A classic game also known as  "Cycling".

This version consists of  small box (27 x 20.5 cms) which says: "Designed in England. Manufactured at the 'Spear' works in Bavaria. Copyright in the United Kingdom. J.W. Spears & Sons. London".

 

 

It contains 4 small wooden-based cardboard riders, a compararively small (35 x 20 cm) board with printed instructions, and (just) 18 cards printed on a thin cheap pink paper. 

Nevertheless, the instructions (also found inside the box) say "Rules for the game of 'Cycling' "

My guess is that this is a cheaper version of the game, maybe a reissue, but I am not able to date it properly. The cardboard parts do not look so old but on the other hand the box and the pink cards do not look so new. I never heard of the game being reissued, but  there are so many things I never heard of...

 

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This game is reproduced (in a playable form) in Olivia Bristol's "6 Victorian and Edwardian Board Games". She says "...dates from around 1880 when John Stanley introduced his new bicycle with equal-sized wheels and rear chain drive. The game was produced by Spears and printed at their works in Bavaria. Unusually, instructions do not appear on the board itself." In the featured board you can read "Designed in England by JAP. Published by J.W. S & S. New York and produced by their works in Bavaria". With the book you get 4 cardboard riders and 36 playing cards.

On the other hand, in Helmut Schwarz and Marion Faber's "Games We Played, History Of J.W.Spears and Sons" (p.58), one reads "[...] New games appeared from 1904 onwards in the dice/board game area wich took up current developments in transport technology, e.g. [...] "Radeln" (Cycling)..."

Dan Gindling ("Bicycle Collectibles with pricing guide", p.59) says "A Cycling Tour. JW Spears and Sons, London, circa 1890s [...] which came with a separate playing board, 27 playing cards, a spinner and cardboard bicycle player pieces". (Of course, he also mentions an estimated price, which I keep to myself). He adds "Other JW Spears & Sons games include Cycling, A Fascinating Game by JAP, produced in the late 1890s; the 1893 Bycicle Race game and a 1904 german game, Radeln (Cycling)".

All I can add is that "Spear" is one of the big names in the games world (they are the original producers of "Scrabble"). The conpany was was founded in Bavaria by Jacob Wolf Spear in 1879, and quite soon grew to become a highly successful games manufacturer with production facilities in Germany and England since the 1880s.

 

Here are three different versions seen on eBay (and here is another, of course).