Nooooooooooooooo!
L.W. Keenan Champion branded bikes...Colson Heavy Service and ACE HIGH brands as well
- Thread starter RustyGold
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Ah man! I knew I shoulda done a screen shot!
It was a double rainbow bar Colson frame with a truss fork
I managed to dig the ad up, got all the pics saved.
Thanks for the heads up... that is another awesome piece of the puzzle!
Jason
Thanks for the heads up... that is another awesome piece of the puzzle!
Jason
Here are the pics...
...stay tuned.
Jason
...stay tuned.
Jason
Here was a Keenan branded Heavy Service on the Cabe, to bad it got parted out...
https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/1938-colson-heavy-service.28421/#post-149667
The owner mentions knowing of another in SF.
Jason
https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/1938-colson-heavy-service.28421/#post-149667
The owner mentions knowing of another in SF
.Jason
I've been in contact with the SF 'Heavy Service' guy...made an offer, but, we seem quite far apart. I did some research and from what I can tell, aside from the badge, that bike doesn't have any of the 'Heavy Service' specific parts with it...it is just a standard 18" Colson with a badge I really want. It doesn't seem, to me, to be priced as such.
Jason
Jason
...any history or info on this bike? 'Ace High' is new to me and will be near impossible to get anything but poker references on Google searches, I suspect.
Thanks... very cool badge on that one!
Jason
I tried researching this and that is how I ended up here. I wanna find out more about it! I bought it from a 70yr old man who got it from his uncle (only 2 owners) he said that he repainted it when he was a teenager and it’s been in the garage for the last 30+years. The rear hub is a Morrow and it’s stamped with F4, 1936.
...any history or info on this bike? 'Ace High' is new to me and will be near impossible to get anything but poker references on Google searches, I suspect.
Thanks... very cool badge on that one!
Jason
From the pic it looks either Colson or CWC made (a pic of the rear dropouts might help). Fork and truss/rack bars look 60s-ish. It's cool that it appears to have the original wheelset, as '36 should be about right. I don't think the chainring is Colson, but might be CWC.
Pretty much everything I've found so far is, or there are links to, in this thread...if you come up with anything else, please feel free to share
.
Are you in the Oregon/Washington area...or has this bike traveled over it's lifetime?
Let me know if you ever want to move it along, as I'm kind of addicted to the whole L.W. Keenan thing
Jason
Pretty much everything I've found so far is, or there are links to, in this thread...if you come up with anything else, please feel free to share
.Are you in the Oregon/Washington area...or has this bike traveled over it's lifetime?
Let me know if you ever want to move it along, as I'm kind of addicted to the whole L.W. Keenan thing
Jason
I live in Portland, OR.
I took this to a bike shop today and they told me of another fellow who is kinda a historian bicycle guru. They are gonna show him and see what he knows about this. I’ll let you know what he says.
I took this to a bike shop today and they told me of another fellow who is kinda a historian bicycle guru. They are gonna show him and see what he knows about this. I’ll let you know what he says.
I'm further down the valley...roughly in the Albany area.
Look forward to hearing any nuggets from the guru...direct him to this thread if he is internerd compatible.
Jason
Look forward to hearing any nuggets from the guru...direct him to this thread if he is internerd compatible
.Jason
Oh...I'm no expert, but to me, that appears to be a Cleveland Welding (CWC) dropout. If so, that means at least three different manufacturers' bikes were branded with an L.W. Keenan badge (Columbia, Colson, and possibly CWC).
Jason
If the chainring looks more or less like this...
...then that would also indicate a CWC made bike.
Jason
...then that would also indicate a CWC made bike.
Jason
I dropped my bike off at the shop today to get the rear hub serviced or I’d get a photo of the chainring. But here is another picture and you can kinda see it. Pretty sure it is the same one as the CWC!
Looks like it! From the pics above, aside from the forks and that front rack...and perhaps the seat, most everything else looks pretty original 
Jason
Jason
Got some more info today:
It's Cleveland made, rainbow frame. Headbadge licensed by Schwinn to maker. At the time the bike was made there were over 2000 independent makers that were being commissioned to build bikes for others to brand.
It's Cleveland made, rainbow frame. Headbadge licensed by Schwinn to maker. At the time the bike was made there were over 2000 independent makers that were being commissioned to build bikes for others to brand.
Sounds about right
...don't know about the Schwinn license thing, Schwinn had an 'Ace', but don't think they ever had an 'Ace High'.Thanks for sharing!
Jason
I've been trying to deal on this since...well, April. I'm pretty much throwing in the towel on acquiring it...we are only $15 apart at last contact, but my last offer had nearly $50 of buyer's remorse built into it
. Its a standing offer, so...I could still get a call on it someday
,Jason
I've found several other Colson 'Heavy Service' branded bikes...as the SF ad stated, it seems that if you ordered enough of them, they would put your bike store on the generic Heavy Service badge. I still want one, but they aren't as big a draw as the Champions...or now, the Ace High brand .
Jason
.Jason
