1924 Chater Lea Track Racer (Rover badge)

Why this Chater Lea has a Rover badge is a total mystery. As you can see from the line drawings shown here, this was Chater Lea’s flagship model from 1923 onwards. It had superb build quality and innovative features and was a popular choice for amateur path racing. This one certainly looks like it has been raced in the past.

The bicycle was one of several I bought from a lady in Lancashire, previously owned by her grandad Leonard Heys who had various cycle shops and businesses in the Liverpool area. He died in 1980 and they’ve been stored since. In my opinion they were in storage even before 1980. (You can see two ‘before’ photos of it near the bottom of the page). It has now been cleaned and new tyres and tubes fitted and I’ve taken it for a spin.

I can’t find a frame number on it to see if it is the Rover or Chater Lea sequence. Rover ceased trading in 1924, soon after this Chater Lea model was launched, and Chater Lea was known to supply other cycle makers with frames and parts, so there may have been a tie up between the two companies. I’ve estimated its age as 1924. It has a Southern Veteran Cycle Club sticker on the seat tube, so maybe someone knows more about it? I’ll research it further and update this page if more information comes to light.

To see it at The Museum click here…