Copake swap meet and 500th Blog post

 Copake swap meet was set with perfect weather this year. Above, the line of cars was just starting to file into the field at sunrise. Copake is the bike swap for Wheelmen types and with the 2nd Annual ride afterwards, it is great for collectors who want to ride their cool old bikes, and see others doing the same. Bikes and parts are not just limited to the turn of the 20th century, there is something for almost every collector.

Below are some pictures of interesting items I saw there-

 Large flange Chater Lea Hubs with GB aluminum wingnuts. The axles were fitted with a grease fitting.

 Early Dursley Pedersen gear hub.

 Weird New Departure hub with large flange added. I have never seen this before and couldn't figure out why it was added on the non-driveside.

 Unusual early pedal bike- Crypto Bantam (thanks brian!). Smaller wheels and there seemed to be some sort of gear mechanism in front hub/pedal crank.

 Early 1970s Raleigh Professional with Campagnolo Nuovo Record group.

 Durkopp track frame with a mix of parts. FB hubs, Stronglight 93 right arm, mod 49 left arm. Brooks Swallow saddle, Philippe adjustable stem.

 Dayton in pieces. maybe you could call it a build-a--bike.

 Nice selection of early lamps.

 Selection of early hubs.

 JP Weigle's new bike, freshly painted the previous day.

 Gathering for the 2nd annual 10 mile bike ride.

 Stop near Bash Bish Falls, while on the bike ride.

1939 Raleigh Tourist. beautiful.

JB Louvet touring bike owned by Fred Delong

This is another bike from Fred Delong's collection. He was a technical editor (and "Question Man" at Bicycling Magazine in the 1970s along with Dick Swann) and even had a book published on bicycles and cycling- Fred Delong book of Bicycling. This JB Louvet has seen many miles and numerous trips to Europe and beyond. It is currently owned by a mechanic here at Via Bicycle, these photographs are the way we received the bike.
JB Louvet started the company in 1903, and I have not been able to find when the company closed, but in 1937, Dilecta acquired JB Louvet, but it appears Louvet still labeled their own bikes as this bike appears to be from the early 1960s.  Louvet had sponsored many decades of cycling teams and most notably had Henri Pélissier.

Bicycles and motocycles.

TA Criterium headset

Huret dropouts with Huret Luxe super touring rear derailleur.

Schwinn Bantam child's bike

 My mom bought this little Schwinn Bantam about 8 or 9 years ago at a local flea market because it 'looked cute.' It sat in her basement for years and in the meantime, my sister had 3 kids. Now, Giancarlo is perfect size for it and his birthday is right around the corner. This beautiful Schwinn will make a great rider for a young child. I cleaned it up and installed new tires and tubes.

The Schwinn Bantam was available for many years(this red one is from the mid 1970s) and it was something Schwinn called a convertible. With the current setup, it is a boys bike. The toptube can be removed and then it can be a girls bike. Great bike for a family, especially when handing bikes down from one child to another, as my sister will do.

Cyclo logo

One of my favorite logos- Cyclo. This is from a British hub, but at one point, the 2 companies Cyclo(france) and Cyclo(United Kingdom) were connected. Cyclo(UK) was started as a way to continue to make a profit and avoid the tax in UK by parts imported from France. Read a little more here, on Disraeli Gears website, about Cyclo.

Gillette Road Racer tires

 Gillette Road Racer tires were single tube pneumatics for early racing bikes. They are 28" x 1 1/8", in modern terms 700c x 28mm. They were regularly found on prewar Schwinn Paramounts and other early race bikes. Single tube pneumatics like these were the early version of the air filled tire, introduced in 1889 by Dunlop, and were tubeless, and a puncture would be plugged, like modern car tires.

This pair is not for sale.

Mystery Track Frame sold

 56cm center to center seattube.
56cm center to center toptube.
Campagnolo Nuovo Record Pista headset.
Campagnolo Nuovo Record Bottom Bracket
Reynolds 531 double butted tubing.
takes a 26.8mm seatpost(not included)

$sold

 Beautiful twin plate fork crown

Le Chemineau road bike

Le Chemineau, as seen at a recent bicycle swap meet. Incorrect wheels.

 Early attempt at index shifting.

 The headbadge is a reproduction on the kilometer marker at the town of St. Etienne.

 Seat tube oiler is located behind the seattube. The Simplex front derailleur is not properly set up, as one can see. There is a cork inserted into the seattube from the bottom bracket shell, and the rider would pour oil into the seattube, from the seatpost, and when he swiveled the oiler down, it will oil his chain. It seemed needed on the early derailleur systems on the dusty, unpaved roads of Europe post-war. I have seen this feature on French and Italian bicycles.

 Maxiplume aluminum cottered crankset, with what appears to be Cyclo Rosa chainrings.

 Chemineau proprietary rear derailleur. It is similar to the Cyclo. Oscar Egg dropouts.

 Henri Gauthier leather saddle. This is the steel rail model, but they also produced an aluminum rail version much like the Ideale.

Lam Super Dural aluminum brakes.