1898 Chater Lea Fittings Road Racer (Phantom King)

c1898 Chater Lea Fittings Road Racer

(Phantom King)

24.5″ Frame

28″ Wheels

Red Tyres

(Now sold)

The Phantom King is a very well-appointed fittings machine.

The business in cycle fittings was equal to that of complete bicycles. It particularly came into its own in the early to mid 1890s when there was shortage of bicycles, and small firms paused their normal trade and either moved into cycle parts manufacture or the assembly and supply of complete bicycles by purchasing fittings through the cycle trade.

BSA was the leading fittings maker in terms of quality. As they manufactured rifles and ammunition for the War Office, they were used to working to the highest standards. Chater Lea was a smaller firm that also made very high standard fittings, many of them similar in style to BSA. This road racer has Chater Lea fittings. By purchasing top quality components a cycle shop could build a bicycle equal to any of the top manufacturers and sell it to their customer for half the price.

You can compare this bicycle to a later Chater Lea fittings machine (that I sold some years ago) via a link at the bottom of the page.

Though it matches the profile, there is no guarantee that this bicycle is a Phantom King. It was repainted many years ago and has lost its steering head transfer making it hard to identify with 100% certainty. It’s a fixed wheel fast road racer fittings machine with racing pedals and toe clips, in top top condition and ready to ride.