Bike of the Week: P.T. Stallard
There are many stories in cycling, with equally as many personalities. When this beguiling bike, an example from P.T. Stallard courtesy of Michael Lebron, came into the shop for service recently, I learned of another one of cycling’s colorful characters, Mr. Percy Thornley Stallard.
To put it simply, P.T. Stallard devoted his life to cycling against all odds stacked against him. Rumored to have been born in his father’s bicycle shop in Wolverhampton, England, in 1909, Stallard remained to run the shop until his retirement in the 1990′s. The bicycles produced in his shop, such as this one, were highly sought after by racers and clubmen throughout England.
Lacking ornate lug work, Stallard’s cycles focused on quality and practical design, and incorporated the latest in component technology. This example features the Simplex “Tour de France” derailleur, and beautifully cast aluminum CLB brake calipers and levers.
This bicycle is an excellent example of a post war racer. In addition to his bicycle company, Percy Stallard is remembered for his tumultuous and pivotal role in how English bicycle racing evolved.
Stallard was a prolific racer in western Europe throughout the ’30s, though things in the ’40s were much different. English cycle racing at the time was limited to track events and criteriums on closed courses such as airfields. For fear for public safety, stage racing was banned on England’s roads, though P. T. Stallard would have none of that. In 1942, Stallard organized a mass-start race in opposition to the wishes of the governing body of English cycling, the National Cyclists Union. His flagrant disregard for the rules and authority of the NCU saw him banned for the bulk of his career.
Frustrated by the NCU and their perceived failings, Stallard started his own organization, the British League of Racing Cyclists, to promote cycling competition. Despite his dedication to progressing English cycle racing, his cantankerous personality and outspoken criticism caused his eventual expulsion from his own new organization. Stallard helped shape modern English bicycle racing as it is today, his influence created events like the Tour of Britain and paved the way for bright-eyed young Cavendish’s and Wiggins’. In 1988, the modern British Cycling Federation awarded Stallard a gold medal for his services of advancement of the sport of cycling. Stallard, still bitter from the decades long ban and exclusion from the NCU and BLRC, refused the award. That’s just old Percy for ya….
