I have come across this Korlis bike one day at the pomona swap meet for 35 bucks, it had old rotted tires and no rear fender, a button for a horn on the handlebars and the best three speed i ever rhode with but i had to hang it up because the rim is rotted through, yes i rode miles missing two smokes and a hole made of rust through the rim lol but now i have a sears three seed on it until i have the original hub re-spoked, so I've heard Schwinn put out the Korlis bicycles but does anybody know any more info about Korlis? thanks!
Korlis bicycle brand, heard of it?
- Thread starter socal kid
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Pictures are worth a thousand words!
I just looked for the name and saw this brochure from that brand on Ebay. Looks just like the Tyler & Romet bicycles I had at one time and seen online.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1963-Korlis-Bicycle-Brochure-102974-2M3THR-/350751641369
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1963-Korlis-Bicycle-Brochure-102974-2M3THR-/350751641369
Here is the pic:
Luke.
Luke.
Sorry guys for digging this up, after like 6 years 
That's actually not a Korlis bike on the pic.
Korlis was a very special bike made by ZZR (United Bicycle Factories) in Poland. They were the only full sized cantilever framed cruisers made mostly for export to USA. The early ones were branded "Korlis - Made in Poland by Universal) and had a headbadge like this:
Man's frame looked like this:
and Woman's frame looked like this:
There is hard to tell the production year from only the frame since they had a different type of serial numbers than standart ZZR bicycles of the time (standart was XX XXXXX where the first two digits indiccate the production year, and Korlis bikes had a code of X* XXXXX).
All of the bikes had the same frame size (18" or 19" i don't remember), and were equipped qith a rear rack, fenders (with a rear reflector), front battery powered light,metallic paint finish, bell & a saddle mounted pouch matching the color of the saddle with a ZZR stamped universal bicycle wrench.
All of the bikes had vinyl seats (the same style that were used on all of the ZZR bicycles of the time), white handles (also used on all of the bikes of the time), a steering bar identical in bikes such as the Popularny/Bałtyk or Ambasador, 26" wheels with a single speed coaster brake rear hub & steel stamped chromed decoration on the crown of the fork.
The earlier ones are distinguished by some features:
1. Older type rims (like on the red one on the first picture)
2. Two tone seats & saddles
3. Specially designed long stem
4. Degum brand tires
5. Aluminium bodied rear reflector.
6. Smaller crankset cog (44T) in the shape of a star (mostly on women frames)
7. Wider (more than 2") fenders, oftenly ending with a chrome terdrop-style decoration on the front one
8. Servicable standart ZZR pedals
9. Rear hub made by Łucznik, ZZR or in some cases even Pafaro (the same hub, only signed by different factories)
10. Rocket-style, fender mounted headlight made by Zelmot.
11. Chainring with a stamped terdrop-like decoration (painted white)
They where produced for at least 10 years (export of ZZR bicycles started in the early sixties, and production of this model ended in early seventies)
Later ones had some differences:
1. Badge changed to a new style with the pegasi mascott, and name Tyler or Universal.
2. Wheel rims changed to standart of that time - those rims were used mostly from the lat sixties (like the blue women's bikes)
3. Front light change in style & mount (mounted to the stem)
4. Narrower fenders with a full plastic reflector
5. The steering bar was now integrated with a short stem - typical for very cheap bikes of that time (pictured below)
6. The teardrop stamping was removed from the chainring and was replaced with the brand Tyler or Universal name (pictured below)
7. Two tone seats were replaced with one tone grey seats. In the very last models replaced with black seats. Sometimes vinyl pouches were replaced with black plastic boxes mounted to a steel plate underneath the seat (pictured below)
8. Pedals replaced with non servicable pedals with orange reflectors (pictured below)
9. Paint scheme changed a little bit (fork, seattube, sometimes headtube, the last models sometimes had only one tone paint - pictured below)
Often the last bikes of the Korlis model could have some features the same as normal production models (these were considered as the "poor" ones). Those features could be:
*Romet branded wrenches & bells (bells could have a plastic base)
*Other type of chainring (instead of the "pistol one")
*Wire fender mounts insted of stamped steel ones
*Romet branded rear hubs
Those bikes are very rare in Poland since they were produced in very small numbers, and a short period of time (in comparsion - the most popular Wigry, Jubilat & Wagant/Gazela were made from the late seventies up to the closing of the company in 2005, and made in milions). The only way to buy those was if you had connections to someone working in the factories (or bicycle shops), buying them in the "Domestic Market Export Shops" known by the name Pewex (only sold for USD or special Dollar Vouchers - an important note - you could not obtain USD legally in Poland), or incomplete/mismatched bikes known as "Production Waste"
By the way...
Stay tuned cause for 10$ I bought two frames:
A Romet Kobuz from 1970 (orignally from 1spd to 5spd tourist bike with drop handlebars) that will be a 3spd Gravel Bike.
