1952 Legnano Catalog

1952 Legnano catalog. this was the first production year for the Campagnolo Gran Sport derailleurs. They had appeared on race bikes the year before, but first time being offered on a bike a consumer could buy- a catalog bike. kind of neat. colorful catalog of10 pages, offering 16 models of bikes. we are currently selling this on ebay- HERE

late 1970s Fuji track bike

Appears to be mostly original, not the tires and maybe not the pedals.

Ladies Prewar Schwinn Paramount

Last year I received this original Schwinn ink drawing for the ladies Schwinn Paramount. It was done as an illustration from the Schwinn catalog. Finding original artwork that was done for catalogs is getting harder and harder to find, many lost to rubbage piles or forgotten by collectors vast portfolios. I have not done the research yet to find who the artist was, but the art is exquisite.

Daniel Rebour is often seen as the old master of vintage lightweight drawings. He was a technical draughtsmen from the mid 1940s until the mid1970s, churning out beautiful drawings detailing all the latest innovations and creative solutions to advancing cycling.
-the Data Book(full of illustrations, a lot of them are Rebour drawings)

Six Day Race Programs

Six day race memorabilia is a small niche section of the vintage lightweight bicycle collectors world. As I have stated in previous blog posting, it is an often ignored or missing much critical study, minus a few exceptions. This race programs exemplify the popularity of the racing in it's heyday- packing Madison Square Garden for spectators to watch Jimmy Walthour Jr., Alfred Goullet, and Alfred LeTourneur.

Here are a couple sources online about 6 day racing, the programs are from our private collection. The have such vivid graphics and look awesome.

-Wikipedia entry on six day racing
-The Jazz Age website(about 6 day racing movie and book)
-6day racing in Canada

Repainted PreWar Schwinn CycleTrucks

around philly dot com

So a customer to the shop wrote a little shopping experience at Via Bicycle. It is fun and whimsical and gives you a little insight, especially if you are not able to visit us. We find bikes for people and we usually don't curse. . . .in front of the customer.

an excerpt-
"Perhaps, the lifestyle began almost 27 years ago when Curtis set up shop on Ninth street, right off South, with four floors of bicycle Mecca. However, before the trademark ‘stache, Curtis was a kid growing up in rural upstate New York, pulling rusty bikes from trash heaps and breathing new life into them. It explains the scars on this hands and the way his thick fingers nimbly repair the tiny parts of a bike tire as we talk."

full article is here at aroundphilly.com.

pictures 4- oh what a bore!

Part of the pictures series. This time we have a Moulton, Omelenchuk, and an invisible bike.
The Moulton was build during the period that Huffy was subcontracting them to import cool bikes(they also imported a super cool Carlton with Cappela lugs, and translucent paint over a chrome frame. My coworker Matt has one). This Moulton has a Sturmey Archer 4 speed internal hub and uses 17" wheels, that Moulton had specially designed and made.
The Omelenchuk rear wheel in a Omelenchuk frameset is very nice. There is not much available internet about George Omelenchuk, which is a shame. He was a local tinkerer and built and manufacturered a lot of his own components including stems, hubs, rims, etc. The hub was made by him and was on his wife's Jeanne's track bike. She won national titles on her bikes 5 times. here is a little blurb about Jeanne-here. Here is a little blurb about George OmelenchukBike Cult website.

and an invisible bike!!