1893 Premier Model J Youth’s Safety

1893 Premier Model J Youth’s Safety

with tricycle style bottom bracket chain adjustment

18″ Frame

26″ Wheels with solid tyres

Arab Spring saddle

My research has revealed several features on this youth’s safety that were used by Hillman Herbert & Cooper for their Premier machines. The sliding mechanism at the bottom bracket, used for adjusting the chain, is the same as on an 1887 Premier tandem tricycle I sold some years ago. And the front brake and fork crown matches several other Premiers I own or have sold. Roger Armstrong has confirmed that it is an 1893 Model J.

For a cycle company, the costs of building a smaller size bicycle were not much less than for an adult cycle, with the disadvantages that less were sold and because they were smaller, their sale prices needed to be lower. Every bicycle built required patent license duties to be paid for any feature not owned by the company. So money was saved by using some outdated features to keep the costs lower. Early tricycles had sliders for chain adjustment because having two wheels behind alleviated the strain on the slider, whereas it would not have been possible to keep it tightened on an adult bicycle. Similarly, a. youth size cycle would most likely not have been ridden so hard as to affect the slider adversely.