• Image of Philbrook
  • Image of Philbrook
  • Image of Philbrook
  • Image of Philbrook
  • Image of Philbrook

I have managed to acquire two Philbrook bikes.
Of the ‘London’ bicycle and frame builders from the post-war period there is probably no one held in higher esteem than Walter William Philbrook known as just ‘Bill’ or ‘Phil’. He was born on September 25th 1916 the son of a railwayman in the South East London suburb of Sydenham not far away from Crystal Palace. Like many of his generation he left school at the age of 14 and ‘with a fascination for bikes’ began an apprenticeship with the bicycle builders, Buckley Brothers whose premises were I think at that time at 61 Dartmouth Road, Forest Hill. Buckley Brothers had a fine reputation for making high quality lightweight bicycles in the pre-war period and one of a small group of South London firms that included Selbach and Granby that were building with ‘taper tubes’. They were famous for producing one of the lightest bikes at that time which weighed only 13lbs and displayed at the first Lightweight Show as well as a 22lb tandem frame.

Author Bryan Clarke

Bicycle sold as is, not rebuilt.

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