A rare plastic bicycle that used to be displayed outside of an Oldham bike shop has resurfaced in Manchester.
The bike, made in the 1980s, was previously displayed outside Skidmores Cycles, located on Union Street – which has since shut down.
Oldhamer Mohammed Hussain, aged 33, remembered the bike fondly.
He said: “The shop closed down about five years ago.
“It wasn’t until around 2010 that I started realising the bike had been in front of the shop for so many years.
“It made me wonder why nobody had bought it.
“We’re talking about over 20 years – literally every day of the week it was there, chained up.
“This bike is iconic – everyone walked past it, but they’d take notice of it.”
Google Maps photos from years gone by confirm the Itera plastic bike was there for several years.
Mohammed uploaded a photo he took of the bike to social media sites Facebook and Nextdoor, to see if anyone else had fond memories of the strange bike.
On Nextdoor, David Cooke, from Radcliffe, reminisced: “I remember it very well, it was advertised as a lightweight because it was all made from plastic.”
Commenter Tony Martin said: “It was an Itera plastic bike, early 1980s. They never sold.
"Malcolm put it outside every day for about 30 years. Eventually, the metal bits rusted away.”
After the shop closed, Mohammed was left wondering what had happened to the bike, which he described as "legendary".
Bike shop "Popup Bikes", in Manchester’s Green Quarter, is proudly displaying the exact same bike inside their shop – located underneath a railway arch.
Obtained from Skidmores, the bike is now affixed with a sign telling its history.
Prakash Patel, aged 41, works at Popup Bikes.
He said: “It was the display bike at Skidmores, and it was outside for 20-plus years - maybe more.
“The shop was closing – Oldham’s changed quite a bit, and it was a local bike shop that was in the wrong place then.
“There were a few bits of stock left, and we went ‘ooh we’ve not seen one of these before’
“The one thing we’ll guarantee is we’ll never sell it – it’s for display only.
“When we got it, it didn’t work – but our head mechanic, Mike, managed to restore it.
“We had to cut the chain off with a pair of pliers!
“It’s all plastic. The only bits that are metal are a few nuts and bolts, and the chain itself.”
Mechanic Mike even managed to get the bike working – and took it for a test ride in the shop.
The sign now affixed to the front of the bike explains how it was a commercial failure, with quality assurance lacking and parts breaking easily.
In 2017, one of the Itera bicycles was stolen from a Somerset museum.
Those who miss the iconic bike can visit Popup Bikes on Corporation Street in Manchester, located within walking distance of Victoria station.
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