http://www.pedersenbicycles.com
The upright riding position, just likes Strida’s
http://www.pedersenbicycles.com
The upright riding position, just likes Strida’s
Well - the position is by far not all that contributes to the comfortable ride of the Pedersen bike.
Michael Pedersen was a fellow countryman, who deisgned this bike back inn the 90’s - 1890’s that is ;o)
But he could not obtain a patent here in Denmark - the patent office claimed the design was too complicated to hold a patent ?!?
He moved to GB for a number of years due to his work as an engineer with a danish producer of dairy-equipment (worlds first milk centrifuge - a long story on its own) and finally got a patent for his bike there. Started a factory in Dursley, hence it became known as the Dursley-Pedersen bike.
Later he had to close the factory and returned to Denmark, where he died a poor man. Didn’t even get a tombstone - this was managed not many years ago, when his remains was nmoved to aa more proper grave, suitable to his position in our history.
It has been claimed that he build a number of full-size wooden bikes to test the design - and that german soldiers supposedly burned them in the stowe of his house during their occeupation of Denmark during WW 1.
But back to the ride; this is by far not a traditional diamond-frame, but in much closer family with bridge constructions - or the Eiffel Tower.
Biggest thing is that the frame actually is build to yeld - aka build-in suspension !
Paired with the hammock seat you get a very different ride from anything else I have tried - including recumbent bikes.
But the story didn’t quite end with his dead; in 1978, a danish blacksmith by the name Jesper Sølling discovered the design and (afair) obtained the rights to production.
So it vent into production again - in a very nice quality, obviously build by someone with a keen eye for craftmanship.
And Jesper Sølling is still producing them: pedersenbicycle.dk/
There is a lot more to read abouts the history of this bike - Google Michael Pedersen and Jesper Sølling.
Oh - as with Strida, there is the original and the others…
The bike is build by a numer of builders around the world; some more serious that others.
The originals by Michael Pedersen should be easy to spot as they are about a hundred years old - and I don’t think “design copying” was so widespread as today ;o) And finding an original is not easy at all.
Jesper Sølling’s bikes are actually still an allmost daily sight in Copenhagen, where I live.
But it seems that german Kalkhoff had the rights - at least for a while…though some traces on the internet indicates it was obtained by foul play.
Whatever - bikes produced by Sølling all carry a frame number starting with the letters “CC”, followed by a seral number and ending with a letter.
“CC” indicates the frame was produced by Jesper Sølling Cykelproduktion, serial number is…serial number ;o) and the last letter indicates what year dthe frame was builld.
All directed by a danish law from 1948 !
But the first two letters actually can be 3; if the frame is imported, it has to carry a “W” as first letter.
So whatever the framenumber is - if 1st letter is “W” - it is no way near an original build by Sølling.
And why did I ever sell mine ??
Beautiful bike