Alex Singer type porteur de 1945 on ebay!

Not ours, we covet awesomeness.

here on ebay- http://www.ebay.com/itm/Velo-ancien-Alex-Singer-type-porteur-de-1945-/231255538092
from ebay description-
"Velo ancien ALEX SINGER type porteur de 1945 entièrement d'origine en tres bon état comprenant:
Cadre et fourche acier , taille 52 de hauteur x 57 de longueur axe en axe, couleur noire avec filets rouges,verts et jaunes
Cintre et potence alu AVA, sonnette Atomico
levier de frein et etrier Mafac cantilever à l'avant,  frein arriere par rétro pedalage Torpedo, pedalier Durax,
Roues 650, jantes Rigida, pneus 650 B Michelin, papillons Huret,,selle en cuir Pryma,
Garde-boue AV et AR et protege chaine RBN, porte bagage AV et AR  Alex Singer  
Eclairage avant et arriere Soubitez et Cibié par dynamo,
Modele rare en très bon état et entièrement d'origine."

Picture of my 1960s Rochet

This Picture was taken a couple weeks ago at the New York City Bicycle Photo Booth. I decided to take the Chinatown bus up to New York City to have my bicycle picture taken by Keiko Niwa
and to support my friend Harry Schwartzman. More photos of bicycles and people that attended here on the NYC Bicycle Jumble website.

Porteur chainguard

I decided after work to finally install the chainguard I got from Velo Orange a year or so ago. It was as difficult as I imagined. I was kind of limited to TA cranks with the small diameter of cutout(they have since made one that accepts more variety or cranks- with a larger hole). The original Porteur bicycles with steel cottered cranks were offset to allow for clearance so neither the crank arm or the chainring would rub against the guard. I created a "spacer" to move the position of the chainring over a little, away from the chainguard, out of a Lambert outer chainring. The mounting brackets were fabricated at Via Bicycle(I bought the chainguard without any hardware). After about 2 hours of work, I had it mounted and it did not rub, but it was a lot of measuring and was a bit of work to put it into the proper position so it would not rub. I noticed, after the final tightening, that the chainring is not center into the cutout hole. That sucks. But that is the position where it does not rub, so. . . where it will stay.

More info on Porteur bicycles here on Joel Metz's website



a chainguard mounted on a Bilenky Porteur owned by my friend Pat built by Bilenky Cycles. It is 9th Bilenky he has had built. the Pinstriping was done by Simon Firth at Bilenky Cycles, he is really coming into his own with it. (as you can see, some rubbing. I assume my might end up like this too. well I hope not).

Chrome Carlton Huffy

Here is Matthew's daily city bicycle. Matt has been working at the shop for around 6 years and has an amazing stable of bicycles- including 2 Jack Taylors, Pogliaghi track bike, Schwinn Paramount, and some other bikes that escape me know. This chrome bike is a Carlton built Huffy from the late 1960s. It would have been originally painted a translucent color over the chrome, but that paint never really stuck well on the chrome and we are now left with a nice shiny bicycle.

Matt has it outfitted with 700c Velocity wheels it a Sturmey Archer AW 3 speed hub and usually has a Schmidt dynamo front hub(in the photos he has a Phil Wood large flange hub). The handebars and Porteur rack are from Velo Orange, as well as the fenders and brake levers.
A Schmidt E6 light is attached to the Porteur Rack.
The bicycle is perfect for city riding, with enought gear range for all over the city. Maybe someday we can talk Matt into putting a chainguard on the bike.
(shameless promotion- Via Bicycle is a Velo Orange parts dealer).







add.- minor detail about Carlton's imported as Huffys in the USA.
found on Wikipedia for Raleigh-
" Carlton, which had been unable to make inroads in the USA market after a failed rebranding deal with Huffy, found success in the late 1960s by recasting itself as "Raleigh-Carlton", a Raleigh-logo'd bike with some Carlton badging, and using the US dealer network to import and distribute bikes."

So it must have been in the mid 1960s or so, the same time Huffy was importing Moultons and rebranding them as Huffys.

