THE CHAIN MATCHES
“…Simpson offered ten-to-one odds that riders with his chain would beat cyclists with regular chains. Later known as the Chain Matches, these races at the Catford track in London attracted huge crowds estimated between twelve and twenty thousand in June 1896. Simpson’s team not only included the top racers – Tom Linton, Jimmy Michael, and Constant Huret – but also the Gladiator pacing team brought over from Paris. Pacers enabled a racer to ride faster by shielding him from air resistance. Although Simpson won the Chain Matches, they only proved that the Gladiator pacers were superior to their English rivals. Crowds up to 20,000 attended the Chain Races and “Simpson v …” was an argument to be heard where cyclists foregathered.”
– Prior Dodge
The Simpson Chain was invented and developed at a time when bicycles used inch pitch block chains with fixed wheel hubs. After its debut in 1895, the company went to great lengths to publicise it as an improvement on existing chain technology, employing famous racing cyclists of the day to promote it. However, within a few years, the freewheel hub came onto the market and that, along with new lightweight half inch chain, made the Simpson Lever Chain obsolete. It was never proven to have an advantage over conventional chain, but it remains an interesting novelty of the day that has entertained cycling enthusiasts ever since.
Though there are now few surviving Simpson chain sets or bicycles, the Simpson Lever Chain is still well known in the 21st century because of the poster designed by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1896. It illustrates Constant Huret pacing with a Simpson chain behind the Gladiator tandem at the Vélodrome de la Seine. The rider shown on the tandem is Lisette Marton, the women’s European Champion who was also sponsored by Simpson.
c1897 Simpson Road Racer
Original Simpson Lever Chain
Adjustable handlebar
‘Pacer’ saddle
22″ Frame
28″ Wheels
This fabulous road racer features an original Simpson Lever Chain, an adjustable handlebar and a ‘Pacer’ saddle. It’s in excellent all round condition and ready to ride.
Financier E.T Hooley bought the Simpson Chain patent from inventor William Speir Simpson in 1895 for £200,000 and floated the company on the stock market. The world-famous ‘Chain Races’ that featured the leading champion cyclists of the day boosted the company’s profile spectacularly. But the chain was not actually an advantage to cyclists and sales were nominal. In 1898 the ‘cycle boom’ ended and Hooley’s companies crashed.
That might have been the end of the matter, except that cycle racing was the world’s dominant sport and the Chain Races had caught the public imagination. Simpson’s other marketing coup was to employ leading French artist Toulouse-Lautrec to create posters of the races. Original posters and also copies are still in wide circulation today.
In addition to the best-known colour illustration of Constant Huret pacing with a Simpson chain behind the Gladiator tandem at the Vélodrome de la Seine (top of the page), he also illustrated Welsh-born world cycling champion Jimmy Michael demonstrating the Simpson Lever Chain (below).
THE CHAIN CHALLENGE
Photoshoot Location: Brighton beach & Aquarium entrance.
