free find..now what is it that ive found??

[schwinner]

ok. i have a neighbor who told me his mom had an old bike in their barn. it had been hanging from the rafters for nearly forty years. it was her brothers and he was a fireman and rode it to work. then when he retired, so did the bike. it has hung untouched since about 1960.

she believes the age of the bike to be around 1926. i know it is a truss frame. what i dont know is the make and the rarity of it. the badge is gone on the head tube so i dont know. it has a new departure skiptooth hub. i found some numbers and the words exel inc. on the front hub. other than that i have found no markings of any kind. it had been painted unfortunealty just before he put it away. it was a poor job but for a free truss bike i wont complain.

one more question. if this were your bike. would you concider changing it up or restoring it? i kinda want a board track and this i think would make a cool one. any comments, suggestions and info are greatly appreciated.

 

[pepper]

Dude nice find!

im sure rest of the pack will know more about the details of your bike.

 

[schwinner]

thanks, i hope youre right

 

[Lonewolf]

Iver Johnson or Colson.

It's called a "Truss Bridge" frame. The date may be about accurate, but I am by no means an expert. I'm still learning.

It's an excellent find and (as has already been established by members here) these end up being great board tracker builds.

Feel good. A lot of people want this bike.

 

[schwinner]

thankyou for your input.im trying to find a specific build up of a board track with this type of frame on the site here.. i still havent come across one but ill keep looking.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

one more question. if this were your bike. would you concider changing it up or restoring it? i kinda want a board track and this i think would make a cool one. any comments, suggestions and info are greatly appreciated.

I don't know a thing about this bike, but if you restore it and it sits or if you make it a boardtracker and you ride it; I'd go boardtracker.
If you build it without modifying anything and retain the parts you remove/replace you can always restore it later.

 

[schwinner]

all very good points. thanks for your comments. im trying to find some cool boardtracker pics made from this type of frame.. i dont have the greatest imagination. so i always look for pictures to get the mind turning.

 

[Hsean]

I`d leave it like that and find something more crusty, you should give it to me lol

 

[Lonewolf]

The one I thought was an example of a tracker using this frame was actually a different frame. Sorry.

If you look at the front page of this website, though, you will see a few photos connected to threads of one sort or another.

One of the photos is of a yellow bike and the title of the thread is "Use what you got". It was I think a Schwinn diamond (triangle) frame where "Salvagebeast" attempts to mimic, with a band of steel, what your frame ( more or less) actually seems to be. It's a great build and it was good enough to go on the front page of the website.

That ought to give you some good inspiration.

Here is the link:
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=28195

 

[schwinner]

thanks for the link. this is my first posting here and im impressed with everyones attention and input. thanks everyone who has already chimed in

 

[IJamEcono]

Iver Johnson or Colson

I'm not sure Iver Johnson had truss frames like that. I thought the truss bar went more towards the top tube. I could be wrong though. Either way, it's awesome.

 

[CCR]

looks more like a Columbia to me but still a little off from what Im finding.

 

[subadrew]

I don't care what is it.


I WANT IT!

 

[scrumblero]

I don't think I've ever seen one with that much space between the tubes.. and that looks kinda like an Overman chainwheel, but this bike isn't that old... have the rims been changed out? they look newer than the bike...

 

[CCR]

... have the rims been changed out? they look newer than the bike...

i think thats just dirt making them look sorta like dirty aluminum rims ... its a skiptooth drive so im guessing its the originals ... or at least old :lol:

 

[udallcustombikes]

Nice find! I would try stripping the house paint and see what is under it. There have been several bikes on here with nice paint under the "protective coating". There are several good threads in the how to section for stripping house paint.

 

[schwinner]

thanks a bunch again everyone. how can i tell if the wheels have been changed out?im sorry. im not to good with this stuff yet. im just learning.and all of your words are helpful. i will look up how to strip the paint off carefully. i was thinking there must be a way to look under the top layer without destroying the original. thanks for the tip.

 

[udallcustombikes]

I might be way off, but the wheels look like they might be metal clad wood rims. Carefully remove the tires and have a look at the inside of the rims.

 

[schwinner]

ok..the poor tires(which are a strech now) have deteriorated to the point that all that i have to do is litterally touch them and they fall apart. i looked inside and im pretty sure they are metal all the way rims. i think they may have been changed though after having looked closer. the back one has a double knurl pattern and no words or anything.. it seems barely wider than the front one but it might just be my eyes.. the front one though on closer inspection revealed this inscription... ARAYA27x1.5w/o hp

hope this means something to someone here haha.. i have no idea. thanks for helping me try to figure this out everyone.

 

[schwinner]

oh, and before the inscription there is a little circle with what lkooks like a musical note inside it