Whilst randomly flicking through facebook marketplace, Ray came across old this bike and instantly fell in love. This bike is a Gundle Model O and was used as a butchers/trade bicycle.. and yes we did buy it! Our plan? Well as the title says, we're going to fully renovate it to the best we can. Not only that but we will be creating a series of YouTube videos of our process.
The History of Gundle
Leonard Gundle, born 1901, began making motorcycles in the 1920’s and used them in competitions to publicise his business. Sometime towards the end of the 20’s start of the 30’s, he moved his company to Birmingham, where he decided to build trade/carrier bicycles. These bicycles became known as the best in the business and were used by all kinds of trades; from butchers to the local bread shop. They even made it into the famous Hovis advert in the 70’s known as ‘the boy on the bike’. Sadly, upon Leonards death in 1974, in 1975 the company was sold to Stratford based company named Pashley. Many confuse Gundle as being the original makers of the postie bikes, however this comes from the sale to Pashley, as they were the makers of these bikes. Not an awful lot more is known about Leonard Gundle and his bikes, but a lot of folk will instantly recognise one of his bicycles as they would have ridden them. If anyone does know anything about Gundle, please do drop a comment below.
Our Bike
Taking a closer look at our bike, we can see stamps in the frame. This one seems to give us the year and possibly the month it was built. 1945 - May, however with not much information on these bikes we can never be 100% on knowing how to understand each stamp found. So for now this is what we believe this one means. It would make sense as the rear mudguard has been painted with a white section. We know this was done during WW2 to help people see bicycles in blackouts.
We have now stripped this bicycle down to its bare frame and have began searching for parts needed to bring this bike back to how it was once made. A lot of parts aren't original, but luckily most of the original parts are still available for purchase. If you want to see us renovate this in more depth, visit our YouTube channel where we will be uploading videos following our journey of renovation. Mondo's YouTube