gloucestershire - took out a patent in the same year for a very different design of bicycle weighing only nineteen pounds.

Pedersen had been a cyclist for twenty years and had found seats very unsatisfactory. He therefore developed a hammock type saddle and tried fitting this to current frames before devising his own frame to carry the saddle.

The first machine had hickory wood stays, and it is said that these were bound to the joints with fisherman's twine. All later models used metal tubing, sometimes of remarkable lightness.

MIKAEL PEDERSEN (1855-1929)

Pedersen was the eldest of seven children and was born in Copenhagen. He was an apprentice at a factory producing agricultural equipment and soon made his own inventions.

He developed a cream separator in 1885 which led to his connection with R.A. Lister of Dursley who gained the right to market it as 'The Alexandra'.

He probably settled in England in 1893 and gradually developed his idea for producing cycles with a light triangulated frame and hammock type saddle.

Pedersen eventually returned to Denmark penniless, in c.1920. He died there nine years later. David Evans, his biographer, described him as 'A man often lost in thought or music, stubborn, erratic, sociable, brilliantly inventive, lovable and warm- hearted, unable to understand the cold world of commerce, active and restless physically and mentally'.

PRODUCTION OF PEDERSEN CYCLES

Pedersen did his best from 1893 to 1899 to interest cycle manufacturers in his machine, but with limited success. Critics said it lacked lateral strength, its fixed handlebar and saddle heights were inconvenient and its price was too high. However, others praised its strength, lightness, robustness and comfort.

Production of machines in Dursley began in 1897, while other companies made them under licence. In 1899 he joined forces with Robert and Charles Lister to create the Dursley Pedersen Cycle Company. Sales never reached predicted levels as prices were always high compared to other makes - in 1903 when a B.S.A. gents bicycle could be bought for £3, the cheapest Pedersen was £17-17-0. Most machines were therefore bought by the well-to-do.

Pedersen invented a 3-speed hub gear in 1902 and this was put on production models in 1903. Pedersen modified the friction clutch for over a year before he turned to toothed drive. The long delay led to voluntary liquidation in 1905 and a take-over by R.A. Lister and Co. Pedersen then had little to do with the machine but draw royalties.

The manufacture of Pedersen cycles ceased in Dursley in 1914 although they were still sold, and perhaps made, in London until 1922.

MIKAEL PEDERSEN chronology (1855-1929)

1855 Pedersen born near Copenhagen, Denmark.

1885 Development of Pedersen Cream Separator.

1889 R.A. Lister acquired the right to market the separator as 'The Alexandra'.

First known visit of Pedersen to England.

1893 Probably the year when Pedersen settled in England.

Cycle patent applied for in England.

1896 Pedersen joined Humpage, Jacques and Pedersen of Bristol.

Pedersen Cycle Frame Co. created.

Water mill acquired in Dursley as a factory.

1897 Production of cycles began in Dursley.

Other companies began to make cycles under licence.

Pedersen moved into Raglan House.

1898 Tandem, triplet and quadruplet machines.

Pedersen Cycle Club formed.

Road record broken on a 'Pedersen'.

1899 Dursley Pedersen Cycle Company formed.

Lady's drop frame cycle introduced.

Lady's cycling costume introduced.

1900 Military folding cycle introduced.

More road records broken.

1902 Pedersen motor cycle produced.

3 speed gear patented.

1903 3 speed gear produced.

1904 2 speed gear introduced.

1905 Pedersen Co. taken over by R.A. Lister & Co. Ltd.

1907 Wolseley-Pedersen Cream Separator developed.

1908 2 speed gear discontinued.

1913 Motor Cycle gear developed by Pedersen.

1914 Dursley Pedersen cycle production ceases.

1916 Pedersen Gauge Company set up in Raglan House, Dursley.

1917 Sales of Pedersen cycles by Listers in Dursley stops.

1918 Pedersen and his wife move to London.

1920 Pedersen returns to Denmark virtually penniless.

1929 Pedersen dies and is buried in an unmarked grave

1995 Mikael Pedersen's remains reburied at Dursley.

2005 150^th anniversary birth celebrations.