Vintage Italian Bicycle frame building video

Happy Father's Day!

Stolen Bicycle recovered using Facebook

 Great Job internet!!

Victim Finds Her Stolen Bicycle Using Social Media | Philly Police Blog

" On December 12, 2013 the complainant reported her bike stolen, the bike was in front of her residence and she did not give anyone permission to take it. It was a black and green Cannondale road bike, with a white seat with pink paint on it. The complaiant was looking to see if she could find her bike being sold over any websites. She checked craigslist & ebay and looked in the local bike shops. She then joined a group on Facebook called “Philadelphia stolen bikes”.
She posted her bike photo and information on the website. On July 8, 2013, she saw a post on the stolen bike network telling her that a bike on craigslist looked like hers that was being sold for $1000. She then clicked the link that gave her the site on craigslist and it sent her to a listing that displayed a bike like hers. She sent an email to the seller asking if the bike was still available and received a reply saying “yes”. She then sent the person another email telling him she wanted it and asked where they could meet. A time was set up to meet. The complainant then contacted the 3rd police district and told the police what was going on. Officers sat on the steps a short distance away from the defendants house who came out carrying the black and green cannondale bike. The plainclothes officers then approached and conducted an investigation. It was definitely the bike with matching serial numbers and pink paint on it. The officers then returned the bike to the owner and placed the defendant under arrest.
The Philadelphia Police Department strongly recommends that bike owners photograph their bicycles and record the serial numbers and keep them in a safe place. In the event their bicycle is stolen steps like the above can be taken. Contact your local district before aggreeing to meet any sellers. You can also register your bicycle with your police districts community relations / crime prevention officers.
P/O Michael Duffy #7441
3rd District Crime Prevention Officer"

Early Stayer - Motor pace frame for sale

 A beautifully built stayer bicycle frame. Sadly missing the fork. The lugs are exquisitely thinned on this unknown marque, presumably 1930s- maybe 1940s. It has a reinforced headtube, and requires a fork that accepts a 24" front wheel. The rear wheel is normal 700c/sewup. Floating race headset cups. English thread bottom bracket shell. The driveside chain stay is indented to accept a large chainring, standard on stayer bikes.
53cm center to center seat tube
53cm center to center top tube

$500

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.

Via Bicycle garage door diagram

Recently stumbled across this image of our garage door at the shop and realized I never took a picture of it. it was painted by a local art student, and is based on the illustration in the Sutherland's Repair Manual.

Catalogs- a very valuable resource

these catalogs are from the 1890s-1900. Esoteric Wheelmen era information but at the same time, very interestng illustrations and unique parts.
Gormully and Jeffery, Tribune Bicycles, Columbia made by Pope Manufacturing,  Stearns bicycles, Hoffman(later became Huffy), Packer bicycles, and White Sewing Machine Bicycle

Gormully & Jeffery Model 28 bicycle

 This beautiful unrestored Gormully & Jeffery model 28 was in our possession for about 24 hours. We bought it in the morning at the swap meet and ended up selling it later at the same swap meet. Our original intention was to keep it and bring it back to Philadelphia as we have the men's mate to this bike, but money was more important as we were on the road traveling to buy bikes and needed more pedestrian style bikes(3-speeds and 10 speeds) for the shop to resell.

 It is beautiful with faint Rococo paint detail still visible. In this photograph, you can see the extended downtube lug, the lugs points are about 3-4" long!

 Unique aluminum rear fender with skirt lacing intact. I love the star pattern on the aluminum chainguard.

  The wooden rims would have taken the early clincher tire, developed by G&J.

 Trademark G&J headset locknut.

 Coasting pegs, for when you get tired or are going downhill.

Christy saddle missing it's cover. It would have been padded in horsehair and then covered in leather. It was an early anatomic saddle with two cutouts to relieve pressure.

Buying bikes

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.

Cleveland Model 29 bicycle

Beautiful Cleveland mod. 29 bicycle recently offered for sale by a collector at a recent swap meet. Made in toledo, ohio.

 Shame it had modern Allen bolts for dropout adjusters, rather than finding something more appropriate looking.