| The VeloBase History of Hillman |
| Hillman Cycles
Although today the store would be best described as a typical suburban family bicycle shop, in its heyday from around the 1950’s to early 1990’s Hillman Cycles was arguably the top high end racing store in Australia.
H&L imports, named after the first initials of Henry and his wife Lorna. H&L imported everything from Campagnolo to being exclusive agents for Suntour, which at one stage rivalled the then fledgling Shimano which did not introduce their first Dura Ace groupset until 1973. Barry’s brother Alan worked in the H&L Imports side of the business, whilst brother Gordon focused upon frame building.
Bicycling Trade’s?Behind the Counter columnist Greg Griffiths recalls starting in the bike industry working one day a week at Hillman Cycles which soon led to full time employment.
He remembers there being up to 10 staff on the floor during busy times, back in an era when most stores had one or two.
But the Hillman name was perhaps best known around the Australian bike racing scene because of their high end custom made frames.
“My brother Gordon has been building frames for 40 odd years,” Barry said, “But we’ve
had quite a few frame builders over the years including Wayne Roberts and Kevin Wigham. |
