1898/1899 Gormully & Jeffery Men’s Medium Weight Rambler Roadster No 24
24″ Frame
28″ Wheels
Gormulley & Jeffery Patent ‘Model 26’ Handlebars with Cork Grips.
Rococo Lugwork.
Inch Pitch Chainwheel with forged crank and rat trap pedals.
Leather tool bag
1st Pattern Morrow Coaster Brake
(Now sold)
By 1898, the top American company Gormully & Jeffery was in its prime as a cycle manufacturer, producing state-of-the-art machines with unique features that competed with the other two leading cycle makers, Columbia and Overman (Victor). Unfortunately, the introduction of this superbly-designed model coincided with the downturn in the industry and, by 1899, the company seas absorbed into ‘The Trust’, a combination of most of the US cycle makers who banded together to try and avoid bankruptcy in an era of overproduction and competition. Gormully & Jeffery turned their attention instead toward the new motorised technology that was about to take the world by storm, entering the automobile market with the Rambler car.
This 1898/99 Rambler Roadster features the company’s patent handlebar with cork grips (introduced in 1898 for the Model 26, and illustrated turned down rather than upturned like this), ornate rococo lugwork throughout the frame and their unique crank hanger (chainwheel). The original paintwork and nickel is faded. Though I prefer bicycles in unrestored original condition, this is one example that would also look superb with a repainted frame, its ornate lugwork finished in a different colour to show it off.
1899 GORMULLEY & JEFFERY CATALOGUE EXTRACTS
RAMBLER NEW ZEALAND & INDIA
The company exported Rambler bicycles around the world. The above photo in New Zealand is from 1903. The Rambler tandems in front of the building are from 1898 (on the left) and 1895, suggesting the company got rid of its surplus old stock abroad. The Rambler advert below mentions sales in Bombay, India.
1st PATTERN MORROW COASTER BRAKE
1899 GORMULLEY & JEFFERY CATALOGUE EXTRACTS
DEDICATED MUSEUM FOR RAMBLER BICYCLES
RAMBLER Owners Club
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