Chrome bikes have a Posse

Philadelphia is the city of Chrome city bikes. Via Bicycle is now personally responsible for at least 6 chrome city bikes. 3 are owned by employees(well one previous employee) and they are set up super awesome and every bit to ogle over. Photos to come in some post in the future. One is a Carlton built, but badged Huffy from the 1960s. It is set up as a Sturmey Archer 3 speed, with Honjo fenders and Velo Orange Porteur rack and handlebars. One is my old chrome Rudge, also built up as a Sturmey Archer 3 speed, with Velo Orange handlebars, Campagnolo cranks, Mafac brakes, etc. My chrome bike is a French Rochet, currently set up as fixed gear, with Honjo Le Paon style fenders, Velo Orange Handlebars and Porteur rack. All three bikes are set up with inverse levers and to the untrained eye, all three bikes look very similar, all chrome and shiney and all that.

The bike photographed below, a chrome Raleigh, was purchased from the shop, but set up elsewhere. But we still see it as our baby, as it fits into our Chrome Bike Posse. It is set up as a 10 speed, with upright handlebars, Brooks b-72 saddle, Shimano Arabesque 600 drivetrain. It even as a little TA front rack, for good measure.

Barra aluminum bicycle

Beautiful Barra aluminum bicycle.
Nichola Barra build these aluminum bicycles from the late 1930s into the 1950s.
it is gas welded aluminum, expertly done, flawless, and way ahead of its time.
Also take note of the ovalized tubing at the joints- Seatlug and bottom bracket.
This example was equipped Lam brakes, Le Chat front derailleur, Stronglight 34 cranks, Simplex rear derailleur, Porteur Hubs, Simplex Skewers, Stronglight Headset, Ideale saddle.
These bikes are exceedingly rare, and to see one in person is extremely hard to do, expecially here in the United States.

Ken Denny in Boston owns this bicycle.

Frexel inverse Brake levers

I love city bikes. I don't understand people that ride bikes in the city without fenders and chainguards, and dare I say. . . upright riding position!!

The search for brake levers for the upright riding position leaves the rider looking either at current stock(modern plastic/aluminum Mtn. bike levers) or older brake levers. Most brake levers found on upright bikes were plain Weinmann or Dia Compe alloy brake levers that haven't changed much since the 1960s. They are nice and look at home on any classic bike, but I wanted something a little different. So I started looking at weird French brake levers.

I first had a set of these cool slim-lined aluminum brake levers. They looked great and also had a great feel. But I wanted something even cooler, weirder looking. My friend Fred had purchased a french Porteur bike from us a couple years ago, and it had Mafac inverse brake levers. I loved the look, but inverse brake levers were very hard to find. So went to the only place that would have them, Ebay. I bought various sets of them-CLB, no name, and finally set my eyes on a beautiful set of Frexel ones. They are sculpted, and highly polished, and a nice final touch- they are super lightweight. I have yet to install them on a bike, because I have no bicycle worthy of them yet. I am hoping that the same fortunate circumstances happen with the brake levers as what happened when I bought a Jack Taylor stem, I was given a Jack Taylor Super Tourist, missing a stem. So I am waiting on my Rene Herse Porteur bike, missing brake levers ;)

On my current city bike, a 1960s french Rochet road frame set up with Honjo fenders and Velo-Orange Porteur rack, I installed Tektro inverse brake levers. They are very nice and have a spring return. As nice as they feel, they have nothing on Frexel.

Upcoming new items

Well the website and Ebay are soon to get a shot at a bunch of stuff we procured over the past 6-12 months now. After scouring the country, and the world, for awesome stuff, time is now to start to offer it up. We have picked the gems we want to keep for our collection, I have personally found a couple cool things for myself including a 1961 Schwinn Paramount tourist bicycle. That is the model that came stock as a Sturmey Archer 3 speed, with upright handlebars and fenders and chainguard! Pretty awesome.

I set up a vintage mixte Witcomb frame as a single speed.
Well, on to some soon to be seen items.
PreWar Schwinn Cycletruck from the Hershey Chocalate factory, late 1970s Raleigh Professional 54cm, tall Raleigh International frameset, deluxe late 70s Benotto road frame, various rare campagnolo, huret, and simplex bits.

I leave you with my new bike I am using for city commuting. It is an early 1960s french Rochet chrome frame. It was originally chrome plated, then painted a translucent candy color over it. when I got it, it had already been stripped of it's paint. It is currently set up as a fixed gear, as I have not had time to install the front brake to turn it into a Sturmey Archer 3 speed. I got the handlebars, brake levers, fenders, and front Porteur rack from Velo Orange. Front rack is not properly installed it yet. The Schmidt dynohub and Schmidt e-6 light are from Peter White cycles. I still have to install a chainguard as well. The rack is the perfect size for a flight case record box that I strap down with old inner tubes. The handlebar stem is an old underslung track stem I had laying around.

......