Following the success of the Rover safety bicycle, Hillman Herbert and Cooper introduced the cross frame safety in 1886. The competitors followed very soon and Ivel was the first to imitate the cross frame, according to the Encyclopaedia of Cycle Manufacturers (V-CC/Ray Miller).
Ivel was the marque of Dan Albone from Biggleswade, who started building ordinaries in 1880.
It was a success and in 1887 the factory employed 50 men and built 30 bicycles a week.
I photographed this one with the terrible yellow paint in the Coventry Transport Museum. Not the best pictures I ever made, but I suppose they will help you identify a cross frame if it's a real Ivel. The museum thinks this one was built in 1886.
It comes form the legendary Bartleet bicycle collection. In his 'Bartleet bicycle book' the author writes that Albone was a very popular racer himself. This safety in the collection could also be a racer, according to Bartleet. with its hollow bracket axle, no brakes etc. So it may be quite different from later Ivel's - I just don't know.
Notice the left side chain, a feature of early safety bicycles. We also see it on Premier (Hillman Herbert Cooper) and Centaur.
Click the picture below to see more of this bicycle.