1890's Monarch ladies bike we recently sold

     We recently sold this to a friend of the shop. These are the modern wood wheels we built that I posted about not long ago. wood wheel builds  We also special ordered the white Schwalbe tires for him. White tires were common on early bikes, the rubber is white naturally and then dyes are added to produce different colors. So, this was a modern, rideable solution to mimick the early wheels / tire combo.
     The frame is a Monarch, which were an American company out of Chicago. The bike is a fixed gear, as most were at this time, late 1890's. The part of this bike I really like is the headbadge. This one has been painted over unfortunately. The expression on the lion's face is great. The owner cleaned all the paint of the badge and it looks fantastic! See the before and after photos below! Enjoy.