According to Hilary Stone, GB Cycle Components was founded by Gerry Burgess in 1945, to exploit the expertise in working with aluminium that he had gained during the second World War. The company was initially based in London, and then moved to Feltham just to the west of London and not far from ‘da Staines ghetto’ made famous by Ali G. The company’s main product line was a range of brakes.

GB imported the Altenburger derailleur, lightly branding it ‘GB Altenburger’. It is surely not a coincidence that the main product line of Altenburger was also a range of brakes.