A Flyer A Colson A Fork A Cup and Some Freebies

[late for dinner]

I just took delivery of the Western Flyer and Colson today from a Kijiji ad. The seller had the bikes under priced and I let him know by making a better than asking offer. I had to have me some Colson goodness. I'd welcome any info on vintage and correctness of parts on these bikes. The Flyer has 1 nice Coke Bottle grip and brass badge under home paint.
The truss rods are complete and threads are nice, it just needs a bit of reshaping and correct installation. Is the chain guard original to the bike or aftermarket?

Is the Colson a Colson? The chain ring could be replacement 1/2" Shelby or Sunshine(Canadian Brand) and there's no head tube badge to I.D.. any help on this one?


The collapsible cup from a yard sale a couple of months ago.

Had to buy it when it came up on Kijiji! I've seen up to four Girvin equipped bikes listed locally just after picking this lone fork. Elastomers are in good enough shape for now and I may upgrade when needed, but haven't decided where to use this one yet.

This '65 CCM was a freebie from a neighbor! I removed the basket and rack, added a new tire/tube, new shifter from the parts bin and voila, 3 speed pathracer rat.

Another neighbor put this out as part of a pre house sale cleaning. It works fine and now serves to hold my excess pocket change.
Shiny, old, mechanical and free things are always good.

 

[sharmangasaurusrex]

The Colson frame looks exactly like my Firestone Flying Ace badged Colson, so I'd say so.

 

[late for dinner]

The Colson frame looks exactly like my Firestone Flying Ace badged Colson, so I'd say so.

Thanks for the inspirational pic of your Firestone, I really like what you did there!
... and I like the pics of my old stomping grounds @ Vancouver too. (BTW, I sent my intentionally rusted '55 Schwinn Wasp out that way from in the spring)
I guess I knew the frame was a Colson frame, but wasn't aware of various brandings such as Firestone and little of company history.
Do you know anyone know if these were badged these ever badged as Shelbys?
I quickly washed both bikes and threw some new tires on, but haven't checked badge holes or for paint under the top coat of paint or serial#s.

Oh right! I followed your 'bucket thread and realized you're the guy who found my original bike from 1976! I didn't snoop in your album too far, so whatever became of that bike anyways? Sorry about the scuffs on the back of that seat from my wheelies.
That bike was great for long wheelies (or cat walks as we called 'em) before those "chopper" forks went on.

 

[sharmangasaurusrex]

Thanks for the compliment, it turned out exactly as I had imagined it would when I first started building it, and Vancouver does have some great backdrops for pictures. I'm not too versed on bicycle history, but I think Colson and Shelby were both bicycle brands and didn't just get competing brands to build for them and then re-brand as their own. I am fairly new to the vintage bicycle scene though so I may be completely wrong. The wasp probably went to someone from the Vancouver Wheelmen bicycle club as they seem to really go for the rustoration rides and buy up the majority of quality vintage bikes out this way. You have some beautiful bikes there, and some great parts. I love the guard on the first one, and the sprocket on the Colson. Good luck with whatever you plan on doing with them.

 

[late for dinner]

Thank You. Adding these two bikes and the fork to the stable has now caused rethinking on my build schemes of a couple of ongoing projects. I do have more options to work out now for sure.