1895 Gormully & Jeffery ‘Model D’ Ladies Rambler

 

1895 Gormully & Jeffery ‘Model D’ Ladies Rambler

19″ Frame

28″ Wheels

This delightful Ladies Rambler is a relic from the days when the bicycle ruled the roads. Gormully & Jeffery was one of the top three American cycle manufacturers and their machines were innovative and superbly made. This 128-year-old example is in very good original condition with original paint and parts.

The last patent date – in this case, 1894 – is the year the model was manufactured. That can be the actual year, or the year prior to, its catalogue appearance. I have an 1893 Gormully & Jeffery catalogue, which illustrates a Model A and Model B. So it’s likely that this Model D is from 1894. But I’ve not found an 1894 catalogue yet to confirm.

 

Who wouldn’t want to ride and own so beautiful a wheel as the Rambler Bicycle?

– Just so, and when you ride a Rambler you feel that no amount of money could have bought a better wheel.

People of good taste know that.

 

The string skirt-guard not only forms part of the chaincase (above) but also substitutes for rear mudguard stays (below).

The tyres are 28 x 1 1/2 pneumatic single tube type: the inner tube is built into the tyre, and they are glued onto the rim.

Like their bicycles, Gormully & Jefferey pneumatic tyres were heavily promoted at the time. They make amusing reading now. I particularly like the byline in the G&J tyre advert below, from ‘Bicycling for Girls’ –

‘I am recommending the bicycle indiscriminately as a general mode of exercise, particularly to the weak, nervous, and poorly nourished of either sex.’