# The Boss Bike



## Wing Your Heel (Feb 19, 2010)

Cyclemasters aren't rare. They were the market leaders in their day. 

For almost a decade following WW2, Great Britain had no new vehicles for sale at home because of the export drive to repay the massive war debt to the USA. Used vehicles were in great demand, and most folks had to make do with bicycles. So dozens of companies sprung up selling engines to fix to a bike. Or, in the case of Cyclemaster, an engine in a wheel to fix to a bike.






Cyclemaster Ltd was owned by EMI. They'd been awarded the contract to make them after the cyclemaster plans were confiscated from the Germans. They propelled Brits toward and from their place of work (slowly) until 1955, when the new-fangled 'mo-peds' came on the market and foreign exchange was no longer so critical for the country. 'Mo-peds' had gears and went faster. Cyclemasters, Powerpacks, Minimotors, Cyclaids, Cymotas, Mocycs, Winged Wheels and all their brethren were suddenly relegated to garden sheds and everyone bought a moped.





Cyclemasters are one of Britain's national treasures.





This one is a rare 28" wheel version (most were 26") and has been retro-fitted to this Raleigh Superbe All-Chrome 'Boss Bike' - a version made by Raleigh for showroom duties, particularly in Germany and Nigeria (two markets they wanted to establish at the time). 'Boss Bike' was an African name for it.





I haven't added the Boss Bike details to the museum website yet (I'm waiting for a sunny day to take some more photos), but you can read more about Cyclemasters (and many other cyclemotors) here...

http://Cyclemaster.co.uk


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## char56 (Mar 8, 2010)

Wow what a lovely bike!! I have never seen one of these before.Thankyou for sharing the pictures!


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## kunzog (Mar 9, 2010)

I have never seen an all chrome Raleigh, very nice!  Here is my 1950 Indian (Phillips made) Cyclemaster


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## Wing Your Heel (Mar 11, 2010)

Good to see your Indian Scout Cyclemaster again Brian. 

I've always liked those Phillips Indians and have been looking for one for a while. 

If you come across another, please let me know (even just a frame with decals and badge would do - as it's easy enough for me to rob a Phillips for all the parts).

Here's a little mystery. Until I saw this headbadge I didn't know that Hercules also exported bikes that were badged as Indians (although the Hercules brand name is still used in India, so there are thousands of Indian Hercules bikes in that country). Do you know anything about it? I think Phillips Indian Scouts ran from 1948-1952, so I wonder when the Hercules bike was current?


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## kunzog (Mar 13, 2010)

I am not familiar with the Hercules/Indian bicycle. I dont know if they were connected with the Hendee/Indian Motocycle Company or not. I can assist in getting you a Indian/ Phillips bike.  Message Sent . - Brian


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## gold street customs (Apr 15, 2010)

Nice Indian , mine is also a fifty, but its slightly modified


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## STRAIGHT UP (May 24, 2010)

Heres my phillips, not sure of the year, I think its a 1970


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