Witcomb Cycles, formerly known as Witcomb Lightweight Cycles, is the trading name of the Witcomb Trading Company. It was a British company based in

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...

, South

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, specialising in custom handmade steel

bicycle frame A bicycle frame is the main component of a bicycle, onto which wheels and other components are fitted. The modern and most common frame design for an upright bicycle is based on the safety bicycle, and consists of two triangles: a main triangl ...

s. The company was founded in 1949, by Ernie Witcomb and his wife Lily. The London shop closed in May 2009.

History

Ernie Witcomb's father, Tom, a steel worker in local dockyards, started to build frames in 1928 in his east London cellar. In 1951, Ernie bought E.A. Boult, where he had been working since before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and, by 1952, started trading as Witcomb Lightweight Cycles with Wally Green as frame builder. Barrie Witcomb, Ernie Witcomb's son, started his apprenticeship as a frame builder in 1958 at the age of 15, under Malcolm Barker, a former builder at J.R.J. Cycles in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. In 1959, Witcomb Cycles bought Rotrax Cycles building. In 1961, Witcomb co-founded the Lightweight Cycle Association, one of cycling's first trade-focused organisations. In the 1960s, Witcomb Trading also made frames for Sid Mottram, Rotrax, Velosport and others. More recently they have made frames for the fashion brand

Carhartt Carhartt, Inc. is an American apparel company founded in 1889, known for heavy-duty working clothes such as jackets, coats, overalls, coveralls, vests, shirts, jeans, dungarees, fire-resistant clothing and hunting apparel. Carhartt remains a fam ...

and

Reynolds Reynolds may refer to: Places Australia *Hundred of Reynolds, a cadastral unit in South Australia *Hundred of Reynolds (Northern Territory), a cadastral unit in the Northern Territory of Australia United States * Reynolds, Mendocino County, Calif ...

steel. Richard Sachs, Peter Weigle, Chris Chance and Ben Serotta, four American frame builders, trained at Witcomb Cycles in the early 1970s, along with the British wheel builder, Harry Rowland. By the 1980s, the fashion for mountain bikes put a strain on the business, which went into decline. In 1998, Ernie Witcomb retired. The company seems to have been dormant since 2009.

Location

From its beginning, until 2009, the company's headquarters was located in London, starting in

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

, then later moving to Tanners Hill in

. After moves from one building to another, the workshop stayed at 25 Tanners Hill, a late 17th-century Grade II listed building for many years. During the late 1960s until the early 1980s, the company also operated a factory in

Llanelli Llanelli ("St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. ...

, Carmarthernshire, Wales. The London site was closed in May 2009, and the business announced an intention to move production to Wales. This does not appear to have materialised.Jonathan Donald,
Witcomb Cycles
, Londoncyclesport.com, 22 May 2009; as archived by the Wayback Machine on 25 June 2009.

Witcomb USA

In 1971, the company represented the UK at a British Fair in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The next year, Witcomb, while exhibiting in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, received Princess Alexandra and her husband, Sir

Angus Ogilvy Sir Angus James Bruce Ogilvy (14 September 1928 – 26 December 2004) was a British businessman. He is best known as the husband of Princess Alexandra of Kent, a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. Ogilvy is also remembered for his role in a b ...

. This marked a short-lived foray on the US market. Witcomb USA was founded in 1972 in

East Haddam East Haddam is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut. The population was 8,875 at the time of the 2020 census. History Until 1650, the area of East Haddam was inhabited by at least three Indigenous peoples: the Wangunk, the Mohegan and the Ni ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

by Richard Sachs and Peter Weigle. However, problems with suppliers meant the company could not fulfill demand, and the venture was dismantled after 8 years.

Racing Team

In the 1960s, Witcomb Cycles sponsored the London Coureurs and the Hadrian CC Riders, then the Witcomb Metro CRC, and the Witcomb Vulcan CRC. Witcomb organised races including Dover-London. At this time Barrie Witcomb started racing as an independent (semi-professional).

References

External links

Witcomb Cycles
– Official website (archived 21 February 2009)
Handmade in London
– Cycling.tv
The Frame Game
– Business Life, Lewisham Council, February/March 2006 (pdf file)
Made to Measure
– Lewisham Life, July 2007 (pdf file) {{British bicycle manufacturers Defunct cycle manufacturers of the United Kingdom British brands Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1949 Deptford Vehicle manufacture in London Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 2009 1949 establishments in England 2009 disestablishments in England