1990 Slingshot December 2nd ”The 90’s”. Wow, where has the time gone?

Some of the bikes and technology that we’re going to show off will seem like they’re still current, but most of it has been gathering dust for twenty years now. Mountain bike suspension, hydraulic braking and elaborate new shifting systems were invented in the ‘90’s. New materials came into play, aerodynamics became a design element, and Paul worked on the international racing circuit in the ‘90’s (so there are lots of stories to tell). We’ll have a couple of special guests. Logan Owen, who was born in the ‘90’s, is now a racer with the Cannondale-Drapac team.

The frame is black, lugged, and Bianchi is written in red with the green outlining the letters. Check it out - if you dont see your bike listed( tons of bikes listed!!) just email him - he will point you in the right direction! Ah ha a serial number and that's how we found out who and where it was made. Other Items of Interest. As noted before, all of the WINCHESTER ® commemoratives have special serial numbers as compared to standard production Model 94 rifles and.

Kiel Reijnen, who learned to ride a bike in the ‘90’s, races for Trek-Segafredo. They should have some great bike racing stories. Schwinn Black Phantom “My new Phantom sure is a beauty — All the fellows say it’s the swellest-looking bike in town.” Sure is the swellest. Built between 1949 and 1959, Schwinn Phantoms were the most bodacious, luxurious, and feature-filled bicycles on the road.

There was the deluxe leather saddle, the patented spring fork, built-in horn, streamlined tank, Schwinn fender lights and an automatic brake light, an integrated lock, kickstand, and a luggage rack. “The most beautiful bike in the world” included whitewall tires, pinstripes and sparkly paint, with chrome all around. Phantom chainguard and paint detail These bikes were so coveted and awe inspiring that no kid would even consider riding the Black Phantom on his newspaper route.

The bike was the prize that two years of saved route money bought in the first place! The Phantom was the ride for sunny days and impressing the other guys in the neighborhood. This wouldn’t end up a “work” bike, that job would still belong to the rusty old Roadmaster in the garage. Black Phantom bike production was discontinued in 1960.

Balloon tire cruisers had lost favor with America’s youth, and the increasing popularity of “English Racers” (the generic term given to any bike that had thin tires and a few different gears) meant that Schwinn’s 67 pound Phantom was too heavy and inefficient for modern tastes. Ted Smith’s Claude Butler Olympic Sprint In the bike shop we sometimes get questions about this old bike racer named Claude Butler who seemed to be so famous in the 1940′s and ’50′s.

We’ll try to set the record straight with this example. Claude Butler is the guy who built this bike and Ted Smith is the one who raced it. Ted Smith was quite an accomplished track racer, winning the Omnium at the National Championships in 1945, ’47 and again in 1948.

Additionally, Ted was a member of the U.S. Olympic Team at the 1948 London Games. Olympic Sprint front end Ted was slated to ride the road race as well as the team pursuit at the London games. Virtuemart Aio Installer Download. Politics and personal conflicts have derailed many Olympic plans over the years, and Ted’s experience in 1948 was no exception. National team coaches dropped Ted from the road race roster after he competed in local pre-Olympic British races against their instructions Ted, primarily a track guy, complained that he merely needed some miles on his road bike to get used to operating a derailleur.

Claude Butler drivetrain Ted did end up racing in the 4000 meter team pursuit event, with the U.S. Squad getting 9th place with a best time of 5:22.

To give you an idea of how aerodynamics, bicycle technology, training and even the technology involved with modern helmets and clothing has progressed in bike racing over the years, here is a comparison: The U.S. Womens team did the 4000m team pursuit in Rio in a time of 4:14. That’s fast enough to lap the ’48 mens team 4 times on the 250 meter Rio velodrome. Flying Straight Ahead This bike has a Cyclo twin-wire gear changer with a four-speed freewheel.

All of the running gear remains the same as ordered in 1949. The Stoker’s and Captain’s handlebars slide on beautifully constructed and chromed stems. While the brakes work horribly by today’s standards, they look great and stop pretty well for 1949. The frame construction, with the short wheelbase and custom lug work is unique and really extraordinary. The craftsmanship is top of the line. The box lining, panels & pin stripes are great, the decals are intact after all of these years and the stove-baked enamel finish is unbelievable. With adult bike wheel for scale Aw, isn’t this a cute little bike?

Perfect for the first-grader who wanted to beat the school bus home. This was the race-ready rig for the rider who wanted to keep up with all of the older kids in the neighborhood. It can be difficult to find a good little road bike for kids, even today. In the late ’50′s and early ’60′s kids typically had to choose between small balloon-tire bikes and mid-weight “English Racers”. The kid who originally owned this one was pretty lucky, considering that his bike weighed about half as much as other options and boasted some fine features.

Campione Gian Robert Derailleur We aren’t sure which parts were available off the shelf and which of this stuff was custom. Actually, the handlebar stem was obviously custom as it sports a nice Wilier crest.

The handlebars, stem, saddle, brake levers, pedals and crank arms are all reduced in size and perfectly proportional. The drivetrain is a 4-speed, with a Campione Gian Robert rear derailleur and a single shift lever. The 22″ wheels run on tubular (sew-up) tires like any real racing bike, and the bike even came with a matching pump. Wilier Triestina is an Italian brand that was founded in 1906 in Bassano del Grappa. Since the beginning Wilier took racing bikes very seriously.

