Barely hanging on after almost a century, this sign wheezing out ‘OLYMPIC CYCLE TYRES’ hides the saga of the Viney clan.
At the turn of the 20th century, Welshman William George Viney, with his wife Maria Franziska ‘Minna’ Viney, landed in Newport. Here, in the shadow of the coal-fired power plant that left the laundry and doorstep covered in a layer of lung-clogging soot, they birthed seven children.
In 1922, tragedy hit. Henry Herman Viney, ten years old, met an untimely death in a freak accident. Henry hopped onto the back of Albert Ernest Glasson’s horse and cart with a bunch of his school pals. The cart hit a rut and young Henry was either jolted out or leapt off, the wheel fatally rolling over him. And just like that, the grim reaper punched the Viney family in the gut, leaving an entire community feeling hollow.
As the Great Depression loomed, William found salvation in bicycles. Busted ones, rusted ones, Frankenstein creations of gears and bolts.
By 1932, William went all-in on his bicycle biz. ‘VINEY BROS. ‘EVATRU’ CYCLE WORKS’ was born, a shop where gears turned, tires squeaked, and dreams of speed on two wheels were sold to the locals.
In 1946 Minna passed away and William passed the business to his sons, William Herman and Jack. The Vineys, resilient as ever, continued building bikes.
By 1960 William Sr. was gone too. But the Viney Bros? They were still there, wheeling through Newport’s streets, a testament to stubbornness, ingenuity, and the grim humour that life sometimes requires to get through another soot-streaked day.
