The end of Cyclops
 

Two weeks back I missed a deal on a Cyclops. Cyclops was to me, simply another small Canadian frame building company and I had only vaguely heard the name. I mentioned this to Jody Lee who owns Jester Cycles and is himself a frame builder and he told me what he knew about Cyclops. I thought I'd add a thread to show what happened to Cyclops.

Most Canadians (let alone Non-Canadians) know nothing about Cyclops.

Originally a man named Jocelyn Lovell owned Lovell Bicycles and he made about 100 frames. These frames had and still have a following in the Toronto area. Lovell was a well respected Canadian cyclist who appeared on our Olympic team and who won Golds at the Pan-Am and Commonwealth Games. Lovell sold out to man named Mike Mulholland who changed the name to Cyclops. In 1983 after selling his frame building business to Mulholland, Lovell was struck from the rear by a dump truck while out riding and became a quadriplegic. Lovell died in 2016.

Cyclops was (I believe) originally in Mississauga Ontario but then Mulholland moved to British Columbia. Later he moved back to Ontario and set up shop in an old barn on what Jody thought was "Dickinson" Road, Lowbanks. Lowbanks is a small community spread out along Lake Erie. Mulholland made about 1500 bikes prior to his death in 2005. Cyclops frame sets are still sought after. I believe Randyjawa owned one but am unsure if he found it at a dump....

I had worked in the Lowbanks area and hadn't heard of a "Dickinson" Road. I did know of a Dickhout Road, pronounced Dick Out (yes really!). I resolved to have a road trip (isn't that what bikes are for?). I thought people who knew of both Lovell and Cyclops would be interested in seeing where the company ended up.

I rode out and knowing the area as did I was able to locate the property at 204 Dickhout Road. There are not many properties that fit the description that I had. We had just had a storm with strong winds and heavy rain the night before.

That very night the barn roof had caved in due to the storm.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2cb84db61a.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...28e180ead8.jpg

The frame shop was in a small room located behind the CAST container on the right side of the photo.

I didn't stop and ask if there were any old frame sets - say 63cm size still in there......

Ps as for Dickhout Road. Pics as they say or it didn't happen!

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0412c7d79c.jpg

Are you sure it isn't pronounced "Dick-oot"?

Is that really important?

WGB started it...

I had a Cyclops track frameset that I used as a fixed gear bicycle when I had to go to Hamilton Ontario from the Kitchener Ontario area. I took the bus and then road the bike in Hamilton to my appointments. One day an idiot wrong direction riding bicyclist zoomed onto King Street without stopping and I ran into him. I badly bent the downtube and top tube of that frame. I was able to brace my feet against the bottom bracket shell and pull really hard on the fork and got the thing straightened enough to be able to ride it. Unfortunately the cost to fix and paint the frame was more than the frame was worth. I sure wish I'd have been able to grab that stupid bicyclist.

Cheers

I took this digression as just a riff on the supposed Canadian accent of pronouncing "out" as "oot" to rhyme with "boot" (not "foot"). I don't hear this myself. What I hear us saying is "oat" to rhyme with "boat". "Out and about" would sound like "oat in a boat". Even though Canadians can pronounce "cow" perfectly well, we never rhyme "out" that way, unless we are putting on airs and don't want to sound like we're from the sticks. The precise pronunciation varies by region and (more) by social class, but with less noticeable variability than in the U.S. or the U.K.
FWIW, a classmate of mine married a guy named Dickhout from down that way ("Canada's Southern Coast") and yes, indeed, he pronounced it just as WGB says.

This Google Streetview pic indicates that the barn wasn’t in the best of condition way back in 2012.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...652fd33df.jpeg

I just posted it so if anyone wonders "what happened to Cyclops?" there'd be an answer on here. I figured people might laugh at the name of the road. There was a bar in Hamilton that had a County road sign hanging over the urinal. As for the barn, I guess Mike Mulholland's son was restoring cars in there until recently. He had an Austin Martin convertible that looked interesting. I was tempted to bang on the door and say "Now that the barn's down, any bike tools or frame stuff you want to sell?" but I decided not to try.....

wet blanket time.



Neat story by the OP.

There's that Marinoni documentary where Lovell is mentioned as a good friend of his who he taught frame building to. That is to say, Lovell learned frame building from Marinoni.

I only learned about the, learnt about them? Anyway I only heard of the from these forums, but thought they were older like ‘70s frames

Ah! Interesting. I happen to have a picture of Jocelyn Lovell on my PC, because he rode a RIH:


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...66e1878f7c.jpg

Cool, I've seen a couple of Cyclopses out here on the west coast, always admired them, especially the Alsop beam creations. It's a shame what happened to Lovell, he was a buddy of my cousin back in the 'olden days'.

I have 3 Canadian bikes a Dekerf a Le Croco and a Limongi would love to find a Lovell and a Ryffranck.

I know a guy that had two Cyclops frames made and built into really nice bikes. Funny story this guy went to talk to the builder about his to-be bike, and the builder offered the frame in Reynolds, or True Temper at the same price. Not that there’s anything wrong with TT per ce, but I know what I would have wanted. He picked TT and used to brag about it. I used to just smile quietly to myself.

There's an EL-OS Cyclops on the market at the moment, and dang is it purdy. Seller is the original owner (it's not mine):

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...90154f7d7d.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8c725602a4.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...af51df8b0e.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ddbf27625b.jpg

Y'all shouldn't throw rocks when y'all live in glass houses. :rolleyes:

A few Cyclops bikes have come my way, over the years. All were, in my opinion, exceptional steeds...

This one was the best, lugged steel with a carbon fiber core...
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6d5be01f9c.jpg

This one I let go to maintain my sense of personal integrity. What a lovely bike to ride and (liking black bikes a lot) look at...
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...664aaca5a9.jpg

This one is for sale, right now, in Thunder Bay ($1500.00 CND)...
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4785c56141.jpg

And this one is really a Cannondale...
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b6a99c30bb.jpg

And this one an Apollo...
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...cd54d388db.jpg

Ooooo white tread #1’s

Lovell and Cyclops
 

Actually yes. If I lived on that road, I would insist it is pronounced Dick-oot, but if I didn't I would always call it Dick-out. :lol:

That entire region of Ontario was home to many Dutch immigrants in the 50's, looking for good cheap agri land. If it were Dutch, I think it would be closer to Dick-howt

I thought this was a thread on XMen 3...

Post them to an online site like postimage or something, then link them here. Everyone is going to want to see that!