I photographed this early safety bicycle in the Coventry Museum of Transport. It is easy to identify as an early CMC Swift, a model they built apprximately in 1887-1891. Click here for a link to Flickr, that shows a similar bike. And click here for another link, that shows a different model sprocket.
CMC - the Coventry Machinists Company - was always innovating and ahead of their opponents. So when the Rover met with great commercial success, they rushed to built their own rear wheel driven safety.
One of the details to recognise this as a CMC is the way the lamp was (formerly) attached tot the head tube, on a torsion spring. Also the steel hubs (not bronze) are typical CMC.
CMC - the Coventry Machinists Company - was always innovating and ahead of their opponents. So when the Rover met with great commercial success, they rushed to built their own rear wheel driven safety.
One of the details to recognise this as a CMC is the way the lamp was (formerly) attached tot the head tube, on a torsion spring. Also the steel hubs (not bronze) are typical CMC.
This CMC model had been copied by a few German manufacturers and maybe by others. I know for sure that Adler and Opel built this model with only minor changes. The difference with the original CMC models are very minor. I have pictures of a CMC clone that was found in Norway in 2012, click here for the link.