Offering a junior-sized racing bike would have been a natural choice for a company that has backed bike racers for 100 years. Today it’s the U.S. Based United Health Care team, but 20 years ago it was Marco Pantani, and in the ’40′s it was Giro d’Italia winner Fiorenzo Magni. Chain guard Built with light steel (for a 1950′s era bike) and sporting thin tires and three speeds, this Norman would have been considered a fast bike. Compared to the big and heavy (but popular) balloon-tire bikes of the American ’50′s, English bikes seemed to offer something different. A quick look at the back pages of a Schwinn catalogue of the era would show a few American versions of this style on offer, but American bicycle brands (like their automotive counterparts) didn’t want to sell practical or efficient. American brands wanted to sell you something with white wall tires, fins, and a lot of chrome.

Omelenchuk road bike This is another bike that was made by George Omelenchuk for his wife Jeanne, an Olympic-level champion cyclist and speedskater. Check out the other two Omelenchuks in this museum section. Notice a trend here? It probably goes without saying, but Jeanne must have been pretty special to George. Nothing looks easy on any of these bikes. It seems that George went out of his way to fabricate every last bit of Jeanne’s bikes from scratch, or at least give everything a custom touch or two. Campagnolo crankset The wheels are customized for Jeanne and very hand-made.

Not just pick-out-the-parts-and-lace-them-up hand made either. George cast the aluminum hub shells himself, producing hubs that were extremely wide by the standards of the day (heck, they’re wide by today’s standards, and we pack 11 cogs onto modern rear hubs). The rims were drawn or rolled or whatever the term is by George himself, and were lightened up for Jeanne with 32 half-inch holes machined out of the rim walls between each spoke eyelet. The spokes may be off the shelf (George made his own spokes for Jeanne’s track bike), we can’t be certain.

We are certain that the spokes are wire-tied at each crossing and soldered for extra rigidity. Rims with weight-reducing holes We have seen a lot of really great work by bike mechanics and wheel builders over the years. Cees Beers did some amazing things with his ADA wheels starting in the mid ’90′s, building custom carbon-fiber wheels for clients like Bjarne Riis or Jan Uhlrich. Master builders (and former race circuit pros) like Calvin Jones at Park Tools or Ric Hjertberg from Wheelsmith were the best. But these guys all look lazy compared to George Omelenchuk.

George would take materials that were already on the cutting edge of technology, re-work the material and design from scratch, just to squeeze a little more performance out of them for just one rider. 1945 Schwinn New World When you have an American-made bike and name it the “World Traveler” you conjure up images of trips taken abroad.

You make people think about exploring the countryside and seeing new things. The “World Traveler” was a great bicycle name to sell Americans in the latter half of the 20th century. In the 1930′s and ’40′s, however, Schwinn wanted potential bike buyers to think American. The “New World” meant America. As in “Take this bike and see what America has to offer”.

As in “Don’t buy any Old World brand, buy something American-made and ride it on your own streets”. Before there was a Schwinn World Traveler model, Schwinn offered a bike called the New World. Arnold Schwinn and Company Schwinn’s New World models were a great attempt to get American adults on bicycles, and to get them on something other than a British Raleigh. The New World models featured comfortable upright riding positions and lots of user-friendly touches. You had light but robust wheels.

Coaster brakes for the back wheels and drum brakes up front. There were chain guards and matching fenders. On this particular version you had two speed shifting with the New Departure rear hub and its top-tube mounted control lever. New World There isn’t much chrome on this bike.

A few people have asked us if the blacked-out parts on a war-era bicycle were an attempt to avoid being spotted from above during air raids. No, those parts had a dull appearance for more mundane reasons. The chrome plating process for shiny bicycle parts uses chromium, nickel, and copper. All materials that were needed in manufacturing other items for the war effort. For American bicycle manufacturers, World War II meant streamlined model offerings and no catalogs. It meant stripped-down models that used less metal. While Schwinn wasn’t worried about sparkly bicycles being seen during air raids, they did modify their production.

Some bicycle builders actually constructed items needed for the war effort. Some manufacturers like Schwinn maintained their core business but worked around rationed, scarce and restricted materials while the war was going on. Saddle detail The wheels are really hand-made. From forging the hub shells to fabricating axles and rims, these wheels were made from scratch. The rims are real beauties.

George lightened up the already svelte extrusion with some precise drill work (by the way, the wheels are still true). The laced wheels were then tied & soldered at the spoke crosses. The front hub has the same super-wide stance as the rear wheel (130mm front and back, which is outrageous for a track bike). The dual-plate fork crown looks great as does the gracefully curved handlebars and stem.

Hey, check out the Campagnolo model Brooks saddle! This is one of the rarest saddle models you can find. 1940′s Grieder Flyer Tricycle Your first bike was probably a trike. If you were a lucky little kid in the 1940′s you may have had a tricycle like this one. If you were really lucky, mom would let you cruise around your block (No crossing the street! Stay on the sidewalk!) on your own. This Grieder Flyer would have been a pretty sweet ride.

