Thursday, May 23, 2013

Unknown turn of the century bicycle

 This bicycle was shown at the Copake swap meet with a sign on it asking "Do you know what I am?" I didn't know, along with a lot of other fellow collectors there but maybe someone on the internet can look at the clues and figure it out. It has been beautifully restored, with the nickle plating shining through all the rusty old bikes at Copake.

 Interesting fork crown, sure to be an identifying clue.
 Elegant 3 piece or perhaps 2 piece cranks, I forgot to look closer. It is a nice example of early cotterless crank arms, a lot of collectors associate the advent of 3 piece crank assembles(right and left cotterless crank arm and a bottom bracket bearing unit) with racing bicycles in the 1960s, Campagnolo's name coming to the forefront. They were invented in the late 1890s and used sparingly. I should do the patent research to find exactly who was the first manufacturer/inventor. In the 1930s, CCM, a Canadian company, manufactured a cotterless steel crank set with a triangle taper. In 1934 Stronglight introduced their square taper crankset that would later be known as the Model 49. It was available in both steel and aluminum versions.
 Interesting rear dropouts, I wish I took a better photograph of them as it does not seem to offer much adjustment for the rear hub, to control the tension of the chain. Maybe it works like an eccentric? New Departure track hub with modern DT stainless steel spokes.
 I don't think I have ever seen that seat cluster bolt before. I have seen similar, but not one as large and as elegantly done. Very nice arched seat stay bridge.
Adjustable stem, so the handlebars can be mounted 'below' the stem for racing and 'above' the stem for more casual riding.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Stunning. Absolutely stunning. I hope that someone will eventually be able to share more.