Info on brand

[Eclipse]

I just saw the post about the iverson drag stripper and it reminded me about my own Iverson. Mine is a 10 speed tho. I was wondering if someone knew a little more than I did about that company. I've heard that they were not well made bikes.
Here's my bike.

 

[mos6502]

Iverson was a brand name used by Stelber. I've long suspected that there was some sort of a relationship between Stelber and Snyder, but I don't have anything solid to go on. They just happen to use some of the same parts and features + both came from N.Y., and it seems as though both companies disappeared around the same time. They also seem to share parts with Ross bicycles as well - lots of Iversons have Ross chainwheels for instance. I don't know if Ross made those in house, but I've never seen that pattern on any bikes other than Ross and Iverson. :?

They also imported some bicycles from Germany (I think?) - these were not particularly of high quality either.

 

[Eclipse]

Thanks for the information.

 

[mos6502]

I'm sure somebody knows something more. I believe they began making bicycles in the 1950s, and things wound up in the 1970s.
In an article in Consumer Reports, Iverson bikes recieved low scores because the frames were so poorly aligned they would not track straight. CR sent the bicycles back in exchange for new ones which were still poorly aligned, but they managed to get them to track straight by playing with the alignment of the wheels... :shock:

Here's an Iverson that died in action:

http://byebyejohnny.blogspot.com/2009/0 ... wings.html

And here is a very rare Iverson Drag Stripper with 26" wheels:

iverson drag stripper by

Note the Rollfast style chainwheel... I'd love to figure out what connection Iverson had with Rollfast and Ross. Maybe they just sourced random parts from the other N.Y. companies, but perhaps there was something more to it too.

 

[Wildcat]

I thought gearshifts were dangerous, but those spikes on that top tube take the cake. I wouldn't ride that without a reinforced cup.

 

[Eclipse]

Now I'm scared of riding mine when it's fixed. :?

 

[Rustinkerer]

Stelber was a NY Importer, their early stuff were those odd West German JC Higgins around 1956. I believe they also brought over most of those other odd 60's import middleweights, like President, Black Knight, Royce Union, etc. And some with their own name. And they obviously bought parts from NY neighbors CBC/Ross. Not much else really known about them. I hadn't heard about the Iverson connection before. Makes sense though. I suppose they assembled bikes there. -Adam

 

[mos6502]

I read about the Stelber/Iverson connection in an old issue of Consumer Reports (different issue than referred to above).
This article also mentions the stelber/iverson connection: http://bikerodnkustom5.homestead.com/Ba ... s1968.html