I recently received an email from Mike Riley from Riley’s Cycles of Sherborne. He said…
I have a Stan Pike ladies tourer. It has the owners name, Margaret Lowrey, painted on it. I believe she lived in East Coker and rode the bike extensively around Europe.
I emailed Stan’s son, who said…
Regret I don’t have record of this one but I suspect it is one of ours, It will be a very early ladies frame though I suspect from the frame number, built in 1978. There are some other signs such as the seat lug/seat pin fastening method and the brazed fittings, plus the fork crown, all signs that it’s genuine.
If anyone knows of a Margaret Lowrey, from Somerset, (she was possibly a member of 1st Chard Wheelers) please get in touch. It would be great to know more about her and her bike.
Mike also said…
I would love to ride a gent’s Stan Pike as I live not far from Crewkerne and would like to show the folks in our cycle club what a quality English bike looks like. If you know of a Stan Pike gents bike or frame for sale around size 22 or 23 inch I would like to make contact with the seller. PS your website is a great resource and shows real respect for a great artisan.
WOW! I believe this is the bike we sold to a Margaret Lowrey in the early 80’s. It was my wife’s first ‘proper’ bike. We bought it 2nd hand in about 1980 when we were living in Exeter. I remember it was probably a little small for my wife and some of the clearences (particularly around the back brake, which was a caliper at the time) were very tight. Margaret appears to have had cantis brazed on at some point. We moved to Birmingham in 82 and my wife did her first club run with West Bromwich CTC on it – 80 miles… she suffered. Soon after she replaced it with a Claud Butler Majestic and then a 69 Mercian which she still rides.
Andy White, Birmingham