The QX51 is a unique style of bicycle. Rather than folding, the frame slides horizontally to expand it. You can also raise the handlebars and seat post to suit the rider position, so the bicycle is suitable for a wider range of riders.
The Five Rams expands from youth size to adult size. It’s currently in its most compact position, so I’ll measure it like that.
1974 Five Rams (Wu Yang) XQ51 Sliding Bicycle
16″ Wheels
LENGTH: 42″
WIDTH: 22″
HEIGHT: 33″
The existence of the Five Rams Sliding Bicycle is unknown to most vintage bicycle collectors. There’s a tendency among many collectors to only favour the same as everyone else, what I call ‘fashionable’ bikes. Others, of course, with justification, only collect bikes they can ride. Nevertheless, there is, fortunately, a sub-culture of collectors of the obscure, unloved and completely kitsch. The XQ51 Sliding Bicycle would win every prize in this category.
First, there’s the QX51’s a unique design, the frame sliding to vary its size. This is an entirely practical bicycle. Whereas the cycle industry in the West at this time preferred teenagers to buy a new bike when they outgrew their old one, the XQ51 lasted many more years by expanding to grow into an adult size machine.
But, for me, practicality is not the point. What I enjoy here is ‘communist kitsch,’ the fifties styling that can still be seen in many countries of the world. One of the joys of travelling is to see our own culture reflected back at us, often in a slightly different form. The Five rams QX51 typifies this experience, combining elements of various earlier British bicycles, plus a dollop of practicality, lots of transfers (decals) …and, to cap it all, a head badge and fork crown that makes you think at first glance that it’s a Raleigh. Although the badge is the same shape, instead of the Raleigh ‘heron’ logo it’s a ram!
The bicycle is in sound original unrestored condition, with surface rust on the paintwork and chrome, and the transfers well-preserved. The tyres hold air but should be replaced if it is to be ridden.
WU YANG (FIVE RAMS), GUANGDONG, CHINA
‘Five Rams’ is the largest cycle company in Guangdong (which used to be known as Canton, and is situated next to Hong Kong). Its factory is in Guangzhou, capital of the province. The company’s Chinese name is ‘Wu Yang.’ The Five Rams name refers to the famous statue in the centre of Guangzhou, part of the story of the city’s founding in the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC – 771 BC).
