Bike of the Month – September 2024

The joy in restoration and the restoration in the ‘Joy’.

This months ‘Bike of the Month’ is a sympathetically restored ‘Humber Royal Elf’ from 1957.

Bicycle Make:           Humber

Bicycle model:          Royal Elf

Date of Manufacture:    1957

As we have often said restoring an old bike involves lots of decisions; should it be restored to original new condition or should we try to maintain the character of the bike? We feel that this restoration has definitely achieved the latter.

Under the guidance of the restoration maestro Paul McQuaid (of the Good Bike Project) the prisoners in Mountjoy have really produced a thing of beauty, right down to hand painted coachlines on the ‘oil bath’ chainguard.

For those who may not be familiar with Humber Bicycles the brand was taken over by Raleigh in in 1932 and continued as their premium brand until the 1960’s.

You only need to examine the features on the bike to appreciate the quality, Duplex fork, integrated Dyno hub and Sturmey Archer 4 speed gears. It would originally have had a sophisticated lighting system which included a rechargeable battery to provide light when the bike was stationary. This model also incorporated a ‘steering lock’ – definitely from a different time!

This particular Humber was well used and well worn when it arrived in the ‘Joy’. It obviously had some of its original parts changed and was un-loved as you will see in the gallery below. After a lot of hard work it was restored and will soon go back into service with a new proud owner from the Ukrainian community.

Have a look at the gallery below and you will see what fine work the team in Mountjoy can do with their limited resources.

An interesting footnote from an OldVelo who has always been a good source of useless information: Did you know the importer of Humber Bikes into Sweden decided to jump on the bandwagon of car & truck production? The Swedish Humber Bike Company became SAAB SCANIA.‘ Thanks Bart !