Tuesday, December 9, 2014
1894 photo of Ignaz Schwinn
This is a photo of Ignaz Schwinn with Baby Bliss in 1894. Ignaz started Schwinn the following year in 1895.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Rapha photo event: 1986 World Road Championships. never before seen photos!
Dear Friends, Cyclists, Photo Buffs and Amateur Historians,
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
1890 ish Victor Safety Bicycle Model C or E
This bike is always a conversation piece when we bring it out. It was produced in 1890 (ish). We have an Overman Wheel Company (makers of Victor bicycles) catalog from 1892 and ours is the same as the Model C or E with a few small differences in detail. The main one being that our bike has no seat tube and the one pictured in the catalog has a seat tube. The Overman Wheel Company, makers of Victor Bicycles was an American company whose office and factory were located in Chicopee Falls, MA. These safety bicycles were being produced alongside the more traditional high wheelers. These bikes were the future at that point. We take the safety bicycle for granted these days (wheels of equal size). This design was cutting edge and no corner was cut in their devlopment and production.
We became the stewards of this machine in about 2010. It was purchased from a man named Bruce Chodak, an avid bicycle collector and enthusiast. It was assembled by Craig Allen, a master machinist based in Millville, NJ. It has an authentic reproduction saddle as well as a repro rear fender, coasting pegs and chain. A rear wheel was sourced as well. There is also new rubber on the rims (hard tire). The pedal blocks are original, quite rare! The light is incorrect, but a period item. It is of British origin, made by Jos. Lucas & Sons. The model is the King of the Road. One neat feature is the match striker under the wick (see photo). very high quality with lots of attention to detail.
The stand out feature of this bike is the Victor spring fork. Production of them began in 1887 and continued to gain advocates every year. Roads at this time were quite primitive and this design improved comfort levels tremendously. One thing of note as well is that at this time there were a TON of bicycle companies competing against each other and an innovation like this helped solidify The Victor customer base and future of the company. "The Victor spring fork is composed of four steel rods, made from the finest sword blade steel. Its flexibility upon, nine feet of these rods, and as the strain is taken by so great an area no one portion receives any appreciable amount of "racking", and breakage is practically impossible, as years of hard service have fully demonstrated. The Rocking Beam (articulating portion of the fork) and adjustable stay rods, prevent all lateral motion. The joints in the rocking beam are furnished with Brown's Aeolus Ball Bearings, and are extremely easy in vertical action, but rigid laterally". The previous passages are quoted directly from the catalog.
The safety hubs are also a unique design with fully adjustable ball bearings as well as the headset. The bottom bracket assembly also adjusts on a boom to get proper chain tension as the rear drop outs offer no adjustment. The spoon brakes also have ball bearings in the pivots, very state of the art at this time. Enjoy the photos!
We became the stewards of this machine in about 2010. It was purchased from a man named Bruce Chodak, an avid bicycle collector and enthusiast. It was assembled by Craig Allen, a master machinist based in Millville, NJ. It has an authentic reproduction saddle as well as a repro rear fender, coasting pegs and chain. A rear wheel was sourced as well. There is also new rubber on the rims (hard tire). The pedal blocks are original, quite rare! The light is incorrect, but a period item. It is of British origin, made by Jos. Lucas & Sons. The model is the King of the Road. One neat feature is the match striker under the wick (see photo). very high quality with lots of attention to detail.
The stand out feature of this bike is the Victor spring fork. Production of them began in 1887 and continued to gain advocates every year. Roads at this time were quite primitive and this design improved comfort levels tremendously. One thing of note as well is that at this time there were a TON of bicycle companies competing against each other and an innovation like this helped solidify The Victor customer base and future of the company. "The Victor spring fork is composed of four steel rods, made from the finest sword blade steel. Its flexibility upon, nine feet of these rods, and as the strain is taken by so great an area no one portion receives any appreciable amount of "racking", and breakage is practically impossible, as years of hard service have fully demonstrated. The Rocking Beam (articulating portion of the fork) and adjustable stay rods, prevent all lateral motion. The joints in the rocking beam are furnished with Brown's Aeolus Ball Bearings, and are extremely easy in vertical action, but rigid laterally". The previous passages are quoted directly from the catalog.
The safety hubs are also a unique design with fully adjustable ball bearings as well as the headset. The bottom bracket assembly also adjusts on a boom to get proper chain tension as the rear drop outs offer no adjustment. The spoon brakes also have ball bearings in the pivots, very state of the art at this time. Enjoy the photos!
Saturday, November 29, 2014
1983 Schwinn Paramount touring frame and fork custom made for Edward R. Schwinn!
This is a bike I have been meaning to do a proper post on for a while now. However, I did not have all the details about it. Richard Schwinn was gracious enough to fill in the blanks for me, and I am very thankful to him for taking the time out of his busy schedule to do so.
The frame and fork were built at the PDG (Paramount Design Group) in Waterford, WI in April of 1983 for Edward R. Schwinn (Richard's brother). It was part of the "super custom" program, anything you wanted for $3,000.00. It is built with Columbus SLX tubing as far as I know. The seat tube measures 56CM CTC. Larger frames were built with a combination of SL/SP tubing. However, I am sure you could specify whatever you wanted at that price point!
It has many features you do not normally see on Paramounts. Such as the double drop out eyelets, braze-ons for three water bottles, braze-ons for low rider racks on the fork blades, chromed seat lug with an extended point at the seat post (a detail I personally really like). The Henry James fork crown is a super nice touch, of course, chromed! There is also a larger hole on the chain stay bridge that I assume would be for mounting a generator perhaps. Cinelli BB shell with cable guides brazed on to the under side. One thing I find curious about it is the choice of caliper brakes over the tried and true cantilever type. They allowed for larger tires and fender clearance, which this bike would need given its obvious intended touring use. The decals are a rarely seen font and design. Maybe exclusive to the custom program? The pin striping is flawless and the paint color is a metallic champagne color that pictures do not do justice to. In the sun it sparkles like crazy, way nicer than the Masi champagne color ( in my opinion). Richard told me he is pretty sure this bike was never built or ridden. It is a truly unique example, I have never seen another one like it. This is another bike that I hope we will someday completely build up! Enjoy!
The frame and fork were built at the PDG (Paramount Design Group) in Waterford, WI in April of 1983 for Edward R. Schwinn (Richard's brother). It was part of the "super custom" program, anything you wanted for $3,000.00. It is built with Columbus SLX tubing as far as I know. The seat tube measures 56CM CTC. Larger frames were built with a combination of SL/SP tubing. However, I am sure you could specify whatever you wanted at that price point!
It has many features you do not normally see on Paramounts. Such as the double drop out eyelets, braze-ons for three water bottles, braze-ons for low rider racks on the fork blades, chromed seat lug with an extended point at the seat post (a detail I personally really like). The Henry James fork crown is a super nice touch, of course, chromed! There is also a larger hole on the chain stay bridge that I assume would be for mounting a generator perhaps. Cinelli BB shell with cable guides brazed on to the under side. One thing I find curious about it is the choice of caliper brakes over the tried and true cantilever type. They allowed for larger tires and fender clearance, which this bike would need given its obvious intended touring use. The decals are a rarely seen font and design. Maybe exclusive to the custom program? The pin striping is flawless and the paint color is a metallic champagne color that pictures do not do justice to. In the sun it sparkles like crazy, way nicer than the Masi champagne color ( in my opinion). Richard told me he is pretty sure this bike was never built or ridden. It is a truly unique example, I have never seen another one like it. This is another bike that I hope we will someday completely build up! Enjoy!
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