A passion for pedal power has seen Graham Reed saddled with almost 100 bikes spanning 100 years.
The 61-year-old granddad’s love affair with two-wheeled transport began as a boy and five decades later he has amassed an incredible collection dating back to 1868.
Until a few years ago, more than 40 of them adorned the walls of Skopos Motor Museum in Batley but it closed and are now in deep storage.
A number of them are still kept at his Leeds home but they have been taken apart and are only reassembled when required.
Graham said: “It’s something that takes time to do but for me it’s about the only way we can accommodate them. It would be nice to find a semi-permanent place for them to be – it worked well at the last place.”
Graham got his first bike – a Raleigh Explorer – when he was 12 and still has it. At 14 he acquired a 1926 Rudge-Whitworth ladies’ bike that had belonged to his aunt.
He said: “There’s plenty of social history that goes with the bicycle. It’s such a simple invention and basically the design hasn’t changed since the 1880s.”
His vast array of cycles includes an 1886 High Wheeler – better known as the Penny Farthing – once the fastest thing on Victorian roads.
The seat on the High Wheeler is around 56 inches above the ground. Graham said: “You fall off once and don’t want to fall off a second time.”
Wife Jackie is also a collector, stashing with 600 items of old clothing, from crinolines to corsets, along with around 12 antique prams.
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