1898 Humber Standard Ladies Tricycle 24 inch ‘Model G’
In 1896 a Humber motorized tricycle was the only motorcycle to finish the London-Brighton Emancipation Day Run which celebrated the raising of the speed limit to 12 mph. In 1898, the Duke of York, later to be King George V, became the first royal to ride one.
The Humber Standard designation, visible on the front forks under the paint, means that it was built at the Coventry factory.
This Ladies Tricycle has a 24″ frame.
It’s fitted with an Abingdon No 3 rear axle.
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HUMBER HISTORY
Founded by Thomas Humber in 1868 (or 1870?) to make penny-farthings, they then turned to bicycles. They manufactured the first diamond-frame in 1884. Financial whiz-kid Terah Hooley took over the company in the 1880s, and Humber left in 1892.
Below is a picture of the Humber stand (in the foreground) at the 1900 Stanley Show. (Osmonds and Bradbury behind).
The company started experimenting with powered machines in 1896, working with entrepreneur Harry Lawson in Coventry, who had the rights to build the De Dion engine. Lawson also had the rights to De Dion’s tricycle, which Humber made for him in 1898. Humber started building P&M machines under license in 1902 and exhibited their own Beeston-Humber machines in 1903. By 1908 they had their own lineup and soon had several race winners including the Junior TT in 1911. They announced a 750cc flat-three in 1913, but never produced it. In 1914, they made a water-cooled 500cc single and a water-cooled 750cc flat twin.
During WW1 they made sidecar outfits for the war effort, returning to civilian production in 1919. Their 2 3/4 hp model had a great success in 1923 in the Scottish Six day Trials. In 1927 they announced a 350cc ohc machine, but it wasn’t successful. Sales slumped and by 1931 the company had left motorcycling to concentrate on cars. The bicycle business was sold to Raleigh in 1932.
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This Humber Standard Model G has been well restored and is ready to use.
19th century veterans are a good investment these days …even more so an investment that you can jump on and use.
It’s comfortable to ride and easy to steer.
The thing that always fascinates me about late nineteenth century tricycles is how, since the design was established over 110 years ago, so little has changed since.
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You can see this particular machine in the 1898 catalogue page below (the Model F was the Gent’s Tricycle).
The Model B was Humber’s Lady’s bicycle of the same year.
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ABINGDON REAR AXLE
The well-proven Abingdon axle was used by various tricycle manufacturers. According to the Tricycle Association:
“The first axle was patented by James Starley, in 1877 for his ‘Royal Salvo Tricycle’. His son, William, improved on this in 1892, and it is this differential that is used in the Abingdon axle. There should be a small brass badge on the ‘housing’ that states ‘Starley’s Patent No 1752 1892′. Later axles have the brass badge, but it just boldly states ‘Abingdon’.”
[Tricycle Association - http://www.tricycleassociation.org.uk/Home.html]
The axle is illustrated below in the 1910 Brown Brothers catalogue:
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