1930s track bike with diamond tubing

 Unknown builder with incorrect fork. It does have Pop Brennan decal on the headtube, but we do not believe it was built by him. It may have been worked on or repaired by him. The lugs are finely filed, rather uncommon from this time period. The rear triangle is built with diamond seat and chain stays, I have never seen a bike with this treatment. Unique CCM steel cotter-less cranks, wood wheels, and early Persons saddle. Any help in identifying????

Thinly filed lugwork.

CCM cotterless cranks. rare design with a triangle taper, rather than the later standardized square taper. BSA chainring. 

CCM crankset from Mike Barry's Blog

Extremely long stem, with lamp bracket attached.

Early Persons racing saddle with saddle support attached.

 Pop Brennan for Expert Sales Repair Work.

 A brake as an afterthought. It clamps on the seatstays, and does not require the brake bridge to be drilled.

New Departure rear track hub.

Quick Correction

A week or so ago, I discussed a rack of bikes up on the third floor of the shop and stating one bike as having something to do with Alvin Drysdale. That was inaccurate. The bicycle has a Pop Brennan Shop decal on the headtube, not Alvin Drysdale. I still have no idea who actually made it, and I have not had the time to properly look it over, but it not like any Brennan that I have ever seen, and could have just been something sold through his shop. It appears to be early, but i have to really photograph and get a closer look at frame details to properly identify(or at least try to identify) and maker.

Sorry for any confusion. The bike in question can be seen below(it is the top black frame in the photo)-

Overtly critical

Well to be fair after the last posting about finishing touches on a restoration, I do understand that sometimes it is not the bicycle that is the true goal but the path that it takes to get there. From locating the period correct bit and bobs, to reproducing decals, and sometimes just the simple thing of finding out who actually made the bike.

Finding out who made a bike can sometimes take you down the rare road of documenting a builder that there is no gathered information about. In talking with various collectors, looking through old magazine and trade publications you begin to form a story- a history. This can be rather rewarding because you will be the keeper of the flame, someone that saved it from obscurity.

With the advent of the Internet, almost every vintage bicycle aficionado knows of Mario Confente, even though he built reality few bicycles under his own name. That is not only because he built finely crafted ones, but he is well documented. Take someone more obscure like Harry Rensch, that name is foreign to a lot of American collectors(and I assume Europeans alike, minus the British). He built very unorthodox bicycle frames that would completely stand out compared to any other postwar bicycle at the time(even most today). His history has also been cataloged for the future so collectors have correct information for restoring. Names like Pop Brennan, Dick Powers, Alvin Drysdale, or even the famous builder Gloria need to have a formal account of bikes they built and riders who used them. I applaud all the collectors that help document the history of cycling and the technical advances made over the past 100+ years. Magazines like the Bicycle Quarterly and On the Wheel, and websites like Classic Rendezvous and Velo Retro offer invaluable information and a place to meet other like minded collectors.

In the photo is a myriad of cotter drive side cranks. Rudge, BSA, JC Higgins, Raleigh and Phillips are all visible.