And a blue women's frame Korlis, specially for the next year's Build-Off
So it's collecting parts trough the winter & waiting for the Build-Off to start.
Here is the pic:
Luke.
That's actually not a Korlis bike on the pic.
Korlis was a very special bike made by ZZR (United Bicycle Factories) in Poland. They were the only full sized cantilever framed cruisers made mostly for export to USA. The early ones were branded "Korlis - Made in Poland by Universal) and had a headbadge like this:
Man's frame looked like this:
and Woman's frame looked like this:
There is hard to tell the production year from only the frame since they had a different type of serial numbers than standart ZZR bicycles of the time (standart was XX XXXXX where the first two digits indiccate the production year, and Korlis bikes had a code of X* XXXXX).
All of the bikes had the same frame size (18" or 19" i don't remember), and were equipped qith a rear rack, fenders (with a rear reflector), front battery powered light,metallic paint finish, bell & a saddle mounted pouch matching the color of the saddle with a ZZR stamped universal bicycle wrench.
All of the bikes had vinyl seats (the same style that were used on all of the ZZR bicycles of the time), white handles (also used on all of the bikes of the time), a steering bar identical in bikes such as the Popularny/Bałtyk or Ambasador, 26" wheels with a single speed coaster brake rear hub & steel stamped chromed decoration on the crown of the fork.
The earlier ones are distinguished by some features:
1. Older type rims (like on the red one on the first picture)
2. Two tone seats & saddles
3. Specially designed long stem
4. Degum brand tires
5. Aluminium bodied rear reflector.
6. Smaller crankset cog (44T) in the shape of a star (mostly on women frames)
7. Wider (more than 2") fenders, oftenly ending with a chrome terdrop-style decoration on the front one
8. Servicable standart ZZR pedals
9. Rear hub made by Łucznik, ZZR or in some cases even Pafaro (the same hub, only signed by different factories)
10. Rocket-style, fender mounted headlight made by Zelmot.
11. Chainring with a stamped terdrop-like decoration (painted white)
They where produced for at least 10 years (export of ZZR bicycles started in the early sixties, and production of this model ended in early seventies)
Later ones had some differences:
1. Badge changed to a new style with the pegasi mascott, and name Tyler or Universal.
2. Wheel rims changed to standart of that time - those rims were used mostly from the lat sixties (like the blue women's bikes)
3. Front light change in style & mount (mounted to the stem)
4. Narrower fenders with a full plastic reflector
5. The steering bar was now integrated with a short stem - typical for very cheap bikes of that time (pictured below)
6. The teardrop stamping was removed from the chainring and was replaced with the brand Tyler or Universal name (pictured below)
7. Two tone seats were replaced with one tone grey seats. In the very last models replaced with black seats. Sometimes vinyl pouches were replaced with black plastic boxes mounted to a steel plate underneath the seat (pictured below)
8. Pedals replaced with non servicable pedals with orange reflectors (pictured below)
9. Paint scheme changed a little bit (fork, seattube, sometimes headtube, the last models sometimes had only one tone paint - pictured below)
Often the last bikes of the Korlis model could have some features the same as normal production models (these were considered as the "poor" ones). Those features could be:
*Romet branded wrenches & bells (bells could have a plastic base)
*Other type of chainring (instead of the "pistol one")
*Wire fender mounts insted of stamped steel ones
*Romet branded rear hubs
Those bikes are very rare in Poland since they were produced in very small numbers, and a short period of time (in comparsion - the most popular Wigry, Jubilat & Wagant/Gazela were made from the late seventies up to the closing of the company in 2005, and made in milions). The only way to buy those was if you had connections to someone working in the factories (or bicycle shops), buying them in the "Domestic Market Export Shops" known by the name Pewex (only sold for USD or special Dollar Vouchers - an important note - you could not obtain USD legally in Poland), or incomplete/mismatched bikes known as "Production Waste"
By the way...
Stay tuned cause for 10$ I bought two frames:
A Romet Kobuz from 1970 (orignally from 1spd to 5spd tourist bike with drop handlebars) that will be a 3spd Gravel Bike.
And a blue women's frame Korlis, specially for the next year's Build-Off
So it's collecting parts trough the winter & waiting for the Build-Off to start.
Interesting subject as the bike name is a variation of my last name..Corliss.Sorry guys for digging this up, after like 6 years
That's actually not a Korlis bike on the pic.
Korlis was a very special bike made by ZZR (United Bicycle Factories) in Poland. They were the only full sized cantilever framed cruisers made mostly for export to USA. The early ones were branded "Korlis - Made in Poland by Universal) and had a headbadge like this:
Man's frame looked like this:
and Woman's frame looked like this:
There is hard to tell the production year from only the frame since they had a different type of serial numbers than standart ZZR bicycles of the time (standart was XX XXXXX where the first two digits indiccate the production year, and Korlis bikes had a code of X* XXXXX).