Built with care and precision in Bowling Green Ohio, The Flyer was deluxe. The solid wheels must have made this trike super fast, what with aerodynamics like a modern carbon fiber disc wheel.

Sure, it’s hard to get a tricycle going over 4mph when your legs are only 18 inches long, but with this spoke-less design you had the added benefit that with no spokes you were less likely to get your shoelaces stuck. 1959 Rickert “Ric Super” German master frame builder Hugo Rickert fabricated this speedy rig. For a while Hugo named his bikes “Ric” for short, probably wanting to cash in on some of the great name recognition enjoyed by cycling stars Rik Van Looy and Rik Van Steenbergen. Rickert was a cagey businessman, but his plan didn’t last long. About a year after this bike was made, Hugo renamed his bikes Rickert after going through a little trademark dispute with the makers of Rik Super children’s kick scooters. John and his bike in 1955 When not working for the Navy, John raced at the amateur level (pretty well too, as he just missed making it onto the 1956 U.S. Olympic team). He and his Peugeot tore it up in the Chicago area and on the west coast.

Bill Jacoby coached John, and considered him to be a good sprinter. Besides racing, John kept bicycle wheels spinning even when he wasn’t riding. John served the sport by managing the velodrome in San Diego and sitting on the American Bicycling League and United States Cycling Federation boards. This old Peugeot is a good one.

Outfitted with Simplex’s LJ543 derailleur (named for Simplex chief Lucien Juy), a rod-actuated front derailleur, light weight racing wheels with Super Course rims and silky smooth hubs. The bike has some solid equipment from a time when performance and reliability were suspect qualities for road bikes. 1953 Schwinn Panther These are the bikes that every successful paperboy in the country aspired to own in the mid 1950′s. Schwinn Panthers. There is a funny story about collecting things that goes along with these bikes.

Jeff Groman, who owns these bikes and much of the rest of our museum collection, didn’t realize that he had two Panthers. Jeff had bought the first bike sometime in the early 1990′s and had it on public display for years. The bike was up on a wall in a Kingston, Washington pizza parlor and Jeff simply forgot about it. 1954 Schwinn Panther A decade later a lady asked Jeff if he wanted to buy the old bike she had kicking around in her garage, and what do you know?

It was a Panther. Another decade goes by, the pizza place remodels (giving Jeff his bike back) and now two nearly identical bikes are hanging from the rafters in Jeff’s barn. This past December Classic Cycle held a museum night event and we wanted some balloon-tire bikes to show off.

Jeff grabs one of the Panthers for us, but a mystery had sprung up. Where did the 2-speed hub come from?

The 2-speed was a deluxe option that he was pretty sure he never had! 1948 Roadmaster Luxery Liner replica The Roadmaster Luxury Liner was a pretty popular bike in the late ’40′s and early ’50′s. Built by the Cleveland Welding Company (who happened to make bicycles for a number of different brands), the Luxury Liner was a fine bicycle produced by skilled builders and marketed by some of the greatest minds the advertising world has ever had.

This bike was so iconic that a replica was produced in the late ’90′s (seen here) to capture the imagination (and dollars) of the adults that had wanted one of these bikes as children. Luxury Liner Another advertising campaign suggested that the Luxury Liner was “The bike for leaders” and that a kid could rise to the top of the neighborhood hierarchy by riding one. For the girls model, the folks at Roadmaster went straight to the parents. The Luxury Liner ads for the girls version told mom and dad “How to give that young daughter a thrill”. I’m guessing that the girls’ Luxury Liner was thrilling because they omitted the “bumpers” and let the girls out onto the streets with boys who were crashing into everything.

Warren Bare’s Claud Butler This bike was originally owned by a cyclist from Reading, Pennsylvania named Warren Bare. An excellent regional level racer, Warren won a national amatuer title, and won the Pennsylvania state championship multiple times.

The frame builder, Claud Butler, first opened his bike shop in London in 1928. Claud was an innovator, and he pioneered many of the designs that we still use today. Butler modernized frame design by shortening wheelbases and shifting the bike more upright from standard 69 degree seat tube and fork angles.

He developed a short wheel-base tandem in 1935 (check out our version elsewhere in this museum section) and he engineered a ride able three-speed adult tricycle. Nice wrap around seat stays This model, the Avant Coureur, first appeared as a stock model in 1948 and featured ”bi-laminate” lugged construction. What is a bi-laminate lug? Glad you asked. I think Claud Butler actually preferred to bronze weld tubing together when he made frames. Tubing angles could be custom, the joints were smooth and plenty strong.

Problem is, everyone thought that the more ornate tube-brazed-into-fancy-lug construction was better simply because it was fancier or more expensive. So for this Avant Coureur model, the customer would get a frame that was welded together, and then had fancy flat steel “lugs” cut and wrapped around each joint. Extra strong, extra fancy, more money.

1940′s Colson Flyer The restoration project. Everybody loves good before and after photos. A bicycle restoration project is great at showing the damage that the decades can do, and you get to watch as that damage is erased with fresh paint or new chrome. A while back, this balloon-tire cruiser came to us as a rusty old relic. The years were not kind to the old Colson. While the rust was not deep, it was everywhere. The owner, a fellow named Gerald Taylor, had a history with the bike and wanted to return the Flyer to its former glory.

