I can find some information on an F.P. Keenan in Portland (Oregon) from the 1900s into the teens, or early 20s...that seemed prominent in the motorcycle community and owned a bicycle, motorcycle, and automotive accessories store. I have newspaper ads that show him as a Columbia Bicycle Dealer.
Only things I can find on L.W. Keenan and Co. are personal. He won a prize in a card game held by a gentlemen's club (not-stripper...actual gentlemen, though there were women's names participating as well). Got busted supply alcohol to a couple of under drinking age girls. He and his wife (don't know if this was one of the previous mentioned under-age drinkers
) got some camping reservations. This was all in the early 30s, I believe. No mention of business stuff.
My assumption is that F.P. and L.W. are father-son...I have nothing to support that. I also assume that the business was passed on to L.W. somewhere in the late '20s/early'30s.
My understanding is, that Columbia would only allow one dealer per city to sell Columbias. Anyone else, would have to come up with there own branding to slap on there Westfield built bike. So, since F.P. Keenan advertised Columbias...and I can't find any ads for L.W. Keenan, but did find another bike shop selling Columbias from the 20s/30s on...so, I would guess that L.W. lost, or gave up, being the primary Columbia Dealership in Portland.
What I'm looking for:
1) more info what/who/where/when/was L.W. Keenan and Co.
2) how long Champion branded bikes were sold
3) what trim levels could Champion branded bikes be had in (were there tank bikes? springers?)
4) what chain guards should be used (vented, not vented, etc...)
...and another related nuggets would be cool as well.
The origin stories for these particular bikes are
1) diagonal 'Champion' badge bike...got from
@Hophead on this forum...when he got it, it had a dana 3spd (hence the mag ring on it now), and he kept the seat in the price negotiation (probably a mistake on my part
). No other history
2) other guys bike...got it from an older gentleman that thought it looked cool, no history.
3) girl's bike...got it from the husband of the daughter of the original owner. They have pics of her riding it as a kid...but, no other history.
That's what I got.
Jason