All of the bikes had the same frame size (18" or 19" i don't remember), and were equipped qith a rear rack, fenders (with a rear reflector), front battery powered light,metallic paint finish, bell & a saddle mounted pouch matching the color of the saddle with a ZZR stamped universal bicycle wrench.
All of the bikes had vinyl seats (the same style that were used on all of the ZZR bicycles of the time), white handles (also used on all of the bikes of the time), a steering bar identical in bikes such as the Popularny/Bałtyk or Ambasador, 26" wheels with a single speed coaster brake rear hub & steel stamped chromed decoration on the crown of the fork.
The earlier ones are distinguished by some features:
1. Older type rims (like on the red one on the first picture)
2. Two tone seats & saddles
3. Specially designed long stem
4. Degum brand tires
5. Aluminium bodied rear reflector.
6. Smaller crankset cog (44T) in the shape of a star (mostly on women frames)
7. Wider (more than 2") fenders, oftenly ending with a chrome terdrop-style decoration on the front one
8. Servicable standart ZZR pedals
9. Rear hub made by Łucznik, ZZR or in some cases even Pafaro (the same hub, only signed by different factories)
10. Rocket-style, fender mounted headlight made by Zelmot.
11. Chainring with a stamped terdrop-like decoration (painted white)
They where produced for at least 10 years (export of ZZR bicycles started in the early sixties, and production of this model ended in early seventies)
Later ones had some differences:
1. Badge changed to a new style with the pegasi mascott, and name Tyler or Universal.
2. Wheel rims changed to standart of that time - those rims were used mostly from the lat sixties (like the blue women's bikes)
3. Front light change in style & mount (mounted to the stem)
4. Narrower fenders with a full plastic reflector
5. The steering bar was now integrated with a short stem - typical for very cheap bikes of that time (pictured below)
6. The teardrop stamping was removed from the chainring and was replaced with the brand Tyler or Universal name (pictured below)
7. Two tone seats were replaced with one tone grey seats. In the very last models replaced with black seats. Sometimes vinyl pouches were replaced with black plastic boxes mounted to a steel plate underneath the seat (pictured below)
8. Pedals replaced with non servicable pedals with orange reflectors (pictured below)
9. Paint scheme changed a little bit (fork, seattube, sometimes headtube, the last models sometimes had only one tone paint - pictured below)
Often the last bikes of the Korlis model could have some features the same as normal production models (these were considered as the "poor" ones). Those features could be:
*Romet branded wrenches & bells (bells could have a plastic base)
*Other type of chainring (instead of the "pistol one")
*Wire fender mounts insted of stamped steel ones
*Romet branded rear hubs
Those bikes are very rare in Poland since they were produced in very small numbers, and a short period of time (in comparsion - the most popular Wigry, Jubilat & Wagant/Gazela were made from the late seventies up to the closing of the company in 2005, and made in milions). The only way to buy those was if you had connections to someone working in the factories (or bicycle shops), buying them in the "Domestic Market Export Shops" known by the name Pewex (only sold for USD or special Dollar Vouchers - an important note - you could not obtain USD legally in Poland), or incomplete/mismatched bikes known as "Production Waste"
By the way...
Stay tuned cause for 10$ I bought two frames:
A Romet Kobuz from 1970 (orignally from 1spd to 5spd tourist bike with drop handlebars) that will be a 3spd Gravel Bike.
And a blue women's frame Korlis, specially for the next year's Build-Off
MattiThundrrr
Rattus All Terrainus
MattiThundrrr
Rattus All Terrainus
Wow! That's something I didn't knew...
That is from the original catalogue! I have more of that stuff
MattiThundrrr
Rattus All Terrainus
Ask Tom Ritchie where they got the design for the og Stumpjumper...
@SpikeFC thank you for all the info but the bike has the same exact badge as @MattiThundrrr ’s bike! But that’s some damn good information and sorry for the late reply guys!! Matt does yours have the handle grip as the shifter too? I’m so lost as to value but I definitely want to preserve it as much as I can, the truss rods lamps and rear fender if not both (I forget lol) and wheels are from some other bike, but none the less I wonder about value and rarity of these models which seems great in rarity as you guys have explained
MattiThundrrr
Rattus All Terrainus
Sorry, that's not my korlis. It's an image I found at thecabe.com
It's a vintage bike page. They have TONS of knowledge on antiques and oddities. I'm just a guy with a search engine
It's a vintage bike page. They have TONS of knowledge on antiques and oddities. I'm just a guy with a search engine
I have just come across a well preserved Korlis "made in Czechoslovakia" bicycle. Strangely I did not know about the brand but the bicycle bears similarities to more common bikes of that era. Mine in particular pretty much shares many details with an established local brand Velamos and Velamos Tourst model in particular. I have later come across another reference where they say that Korlis used to be an export brand by Comecon (Eastern block economic organization).
