I'm trying to find out what exactly a 'road/path' machine in the 1940s and 1950s was to cyclists of that time. (I know a path machine was what they called track machines.)

Looking on the internet the most common 'present age' definition of the term is 'a bicycle with rear-facing track ends, eyelets and clearances for mudguards and fork crown, and sometimes rear stay bridge, drilled for mounting brakes.

Every photo of a 'road/path' machine I can find shows a frame with rear-facing track ends, too. However, the road/path frames offered by Hetchins in their catalogues back then had forward facing rear ends.


Can anyone here cast any light on this?


This is described by Hetchins as a 'Short distance time trial machine' - I just finished building it last Wednesday. Actually, it's not quite finished yet.