Pedersen bicycles

Me too. There's a few on ebay across Europe, one went for £500 last month in Germany! But, I imagine collection / shipping might have been a bit of a pain.

A friend of mine has a 1901 DP in good condition. He hasn't used it for some time and might be persuaded to part with it. He says he's lost track of the value so he would need to do a bit a research to be confident that neither side was losing out on the deal, but it's clearly possible he might sell.

I think the bike is in Southend , the bright parts were re-nickled by my friend, it has a coaster rear hub. Not sure of the size, but the current owner is average height.

I can put you in touch, but I think some idea of price would be useful first.

Thanks! I am currently looking at a more modern version, hoping to test ride it in the near future.

To be honest, the responsibility of have a 120year old one might be a bit much for me ...
Also I would imagine the price ought to be quite a lot for a genuine Dursley Pedersen.

Saw this one in the Tate Liverpool, 2014.

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Find one in Denmark and come and collect it. I'd collect and pack it for you.

Simon Starling's one? I've got a postcard of that somewhere - wonder if it's actually rideable? Knowing Starling's work, I'd have thought it probably is.

Yes on the artist, don't know on the rideability!

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Brilliant^

If that were my artwork that is going to sit in a flipping gallery, I’d have put solid tyres on, so they always look inflated.

When I was first active in the V-CC in the seventies there were a surprising number of DPs at events - The annual Herne Hill meeting used to have at least one event exclusively for DPs.

This puzzled me at the time because I don't think there ever were very many of them. My grandfather, who was racing when they were current, knew about them but thought they were daft. I think they are rather like open top cars - if you look at a list of Morris 1000s for sale, you would get the impression that about half the production were tourers, but in fact they were always rare (and expensive) so they were often cherished and so have survived in bigger numbers than might have been expected. I think the same happened with Dursleys - the few that were sold were never ridden much, but were carefully stored because they were rare and expensive.

From what I can remember, the originals were beautifully made with many special parts. The tubing was ultra light and I believe they were soft soldered, which meant stoving could cause disaster. It's possible this is an urban myth - a stoving oven only needs to go up to 120 centigrade. Modern replicas seem to be quite different - I suspect they're made of standard tubing and are obviously fitted with standard parts, so they give the visual impression of the real thing, but they're a bit like a modern 'tudorbethan ' house.

Finally, a question - how do you honk on a Dursley?

What characteristically lovely post my friend - we’ve come to expect nothing less from you - with excellent detail and (I say this with deference and respect) ... unique perspective.

I have test ridden a gem of a repro - a lovely example of a version known as ‘The Cheltenham Pedersen’, these were made in the 80s under license, and from my limited experience of them it seemed beautifully light and very ‘lively’. I really did prevaricate as it was a lovely machine. but didn’t buy.

What you’re saying about why so many early examples survive rings true - I worked on a film about Morgan cars a while back, and legend has it that it’s thought none of them have been lost! I find this very hard to believe, but like MGs and Dursley Pedersens and other curiosities, they are loved.

It’s very interesting to hear about the soldering too!

Finally: You virtually can’t ride them out of the saddle, I’m told. This is something to do with how the frame is tensioned with downward pressure on the saddle/strap - I think it was Petor (who builds marvellous bikes as Dear Susan) explained their unusual tensioning to me.

Def on my want-list. You see them for sale in Sweden for a few £100 every now and again.

@Skülly - check blocket.se and if you find one that are willing to post, I'd be happy to recieve it to mine and then fw it on to you. Or if local, pick it up

I'd love to have a go on one sometime; one of the coolest bikes I ever saw was a Pedersen in full touring rig passing through Cambridge - front and rear panniers on Tubus racks, dyno lighting, Rohloff rear wheel. I suppose it may have come from the continent via Harwich.

Ooof
Goals

Did the rider cruise by, casually, with one hand on the bars and a drink in the other? That's how I picture myself riding one

Just about to take this beast on. End times bike.

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Haaaa!

What's with the rear clearance?

It is a little confusing, a lot of these bikes seem to have been built for one of the many 26" or 650A/B/C sizes.

Thinking I might go 650B.

Nice, The complete build?

Congrats.

Have had a go on one and it was amazingly comfortable.

Cannot afford, of justify one but would love to make a copy...

Thats looks ace. I met a guy from Cambridge touring Orkney on one a few years ago. I had a spin and although was way too small was surprisingly comfortable. I'd really like one at some point.

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Oooof
Maybe the same rider that @Thrustvector posted about up there^ a while back. I’ve been wondering about Pinions on Pedersens, read that Christiania Pedersen made their first for a British customer way back in 2014. Probably that one!

yep. It’s in a bit of a state.

Hell yeah. So tukt.

I think my great white whale had a black frame and a Rohloff, but very similar vibes! Got a couple of side hustle gigs coming up, and it's hard not to think of them in terms of 'how much of a Pedersen would this get me?'...

(Also, aw yiss, Skülly-Pedersen!)