The head tube “before” Jeff, who started collecting balloon-tire bikes decades ago, dug up some great matching wheels and tires from a “donor” bike. Fresh grease for the hubs and some new spokes made them roll and look just right. Now, I’d like to say this was a quick project. But it wasn’t. Sometimes it takes a while to find the right parts. You have to get on a painter’s schedule (some have months-long backlogs), and it takes a while to get chrome done (Art’s is actually quite fast). You may have seen the car and motorcycle restoration shows on television where things move lightning fast.

They use an editor. Anthony Brothers Convert-O Trike Relatively unchanged for 65 years, the Convert-O-Tricycle is one sweet ride (and still available). Made top to bottom out of cast aluminum, these tricycles are built to last. The rear deck can be removed quite easily and replaced with just one of the rear wheels, creating a tough little bike.

Pedaling and balancing in bicycle mode is a bit tricky given that the pedals are directly attached to the front wheel (pedaling action will fight steering input and vice-versa). Industrial engineer Tony Anthony (his parents really did name their son Anthony Anthony) developed his invention in the late 1940′s while working for the family refridgeration business. 1957 Raleigh Lenton Gran Prix Raleigh made the Lenton collection of club-racer style bikes for fifteen years. Promoted by Britain’s greatest cyclist of the era (and Raleigh spokesman) Reg Harris, the Lenton was a popular ride. Club racers like this one represent a great era in British cycling. Earlier road models, typically outfitted with 3-speed hubs, handled slowly and were great for touring, but not for racing. Later eras saw British bikes that were more specialized.

You had racing bikes with stiff upright frame geometry or stretched out touring bikes like those found on the continent. Club racers like the Lenton could do it all.

1951 Hercules King Apparently, the brand name “Hercules” didn’t sound grand enough. This is the King model Hercules bicycle, built to be as strong as it’s namesake out of seamless high carbon steel tubing. The equipment choices made this a bike for someone with regal tastes. Typical for a British touring bike from the early ’50′s, the frame angles are extremely relaxed.

The saddle is positioned well behind the crankset, which made it a little easier to leverage the pedals when pushing a hard gear. The fork sweeps way out front, a design meant to flex up and down as the bike rolled over rough surfaces. 1963 Dick Power track bike Seriously? If you can’t get throught this post without making crude jokes maybe you should skip ahead and look at the Schwinn Stingray instead. Dick Power was a bike shop owner who made and sold some great racing bikes. His store was located in the Sunnyside neighborhood in Queens, and it was a center for the New York City and Long Island racing community in the ’40′s, ’50′s, and ’60′s. This is the most unusual design we have seen come out of Dick Power’s frame shop.

Built for a tall rider with a pretty powerful sprint, extra seat stays made for a rock solid rear “triangle”, and limited any top tube twist. 1960 Schwinn Continental Brand new for 1960! “The finest sports equipment you’ve ever seen. The first really new bicycle in years. Rides so smoothly, so fast, so responsively, that you’ll have to ride it to believe it. Smooth action gear shift gives you 10 gear combinations for every riding situation.” Only 86.95 with easy terms! Yep, the new Continental was pretty sweet.

A great bike for just under 690 of today’s inflation-adjusted dollars. A simplex Tour de France model rear derailleur managed five gears on the back wheel, while the Simplex Competition lever-style derailleur managed two chainrings up front. 1950′s Sid Patterson track bike This elegant chrome track bike is named after Sid Patterson. Sid was one of the greatest cyclists to come out of Australia. He represented Australia at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. Sid won world championship titles on the track while an amateur and as a professional. In 1949 he won the world amateur sprint championship in Copenhagen, and in 1950, the world amateur pursuit championship.

In 1952 and ’53 Patterson won the world championship in the pursuit again. By his final year of racing in 1967 he had 12 consecutive Australian championships titles to his name.

1960 Schwinn logo This Paramount was most likely built by Ovie Jensen, the frame builder that Schwinn had in the Paramount division during this era. Unlike most tandems that you see today, this bike was built with the timing chain on the same side as the drive chain. We aren’t exactly sure of the reason for this little touch, but it’s possible that it was merely a bit of track racing superstition (like not having tire labels on the right side of the bike). Then again, tandems are rare enough that there are relatively few “standards”. Quite a few layers of paint to scrape off before restoration It is a little confusing. There have been three different Moultons making custom bikes over the years.

There’s the British Alex Moulton who made neat small-wheeled bikes with suspension designed into them. There’s Dave Moulton (also British I think, but he moved to the States), who sold bikes under the label “Fuso” (which means ”molten” in Italian). And then there’s Mike Moulton, a Californian who made some great track bikes in the ’40′s and ’50′s like this one here.

1940′s Bates Best All Rounder This is the Bates Best All Rounder, a bike that could do it all. Bates was one of the most highly regarded bike brands in mid-century England. Started in 1926 and famous in their time for their riders’ racing victories, today they are better known for some of the weird and unique features found on their bikes. This particular Bates incorporates the bulging “Cantiflex” frame tubing and curvy “Diadrant” fork. These features seem like gimmicks, but were in fact actual improvements. Like the frame shapes on modern carbon fiber bikes, the unusual Bates tubing gave the lightweight steel frame some nice rigidity.

