Leach Marathon

The Marathon that put Stratford on the map long before 2012

- Simon Smythe

Post-war East Londoners were spoilt for choice as far as high-quality handbuilt cycles went. The best known are Bates, Ephgrave, Hobbs of Barbican and Paris – but Leach Marathon of Stratford E15, established in 1930, had a reputation for making the very finest racing bikes. And they were prohibitively expensive, especially considering the cyclists of the time were more likely to be stevedores than stockbrokers.