Prewar hetchins

I picked up this Hetchins last year at the Cirque du Cyclisme auction. I kind of bought it on a whim, I mean it was a very good deal and it is a Brian Baylis repaint, but I am not one for repaints. I am scared to be the guy you wrecks a perfectly good paint job. I guess that is why I never buy new bikes(or it could be that I am cheap!)

It is a prewar model, if I remember correctly, it is a 1937-38, making it one of the earliest survivors. It is currently fitted with a Chater Lea headclip headset and Chater Lea bottom bracket. I think I am going to set it up as an internal geaar bike, with probably a Sturmey Archer TF rear hub. It takes 26 x 1 1/4" wheels(597mm bead seat diameter). I have a Chater Lea crankset for it and Dunlop special lightweight rims. I would love to use upright North Road style handlebars, but I know that would be incorrect. Will probably be some Reynolds alloy handlebars and stem.

It is such a beautiful paint job, I feel like I can't ride it, but I joked about putting it together to ride down to Cirque in Leesburg, VA this summer. I doubt I will, as I have so many projects ahead of this, and there is talk of riding down on a Bilenky tandem. That would be a lot of fun! I love distance riding and I can share with her the experience. Hopefully this year will not be 90+degrees out and a freak thunderstorm with mini tornados touching down in the area!

A rack of bicycles

Here is a rack of cool bikes located in the bicycle museum, that no one ever gets to see. I just learned of their placement the other day. i knew we had the bikes, but i had no idea they were looking good up there. From the top to the bottom-

The top bike is kind of a mystery. It has an Alvin Drysdale (Pop Brennan Cycle shop)decal on it, but it isn't like any other. It has diamond shaped chainstays and other interesting frame particulars (not visible from the pictures). One thing I cannot recall ever seeing is a BSA cotterless crank set. that is new too me.

The second bike down from the top is an early 1960s Raleigh Gran Sport. Campagnolo Gran Sport derailleurs, Brooks Swallow saddle, GB Spearpoint stem and red sleeved handlebars, GB brakes and levers, and Bluemels fenders. All original.

Third bike down is an early Schwinn Paramount. it is a repainted one with very clean original parts, no replating.

The final bike at the bottom is a Legnano outfitted with Campagnolo cambio corsa gear system. It is all original, other than the cloth handlebar tape. It has most of it parts stamped Legnano, including pedals, cranks and hubs. It is a rare bike, and it is awesome it was found in New Jersey of all places.

Also visible is a wooden rear wheel. it is from an 1890s bicycle, and thought to be of the Elliot Hickory style(not 100% sure if it is Elliot Hickory or not)

Click on pictures for better view.

At the last swapmeet, we picked up this interesting crankset. Not only is it unique having 6 spider arms, instead of the usual 5, but it is also stamped with Ernesto Colnago's signature. It was produced in the early 1980s and was made by the Italian company Gipiemme. Colnago used a a 6 arm crank in the mid to late 1970s made by the Italian company Ambrosio. Just a weird little piece.

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.

Upcoming new items

Well the website and Ebay are soon to get a shot at a bunch of stuff we procured over the past 6-12 months now. After scouring the country, and the world, for awesome stuff, time is now to start to offer it up. We have picked the gems we want to keep for our collection, I have personally found a couple cool things for myself including a 1961 Schwinn Paramount tourist bicycle. That is the model that came stock as a Sturmey Archer 3 speed, with upright handlebars and fenders and chainguard! Pretty awesome.

I set up a vintage mixte Witcomb frame as a single speed.
Well, on to some soon to be seen items.
PreWar Schwinn Cycletruck from the Hershey Chocalate factory, late 1970s Raleigh Professional 54cm, tall Raleigh International frameset, deluxe late 70s Benotto road frame, various rare campagnolo, huret, and simplex bits.

I leave you with my new bike I am using for city commuting. It is an early 1960s french Rochet chrome frame. It was originally chrome plated, then painted a translucent candy color over it. when I got it, it had already been stripped of it's paint. It is currently set up as a fixed gear, as I have not had time to install the front brake to turn it into a Sturmey Archer 3 speed. I got the handlebars, brake levers, fenders, and front Porteur rack from Velo Orange. Front rack is not properly installed it yet. The Schmidt dynohub and Schmidt e-6 light are from Peter White cycles. I still have to install a chainguard as well. The rack is the perfect size for a flight case record box that I strap down with old inner tubes. The handlebar stem is an old underslung track stem I had laying around.

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updating. . . .

Over the past few days I have been a bit under the weather, well anyone around me would say I am sick and grouchy! I thought that would be the perfect time to go over the website and start from scratch on some of the basic things I totally disliked about it. Not the greatest idea when you are under the spell of Nyquil. I made some good starts but looking back, hours spent while sick and working are hours wasted. I should have stuck to my original idea of watching trilogies- Spiderman, the Mummy, Indiana Jones(sorry I do not count the new one). The hours spent finagling with basic HTML code and CSS left my brain in mush and rather frustrated. I was able to come up with a flyer design for a DJ night I have this week. I am glad I was distracted with that.
All that said, I did put a new and improved. . .ish pages online.

Finally back!!

Well over a year since the last posting has been long enough. In honor of a total overhaul of the Bikeville website(to be online soon), I am going to also start blogging again. I have also enlisted some of my coworkers to help contribute as well, so the post will be more regular.

We will discuss various aspects of working a used bicycle shop-cool and interesting repairs, cool new products out there, and finally, cool parts and bicycles we run across from our various travels around the USA.

Image above is from the Philadelphia photo archive, that have a searchable archive of photos taken around the city. The Tripoli Barber building, seen in the left, would decades later become the home of Via bicycle.

So keep a eye out for the new website, it will be at the same address, and let's see how this bloggin' goes again.