The curvy fork absorbed road shock and made the front end more compliant. These designs first showed up on sub-20 pound bikes back in 1935, putting the Bates company on the cutting edge of modern bicycle technology. 1960 Cinelli Model B This fabulous bike is a Cinelli model B from 1960.

More economical than the Super Corsa (or model “A”), this Cinelli still shows off all of the Italian flair that made Cinelli great. Sold by Ace Cycles in Vancouver B.C., this classic steel rig would have turned heads as it rolled down the street. The cool fastback lug at the junction of the seat stays and top tube looked sleek. The flat-top fork crown made the front end of the bike feel just right, and the chrome sparkled in the sunshine.

The bright red finish was anything but subtle, but I’ll bet it brightened up many grey Vancouver days. 1964 Carlton Catalina Fred Hanstock founded Carlton Cycles in the North Nottinghamshire village of Carlton-in-Lindrick in 1898. A bike brand that spanned the better part of the twentieth century, Carlton’s heyday began after World War Two and lasted through the late 1950′s, with the company selling lightweight hand-crafted bikes under their own label and secretly supplying bikes to other manufacturers as well. The company was purchased by Raleigh in 1960, and continued under Raleigh ownership until the early ’80′s.

1953 Schwinn Varsity The Schwinn Varsity is probably the most important bicycle ever made in America. You may remember the Varsity as that heavy old bike you used for basic transportation during the oil crisis of the 1970′s, or the hand-me-down that you took to college without fear of it getting stolen in the 1980′s. The Varsity should be remembered for more and better reasons than these.

Schwinn produced the Varsity as far back as the early 1950′s. Feeling an obligation to at least try to keep people riding bikes past their teenage years, Schwinn made adult bikes for a nearly nonexistant U.S. Market during the bicycle bust decades of the 1940′s, ’50′s, and 60′s. Profits from sales of kid’s bikes supported their attempts to get adults riding. Schwinn kept advertising their adult bikes, and produced some great models. Eddie Barron's Flash Cycles This Flash bicycle is part of the legacy of Eddie Barron, a champion for the sport of cycling in general, and of bike racing in Western Australia in particular. Following his service in World War II, Eddie returned home to Midland, a suburb in the Perth area of Western Australia.

Across the street from the old track was Ajax Cycles, and it was for sale. Eddie bought the store, changed the name to Flash Cycles, and proceded to become one of Australia’s greatest cycling boosters.

1952 Fiorelli track bike The great Italian champion Fausto Coppi once rode on a Fiorelli. When Fausto set up the Carpano-Coppi team, he equipped the squad with bikes labeled with his own name, produced by the Fiorelli Brothers (Rinaldo, Mario and Lino). The brothers’ shop was based in the beautiful Piedmontese town of Novi Ligure, which Fiorelli helped turn into an Italian cycling capitol in the ’30′s and ’40′s.

The Fiorelli name lasted into the 1990′s, when the brand was purchased by Fratelli Masciaghi manufacturers, primarily for the rights to the Coppi name. Tommy Smeriglios Dick Power You. At the back of the class. No snickering.

Dick Power made and sold some great racing bikes in the middle part of the last century. Dick Power cycles was located in the Sunnyside neighborhood in Queens, and was a center for New York City and the Long Island racing community.

Sometime in the 1940′s Dick made this trusty racing bike for local star Tommy Smeriglio. While not one of the prettiest bikes in the museum collection, this battered and bruised bike probably has the most race wins of any of our bikes stored up in its old tubes. Oscar Juner's Flying Scot bicycle In 1900, David Rattray and his sister Agnes opened their bicycle shop in Glasgow, Scotland. Over the next 83 years, their business would become famous for producing Scotland’s premier lightweight bicycle, “The Scot”, sometimes better known as “The Flying Scot”. In-house bicycle production started in 1928, and was quite brisk leading up to the war, when the shop was contracted to produce pins for Bailey Bridge construction. In post war Scotland, Rattray’s cycle shop grew under the stewardship of Rattray’s partner Jack Smith to become a focal point and meeting place for cyclists from Scotland and afar, the Scot name representing what was considered to be the best in hand built lightweight racing and touring machines.

Andy Hamel Andy Hamel, a well known bike racer and craftsman from Long Island, built this unique bike. The crazy design is based on the 1936 Baines ” Whirlwind”, sometimes called the “Gate”, and made popular more recently by British builder Trevor Jarvis as “The Flying Gate”.

The ideas surrounding this design is that if you interupt the seat tube you can make the wheelbase extremely short, speeding up the handling. Also, if you can create a bicycle that makes people ask “Hey, what kind of bike is that?” every time it is wheeled out into public, you can sell more bikes. Custom dropouts to manage all those tubes Since all of the tubing sizes, angles, and junctions are each a little unique, Andy brazed the tubes together without using custom lugs, as Trevor Jarvis would later utilize on his more ornate Flying Gates. Check out the saddle on this bike. The owner went a little crazy with a drill, customizing the seat to make it lighter (or more flexible and comfortable, not sure the actual motivation). Andy Hamel built this bike in his Glendale, Long Island workshop sometime in the late 1940′s.

