Lady Cyclists

 Last December, prompted by Neil, I was lucky enough to find a copy of 'Wheeling - A New and Exciting Game For Cyclists'  The write-up is here and it attracted a bit of interest.  The most important observation was the comment from Brian Bent, who thought that he might be able to make a replacement for the missing figurine.

The game was quite a success, and we played it at Christmas.  Maggs was appalled at the competitive impulse between my sister and myself, but we've been far worse at Monopoly.

Anyway, a couple of days ago, Brian turned up at my house with a little box in his hand.  He had made several replacement figurines, and they were of excellent quality.

Which did Brian make?

In fact, Brian was able to improve on a couple of the originals.  If you look at the picture, you will see that the right hand cyclist has no down tube.  That's an original, and it hasn't broken off, as the paint is intact.  Doing the castings Brian found that, unless great care was taken, small details would not be faithfully rendered.  In Jacques of London's workshop in 1896 it looks as if throughput was more important than artistry, and two of the three originals have no down-tube. The third is complete, as are all of Brian's.

Here's one of Brian's castings.  The flash has to be trimmed off, it has to be painted and mounted before it is ready to use.  There is a high level of skill involved throughout.

So I am in the very happy position of not only having a set of 'Wheeling', but one with a complete set of beautiful figurines, some better than new.

Thank you, Brian.  You will be the first to be invited to the forthcoming 'Wheeling' championship, to be held when the nights are drawing in and real cycling is less attractive.

Mark