“British born Benjamin Bowden originally designed the futurist Spacelander bicycle for the “Britain Can Make It” exhibition in 1946. Conceived in aluminum, the dynamic form featured a direct drive hub dynamo that stored the downhill energy and released it on uphill runs. The originally prototype for the exhibit was hand-made by the MG Auto Company. Due to the expense of manufacture, the bike did not go into production until 1960, when Bomard Industries of Grand Haven, Michigan contracted with Bowden to create the finished product. The final design was produced in fiberglass and built-in headlight and taillights were added. Ultimately, Bomard Industries went of business and only 522 examples were ever produced.”
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Thank you to Catherine Moriarty, Krucha Verch and Leon Dixon.
I really really want a red one! this is fantastically beautiful and practical…storing downhill energy to get you up hills…prefect for hilly Bristol!
phew, over $4000 in 1960…it must be worth thousands and thousands now!
That bike is sweet awesome. No wonder it never got made though at that price.
Where did the $4,000 figure come from? I think Dixon wrote an article about Bowden including a spec sheet with a $90 retail price tag. That would be about $668 in today dollars. Still high by anyone’s standards. But not $4,000, which would have been his dad’s annual salary at the time.
Something’s very odd: their add shows an “800″ number, and a zip code! In 1960???
The ad with the 800 number is a more modern one, for a company that apparently builds reproductions (though officially “licensed” to do so). The 4k price tag is very (VERY) modern as well… even 10 years ago this would have been astronomical, but with inflation, it nowdays only falls into the “ridiculous” category
one other note – anyone thinking the energy storage for use going uphill is a good idea – that truly is the worst idea ever for a bike
http://nbhaa.com/indexBowden.html
Thanks for some other informative website. Where else may just I get that kind of info written in such a perfect means? I’ve a project that I am just now operating on, and I’ve been at the look out for such information.king Regards Tom