ABSTRACT
The initial expansion in the late 1860s, which saw the emergence of the first cycle-manufacturing firms did not lead to any spectacular breakthrough of the indigenous industry. By the eve of the great boom of the mid-1890s, the British bicycle industry had taken on a number of distinctive characteristics. A highly competitive industry, with a volatile firm population structure, it had developed business strategies associated with 'profusion', producing a range of different types of products rather than focusing on standardised output. By the spring of 1897 there were already imminent signs of a down-turn in trade. Stocks of cycles were rising as trading conditions, during what was usually the high season for the cycle trade, were deteriorating. The situation for domestic producers was made all the more serious by the aggressive strategy of American manufacturers who 'flooded the UK market' with cheap standardised machines.
