Koichi Yamagughi built World Championship time trial frame and fork

     This is a pretty special bike. It was built by Koichi Yamaguchi in the mid 1980's for Huffy Corp. / Mike Melton. It was used in the 1986 World Championship time trial event and then used for the 1988 Olympics as a time trial training bike, where the rear seat stay was broken (see photo). It was then retired and given to Jerry Schultz, by Mr. Yamaguchi under the condition that it can never be sold. It was then given to us, by Jerry in the late 1990's. Again, under the condition that it never be sold. So, here it sits. It is a good conversation piece as most people see the decals and immediately dismiss it, or poke fun. I then have to explain the provenance and that it is a unique piece. We also have the letter of certification from Mr. Yamaguchi stating the above facts, very cool. These are the types of bikes that hold the most interest to me, actual race bikes that can be traced back to a specific event / athlete.  Enjoy the photos!

Butler Swap meet pictures

A bunch of early bicycle catalogs including Monarch, Rambler, Sterling, Columbia, Indian, etc. Also the Major Taylor's autobiography - The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World.

Amazing original Columbia Bicycles poster from the turn of the century.

Visually appealing display of early bicycle hubs.

First year Swing Bike, rare to find with original chainguard.

Huffy Radiobike, yes there is a radio inside the tank.

I have always loved the Tribune headbadge, a bicycle cog. Tribune Model B 80.

Tricked out musclebike.

Delta lights display.

Catalogs- a very valuable resource

these catalogs are from the 1890s-1900. Esoteric Wheelmen era information but at the same time, very interestng illustrations and unique parts.
Gormully and Jeffery, Tribune Bicycles, Columbia made by Pope Manufacturing,  Stearns bicycles, Hoffman(later became Huffy), Packer bicycles, and White Sewing Machine Bicycle

Chrome Carlton Huffy

Here is Matthew's daily city bicycle. Matt has been working at the shop for around 6 years and has an amazing stable of bicycles- including 2 Jack Taylors, Pogliaghi track bike, Schwinn Paramount, and some other bikes that escape me know. This chrome bike is a Carlton built Huffy from the late 1960s. It would have been originally painted a translucent color over the chrome, but that paint never really stuck well on the chrome and we are now left with a nice shiny bicycle.

Matt has it outfitted with 700c Velocity wheels it a Sturmey Archer AW 3 speed hub and usually has a Schmidt dynamo front hub(in the photos he has a Phil Wood large flange hub). The handebars and Porteur rack are from Velo Orange, as well as the fenders and brake levers.
A Schmidt E6 light is attached to the Porteur Rack.
The bicycle is perfect for city riding, with enought gear range for all over the city. Maybe someday we can talk Matt into putting a chainguard on the bike.
(shameless promotion- Via Bicycle is a Velo Orange parts dealer).







add.- minor detail about Carlton's imported as Huffys in the USA.
found on Wikipedia for Raleigh-
" Carlton, which had been unable to make inroads in the USA market after a failed rebranding deal with Huffy, found success in the late 1960s by recasting itself as "Raleigh-Carlton", a Raleigh-logo'd bike with some Carlton badging, and using the US dealer network to import and distribute bikes."

So it must have been in the mid 1960s or so, the same time Huffy was importing Moultons and rebranding them as Huffys.

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!!

swap meet pictures

Well once again it has been a while since posting. no excuses other than all the ones I can make up right. . . .. . now!

Nope, none. well here is a photo or two from the last bicycle swap meet I went. It is a pile of vintage balloon tire bikes that Sam Fitzsimmons was trying to sell. Excellent pile of bikes, Schwinns, Shelby, Huffy, and others.


Here is a pair of Bowden Spacelanders. This are some of the rarest bikes built post war. i think there was around 500 or so built in 1960. This have sold for as much as $8000 many years ago. Funny seeing two, side by side. Just so you, they were made with really inexpensive parts, and were extremely heavy.

Here is an awesome table full of turn of the century hubs. Some take normal hook end spokes while others use straight ball-end spokes. One could see the adaptation of these 100 year old with the modern hubs found on modern ultra lightweight boutique wheels found by Mavic, Campagnolo, and Cane Creek.

The swap meet catered more to balloon tire and older bikes, but i did come across a few lightweight bits, including a rare Colnago crankset with 6 arms, rather than the usual 5 arm spider. Also came back to the shop with a handful of Campagnolo Nuovo record cranks, brakes, small bits, 20+ vintage cycling caps and even a couple spare Clement Seta sewup tires. Oh, almost forgot, I got a Harden rear high flange track hub (not a Bacon slicer) laced into a period sewup rim.

will post future swap meet booty as they are captured. Live vicariously through my life on the road.