AUTHOR'S NOTE REGARDING COPYRIGHTS:

copyright (c) 1985, 1999, 2005, 2007 Leon Dixon, all rights reserved

We are watching, so you watch your credit line! If you are quoting from us- SAY so! Don't make it appear as if the information source was anonymous or you. This article originally was written for the now-defunct CYCLIST magazine and appeared in the April, 1985 issue of that publication. It was intended to be a personal, historical, and nostalgic account of the Bowden Spacelander bicycle. Aside from a previous article in CLASSIC BICYCLE & WHIZZER NEWS (also written by Dixon), this was the only factual treatise on Bowden Spacelander history and the ONLY photos of a correct, original example published up until that time.

And while many sources have subsequently adopted and parroted back the number of "522 produced" to collectors, that number first appeared in CBWN newsletter and this Cyclist magazine article.The number came from us and no place else. The reason was that even the inventor did not remember how many of these bicycles were made and WE counted it up from the original factory shipment records that came from an officer of the company back in the 1970s, long before anyone else cared! So no one can claim they did it first. And YES- we STILL have the original shipping list of bicycles that were sent out from the factory, including who they went to, colors, etc.

Also, Bowden's middle initial was erroneously listed in the article captions as J by the magazine editor, not the author.

All photos in the Cyclist magazine Concours 'd Elegance series for articles that were written by Leon Dixon were taken by our good friend and noted photographer, Steve Essig (there were subsequent brand-X articles that followed and used our Concours title, but these were neither written by us nor did we supply info for them). Although photo copyrights originally were listed in the magazine as Steve's they in fact are assigned to Leon Dixon as per agreement with Steve Essig. No part of this article or the original article may be sold, reproduced by any means or excerpted without written permission of the author.

AUTHOR'S NOTE REGARDING THE BOWDEN SPACELANDER IN THE ACCOMPANYING PHOTOS.

These are the original photos and words used in the 1985 article. This particular Bowden Spacelander belongs to the NBHAA Collection. It was sold to us by Beverly Hills actor, Lee Nichol (starred in the movie Perfect with John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis). It was Lee Nicholl who originally bought this red Bowden and a black Spacelander from Ben Bowden. It is New Old Stock (NOS) nearly mint original. This Spacelander is pictured with original tires, grips and saddle and there are absolutely no restored or reproduction parts on this bicycle. As you can see, the saddle is all white- as they all were originally and as they should be now. Yes, the catalogues showed a 2-tone saddle, but that was an error made from a photograph of a prototype with a Schwinn saddle from a bicycle shop temporarily installed! This is one of the biggest (and many) fallacies about this poor bicycle. All chrome is original. Absolutely nothing has been changed on this bicycle with the exception of an odd pinstripe that was installed by the factory to test the appearance. The original Fiberglas has not been altered nor touched up in any way. More on this in our upcoming book on classic bicycles.