1955 Schwinn Hornet For most of the 1950′s, one out of every four bicycles sold in the U.S. Was a Schwinn. This was the era in which Schwinn created an authorized dealer network and broke away from department stores.

To be a Schwinn dealer really meant something. Schwinn dealers received training on everything from repair and bike assembly to what parts to stock, suggested store design, service area set-up and selling techniques. Authorized Schwinn bike shops flourished in the fifties and around 500,000 bikes were sold each year from 1950 to 1959. 1955 Schwinn Hornet catalogue entry The Hornet, the mid-level balloon tire bike in the line, was everywhere. The brochure said it all: “Here is a fully equipped bike at a price that’s hard to beat — and you get famous Schwinn quality and styling, too! Features include tank with horn, chrome truss rods and torpedo headlight.

Sturdy luggage carrier on 26-inch models.” What more could you want? I would have wanted a lighter bike. Mid-century Schwinns were beasts. This bike was hefty enough to keep you safe in the event of a tornado.

The 1955 Schwinn catalogue listed the boy’s Hornet at sixty and one-half pounds, so if a twister was threatening to carry you off to Oz, you simply had to hold tight to your handlebars and everything would be fine. The front end is as wide as the back Take a close look. The brilliance is in the details. Up front we have a custom front hub and fork, built as wide as the rear end of the bike, a design that must have been quite a bit more rigid laterally when ridden on banked velodromes. Next, check out the rear wheel.

Built with a specially extruded rod rim, with a tubeless tire casing glued directly to the aluminum. The spokes, having been soldered at the rim, are adjusted with little turnbuckles halfway down their length. From handlebar stems to hubs to pedals, the Omelenchuk shop made their own equipment, and they made it well. The Omelenchuks had quite an influence on athletics in the midwest.

Together with coach Mike Walden and the Wolverine Sports Club in Detroit, the “Michigan Mafia” took home countless national victories in cycling (and speed skating). Jeanne Omelenchuk won 16 national speed skating titles, five cycling national champion titles (the first women to win the national championship in two major sports), and competed on three Olympic teams. Charlie Bergna's Urago 'Hill Cycle' This is Charlie Begna’s 1940s era Urago track bike. Sometimes history isn’t pretty, as this bike proves. An ugly saddle.

Road bars on a track bike. A brake bridge that has been hastily added to the bike, so it could be used on the road. The components and design are tough and well used, but not very elegant. For example, the aluminum-clad wooden welt meister rims were strong and fairly light, but don’t show off the beauty of the wood or a shiny refined extrusion of the metal.

Hill Cycle made it possible to use a brake for road rides Repaired and repainted by Jerry Casale at Hill Cycle in Philadelphia, this bike is historically significant not by what it is, but by who owned it and who worked on it. Charlie, the rider, and Jerry, the shop owner, helped to keep bike racing alive in this country during some otherwise dark decades for the sport.

Charlie was the national champion in 1937, and had a professional career that spanned the war and into the late 1940s. Charlie won numerous six-day races, including the Winnepeg Six in 1948 and Cleveland in 1949. After his cycling career had finished, Charlie was one of Raleigh bicycle’s first two traveling sales representatives. His vast sales territory included the entire eastern half of the United States. Butch Neumann is the one with the waterbottle on his handlebars This is Erhard Neumann’s Schwinn Paramount.

A beautiful green track bike built for a racer who primarily tasted success on the road. “Butch” cycled as part of an Army athletics program, and along with George van Meter (see photo) was a member of the U.S. Olympic team at the 1956 games held in Melbourne, Australia.

Butch competed in the road race that year, and later made the U.S. national team where he raced the 1957 World Championships. From a time when Huffy made quality bikes Huffy was founded in 1887 when George Huffman purchased the Davis Sewing Machine Company and moved its factory to Dayton, Ohio.

In 1894, Huffman adapted the factory to manufacture bicycles, and sold them for the next sixty years as the “Dayton” brand. 1953 is the first year that Huffman’s company made bikes with the “Huffy” name. Over the decades, Huffy Bicycles has had factories in California, Oklahoma, and Ohio. At their peak, they produced over two million bicycles (or as some of us called them, bicycle-shaped objects) per year and were the largest bike company in the western hemisphere. The Paris Roubaix shifter.

Sometimes known as the suicide shifter This particular Galetti is a classic Italian road racing machine from 1949. It is equipped with Campagnolo’s famous Paris Roubaix shifting system, made famous by the fact that you had to disconnect the rear wheel while the bike was moving in order to operate the derailleur (it was lovingly nicknamed the suicide shifter). The 1949 model year of this bike also happens to be the same year that Carlo Galetti, the bicycle’s namesake, passed away. BSA drivetrain, wooden rims This BSA racing bike was built in the mid 1940s and is an amazing example of the craftsmanship this huge industrial concern took with each of their products.

This one is considered a “Path Racer”, meaning that it would be equally at home on the velodrome as it would riding on the roads or dirt racing ovals. Nearly every part of this bike was built in-house. The frame, fork, handlebars, hubs, and crankset are all Birmingham Small Arms. Unlike, say, Colnago bikes putting a “Colnago” labeled handlebar on their bike that was actually made by Cinelli, BSA meant BSA. Viking SBU Tracker reproduced by Trevor Jarvis This interesting track bike was made by Trevor Jarvis, and is a replica of the Viking SBU Tracker from 1953.

