Parkes lightweight 56

Walked into a local cycle shop on Saturday, the owner knows me well as being a fan of the vintage frames (i haz a px-10)

He mentioned that a salubrious old chap walked in an handed in an old Parkes lightweight complete with spares, as he was giving up cycling for good... The owner offered me the bike for £30!!

Does anybody know much about the Parkes bikes? is it rare? did it race back in the day? I have had a little gander and have found that they were part of sun cycles... but thats about it.

The Bike is in immaculate condition and has the words "100 mass start" on top tube, F C Parkes hand painted on the down tube. It also has some lovely nervex lugs and is definitely made out of 531.

Any info would be much appreciated.

ta

Any pics?

I've got a frame that I was told is a parkes, although it's be resprayed... So can't be sure, at theleast I have a parkes badge that dates from befor WWII... Mine is probably 721 (defo lighter than a much smaller 531 Carlton I ride)... Not actually built it up! But basically cost be the best part of £200 for the frame and forks alone... So you certainly Got a bargain!

(or I got done!)

There was a guy a few weeks back selling a rather fetching looking parkes for £400 on Gumtree
http://www.gumtree.com/london/93/61699693.html

check it out

My first racing bike F C Parkes way back 55 finished in an reddy orange , followed by a Viking , and then Rotrax, and Carlton.

There was a guy a few weeks back selling a rather fetching looking parkes for £400 on Gumtree
http://www.gumtree.com/london/93/61699693.html

check it out

Baby blue!

nice isn't it?

Walked into a local cycle shop on Saturday, the owner knows me well as being a fan of the vintage frames (i haz a px-10)

He mentioned that a salubrious old chap walked in an handed in an old Parkes lightweight complete with spares, as he was giving up cycling for good... The owner offered me the bike for £30!!

Does anybody know much about the Parkes bikes? is it rare? did it race back in the day? I have had a little gander and have found that they were part of sun cycles... but thats about it.

The Bike is in immaculate condition and has the words "100 mass start" on top tube, F C Parkes hand painted on the down tube. It also has some lovely nervex lugs and is definitely made out of 531.

Any info would be much appreciated.

ta

My Grandfather was Fred Parkes. I would say it's quite rare. They did have a race team in the 50's. The company was Sun Cycles based in Birmingham.
£30 seems a bargin.

Hi J Parkes, I'm S Parkes..
Just sent you a message but new to forum and have to reply to threads 3 times to send private message- so you probably didn't receive it.

My family are also from Erdington, and Aston in Birmingham- Harry Parkes is my Grandfather, who was a toolmaker in the 1930/40s, in factories in Birmingham. He then became a footballer, at Aston Villa.

By chance, I am a cycle mechanic and am researching the FC Parkes cycle brand- Parkes Lightweight etc..
Please contact me, I'd love to find out more about Fred and James (his father, your great grandfather?) Parkes

Thanks

Hi, I have a Parkes Lightweight since 1962. It still has te original frame and some other parts. It was secondhand when my parents bought it for me. Then it was a 10 gear with a leather saddle, drops, but I rebuilt it in 1982 and have used it on a training stand. Now I am selling it.

To J Parkes ..

Are you Peter's son? I met FC & Peter many times in the 40's/early 50's at the factory in Aston .. My dad was Main agent for Sun & Parkes in the Walsall area. I recall during the war there were areas of the factory screened off and we couldn't enter. I assume they were making parts for aircraft because there were always pop-rivets around, such as were used for attaching aluminium sheet to ribs etc .. of course, they could have been making pop-rivets, but then, why the secrecy?

hi.... I am looking for a Parkes LW track fixed. I had it stolen when I was in the Army.
I am coming back to ride again as I did in my teenage yrs. Little did I know that my
late grandpa(whom I did not see) was the agent for Sun, Frejus back then in Sg.
I want to ride again only on my dream bike, ie. Parkes.

HI KFOTO, can you show some interesting pictures?

^Sorry to hear yours was stolen.

I've got a prewar Parkes Lightweight frame which I'm building up. There are some pics in the pre-50s thread. It's early small-diameter Reynolds 531 with a very early 531 waterslide decal under the top tube. It looks to be around 1937. The whole frame is chromed but the paint is too far gone to be saved. Original colour was a baby blue with dark blue top tube and seat tube bar.

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All I remembered was that the emblem read:

Parkes Lightweight, Birmingham. Original light blue then.
Any similar track frames welcome.

Re Parkes cycles, I, or rather my son has my Parkes lightweight frame that was given to me by my uncle Bill McCormack whose daughter, Edna raced it. He was very influential in cycling circles and was President of the Cycling Federation in the 60's and judged at a commonwealth games and was very actively involved with the Salford Bridge, Birmingham track. I recall he regularly went down to meetings in London with Tommy Godwin. It was my uncles wish that I raced, but although I loved my Parkes, I never had any wish to race. When I was young it was normal when with him to meet the greats of the day like Beryl Burton and Reg Harris. I've lost contact with my cousin, Edna, she had a daughter Susan and last time I saw her was over 20 years ago and she was living in the Corey area. Married name Shaw. Any of the names I mention familiar to anyone? My Great Grandfather William Garratt was a cycle maker, in business in Corporation Street, Birmingham so bikes are in the blood!

That should have read 'Corby' area.

I don't think I actually read the thread last time I posted here. I didn't see that J, S and B Parkes had posted here!

Not a lot of progress on my lightweight, considering it's been a year. I repainted the frame in black enamel (it was black underneath the blue) and built some wheels. I should get it down from the loft and finish those last bits...

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Hello. Sorry for hijacking thread, but I've recently acquired a Parkes and I'm looking for any information about it. Tried google but cant seem to find answers.

Its got a really nice head badge and the rear drop out is stamped - SPV7321. Bb is Stamped - S39. Has a 6 and a triangle stamped on bb as well. Has a sturmey archer 4 speed hub, no idea if this is original? Can add some pics later if anyone can help? I'm probably going to sell it as I've too many bike and too little space already! So yeah any info on value, rarity, etc, would ve so cool!
Many thanks!!

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=344162

A year late but that frame may be 1951/52, does the hub have a year stamped on it too?

Has anyone ever seen a Parkes with a wide plain block P A R K E S on the down tube rather than the signature version?

Thank you

Updating an old thread since it got mentioned in the pre-1950s thread. And I’ve still got my Parkes. As above, this dating chart seems to be correct for Parkes as well as Sun. Uploading it here just so there’s another copy for reference.

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Edited in what I think were the lost pics from my first post. Haven’t used it for a while, but the bike currently looks like this.

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