Description Rover (believed) ca 1900 with Simpson chain This bicycle has a 22-inch black painted frame, silver painted handlebars without grips, Brooks saddle and black painted cranks with open pedals. There are no brakes fitted, the wheels are fitted with 28 x 1 ½ tyres. The front chainwheel is a standard pattern. The special thing about this bicycle is the chain, an invention of William Spiers Simpson in 1895. “The design departed from the standard roller bicycle chain: it was composed of linked triangles forming two levels. The inner level was driven by the chainring and the outer drove the rear cog. Instead of teeth, the chainring and cog had grooves into which the rollers of the chain engaged. The chain was known in the German as die Simpson-Hebelkette, and in French as la chaîne à levier Simpson. Simpson made claims, widely discredited, that the levers of this chain provided a mechanical advantage that could amplify energy produced by the cyclist. Simpson hired top cyclists such as Constant Huret, Lisette Marton, and Tom Linton (of Paris-Bordeaux fame), and the Gladiator Pacing Team from France to race for high stakes in England for the Chain Matches. His teams were largely successful, but the chains were never adopted on a large scale and in 1898 production was stopped.”( source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson_chain ) The Simpson chain was not forgotten though: it was made immortal by a poster designed by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1896, see illustration. The poster depicts Constant Huret riding with a Simpson chain behind the Gladiator tandem at the Vélodrome de la Seine. The second rider on the tandem is Lisette Marton, women’s European Champion, one of Simpson-sponsored athletes. In the background are Tristan Bernard, the sports impresario who was a close friend of Lautrec, and Louis Bouglé, the French agent who adopted the name of Spoke.