Trevor is well known for his ability to cut intricate and ornate custom lugs, and for reviving unusual designs like this SBU and the Baines-style Flying Gate (check out our Andy Hamel bike for an idea). Alfred Victor Davies founded Viking Cycle Company in 1908 in Wolverhampton, England. The company fortune ebbed and flowed with the World Wars and demand for their bicycles. This model is from a high water mark in the 1950s. Advertisements used to be a bit wordy.

This tandem showcases the true engineering genius and artistry of Claud Butler. This short wheelbase tandem rides like a dream both on the road and on the velodrome. By building this tandem with clamp-on brakes, and tucking short chain-stays under the stoker, this bike handles great when raced on steeply banked tracks, and is still safe and comfortable to leisurely ride on the open road. The fillet brazed joints and gracefully curved tubing were some of the finest examples in craftsmanship of the era.

Claud Butler started as a London bike shop owner and frame-builder in 1928. His company was one of the most successful of the inter-war era with his racing bikes grabbing attention at World championships and Olympic games in the 1930s. Ultimately the brand failed in the 1950s as changing British lifestyles and a changing economy took their toll.

1959 Raleigh Bluestreak bicycle Raleigh bicycles of Nottingham, England designed this bike as a tribute to the British Blue Streak ballistic missile. Armed with Huret derailleurs that managed eight stages of propulsion (gears), the Blue Streak had quite a long range.

A Brooks saddle stabilized the trajectory. Cold road warriors aboard this missile were shielded from water attack by the matching Bluemels fenders, and an integrated guidance system (the head lamp) delivered the Blue Streak to its target every time. Late 1950's Frejus road bike Don Hester was one of the most prolific American bike racers in the 1940s.

He was the winner of the 1942 “To Hell With The War” unofficial national championship race held at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. Don’s bike racing career, like many of his fellow sportsmen, was interrupted when he was subsequently called to active military duty.

After the war Don left the Navy and picked up right where he left off, winning every race he entered in 1946, including the official national championship. Ideale flat rail saddle This green beauty has a lot of cutting edge features for a bike in its sixties. It features thin walled steel tubing resulting in a twenty-one pound racing bike. It has internal cable routing for a nice clean look, Campagnolo’s two lever Roubaix shifting system for a few different gear options, aluminum rims, a unique flat-railed saddle, and a tiny front fender to control spray off the front wheel. This Legnano has been around the world. It was found in Attilio Pavesi’s shop in Buenos Aires.

Under Juan Peron, talented young Argentinian athletes were given bicycles to race for their country This bike was probably ridden by several of them. It was restored to new condition in the ’90′s. Bertrands Racing Trike, 1960's Racing adult tricycles in the 40′s, 50′s and 60′s (when they enjoyed modest popularity) must have been a hoot.

When going around corners at speed, the bikes tended to tip up onto 2 wheels. The riders would lean to counterbalance the bike like sailors leaning out over the edge of their catamaran. Heavily crowned roads posed a problem, as the drive wheel on these trikes would sometimes lose contact with the roadway. Beware the British-made (meant for the left side of the road) adult trike when riding on the right side of the street, as the differential won’t work to your advantage. Take a photo from the “drive side” in front of a neutral background To make the appraisal more accurate, prepare the bike and take photos like you would if you were going to sell it. Clean the bike, remove any broken or rough-looking accessories and put some air in the tires.

Take pictures straight on in front of a blank background, and take close-up photos of areas that may generate interest (or confusion). Colt Pistol Age By Serial Number. There is no “Blue Book” value for bicycles. Bikes are simply worth what someone else is willing to pay for them. Bicycle values tend to be highest when the weather is warm, in places where it’s pleasant to ride, and wherever there are a lot of people who like bikes. Close-ups of the parts tell a lot about your bike You know more about your bike than we do. If you just bought a bike for $50, you have just established the value of the bicycle (and you are not likely to be able to sell it for $2000 to somebody else).

You know when you bought it, so you have a good idea of the age, and you know if it was a high-end racing model or a basic bike from Walmart. Rarity rarely helps determine value.

If you have a one-of-a-kind bicycle, it may mean that no one has ever heard of it and/or nobody is looking for one. Popularity is no indicator either. Bikes that were sold in large numbers could fall into one of two camps. You could have a bike that will never sell (Schwinn Varsity) because there are still thousands of them out there, or you could have a bike that will cause a bidding war (Bridgestone MB-1) because people rode them into the ground and they want another one. If what you’re really after is to get rid of an old bike, keep us in mind.

While we don’t buy bikes outright, we’ll likely take your old bike as a trade-in for something new. About our museum The bikes featured in this museum section are privately owned by Jeff Groman, as well as other employees and friends of Classic Cycle.

We display them in this space to share their beauty and showcase the skill and creativity that went into making them. This website is not intended to be a research archive.

While we like to be accurate in our descriptions, we don’t really care if a particular bike was made in 1952 or if it was 1953. A bike built today could be labeled a 2016 or 2017 model. It could be exactly the same as a 2014 model, and may not get sold until 2018.

In 50 years it would be really nice if folks just went out for a bike ride and didn’t bicker over the exact vintage of their Classic bike. In other words, if you’re really concerned about dates and serial numbers, figure it out yourself.

To the serious bike collectors out there: We don’t care if the saddle on our 1972 Colnago isn’t “period correct.” Enjoy looking at the collection or don’t. Plenty of brand new bikes roll out the doors of modern bike shops sporting saddles or bottle cages that were new during the Reagan administration.

Likewise, this museum section is meant to be interesting and entertaining, and we would never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

Military Versions from 1912 to 1945. Manufacturer/Serial Number/Date Made Beginning of M1911: 1) Colt: S/N 1 to 3190 = April 16, 1912 to May 31, 1912 2) Colt: S/N 3190 to 7501 = May 31, 1912 to Oct. 10, 1912 • (S/N 3501 to 3799 were first U.S.M.C. Pistols made by Colt delivered June 6, 1912.) 3) Colt: S/N 7501 to (approximately) 20,000 = Oct. 10, 1912 to Jan. 1913 4) Colt: S/N (approx.) 20,000 to 83,856 = Jan.

19, 1913 • S/N 38,001 to 43,900 Navy Model (USS New York) = March 9, 1912 to March 5, 1915 • S/N 43,901 to 44,000 Navy Model (USS Texas) = March 9, 1912 to March 5, 1915 • S/N 36,401 to 37,650 U.S.M.C. Model made by Colt = July 9, 1913 5) Colt: S/N 83,856 to 89,801 = Aug. 19, 1913 to July 20, 1914 • (S/N 83,901 to 84,400 U.S.M.C.

Model = May 12, 1914) 6) Colt: S/N 89,801 to 108,601 = July 20, 1914 to Feb. 8, 1915 • (S/N 96,001 to 97,537 Navy Model (U.S. Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y.) = March 9, 1912 to March 5, 1915) 7) Colt: S/N 108,601 to 290,000 = Feb. 8, 1915 to May, 1918 • (S/N 109,501 to 110,000 Navy Model, S/N 223,953 to 223,991 Navy Model, S/N 232,001 to 233,600 Navy Model) • (S/N 151,187 to 151,986 U.S.M.C. Model, S/N 185,801 to 186,201 U.S.M.C. Model, S/N 209,587 to 210,386 U.S.M.C. Model, S/N 215,387 to 217,386 U.S.M.C.

Model) 8) Colt/Springfield: S/N 128,617 to 133,186 = 1916 to 1924 ( These models are very hard to properly identify) 9) Colt: S/N 290,000 to 450,000 = May, 1918 to Oct. 24, 1918 10) Colt: S/N 450,000 to 629,500 = Oct. 24, 1918 to April 10, 1919 11) Springfield Armory: S/N 72,571 to 133,186 = April 1914 to April, 1917 12) Remington-UMC: S/N 1 to 15,000 = Aug. 10, 1918 to May 24, 1919 13) Remington-UMC: S/N 15,000 to 21,676 = Aug.

10, 1918 to May 24, 1919 14) North American Arms: S/N 1 to 100 & S/N’s 111, 222, 333, 444, 555 = July 1, 1918 to Dec. They are very rare and rank in value with Singer models. ( None of these were reported shipped to any branch of the military but about 100 regular models and about 5 presentation models were manufactured in Quebec, Canada by the North American Arms Company, Ltd.) 15) A. Savage Munitions Co. Was issued a contract on July 20, 1918 and canceled on Dec.

Some parts were made but no complete pistols. It is unknown for sure if any slides were made and no frames were made.

Beginning of M1911A1: 14) Colt ( Transition Models): S/N 700,000 to 710,000 = 1924 15) Colt: S/N 710,001 to 711,000 = Early 1937 16) Colt: S/N 711,001 to 712,350 = Mid to Late 1937 17) Colt: S/N 712,350 to 713,645 = 1938 18)Colt: S/N 713,646 to 717,281 = 1939 • Begining in 1940, the slide’s muzzel end was hardened after the finish was applied but a color mis-match was suppose to be rejected. • From 1942 to 1945 all 1911A1 pistols should show a slight to very noticed mismatch of coloring on the muzzle end of slide, and from 1943 the slide lock notch area should also show some discoloration from hardening after the pistol’s finish was applied. 19) Colt: S/N 717,282 to 721,977 = 1940 20) Colt: S/N 721,977 to 756,733 = 1941 21) Colt: S/N 756,734 to 857,000 = 1942 (S/N’s 856,405 to 916,404 were also duplicated by Ithaca but will have “F.J.A.” Ithaca inspection initials.) 22) Colt: S/N 857,000 to 1,609,529 = 1943 (S/N’s 856,405 to 916,404 were duplicated by Ithaca look for “F.J.A.” Ithaca inspection initials. S/N’s 1,041,405 to 1,096,404 were duplicated by Union Switch & Signal. Look for “RCD” US&S inspection initials.) 23) Colt: (Commercial/Military Model) S/N 857,000 to 1,609,529 = 1943 (approx.