Wood frame bicycle

[Verrt]

This is cool. Never seen one before. Found it on the bike wall.

1896 apparently.

Someone on RRB should buy it and build it out so I can watch

Listing here
https://www.ebay.com/itm/174422671918

 

[Verrt]

Bonus ebay fun!

Checkout what the triathlon world thinks a "vintage" wheel looks like.
Vintage Three Spoke Rear Bicycle Wheel. $300

 

[Captain Awesome]

Bonus ebay fun!

Checkout what the triathlon world thinks a "vintage" wheel looks like.
Vintage Three Spoke Rear Bicycle Wheel. $300
View attachment 139358

Retro is the new new

 

[Verrt]

Retro is the new new

You could argue that both the vintage 1890s bicycle and the vintage mid 2000s wheel are both made of lightweight carbon

 

[Duchess]

I think wood was a fairly popular early material. Here's an 1898 Chilion:

 

[Verrt]

I think wood was a fairly popular early material. Here's an 1898 Chilion:

View attachment 139359

Shows you how good that ebay one would look if you polished up the brass and restored the wood.

 

[Duchess]

Definitely, but that's a lot more than I'd want to spend.

 

[Johnny Wolf]

Bonus ebay fun!
Checkout what the triathlon world thinks a "vintage" wheel looks like.
Vintage Three Spoke Rear Bicycle Wheel. $300

Yep late 90's to mid 2000's is now Vintage, hahaha! Silly kids.
When I was a little kid my grandma owned an Antique Store (That's now a Vintage Store to you kids) on Ventura Blvd in the San Fernando Valley, California. Needless to say, I've always been intrigued by old items. I asked her when I was 6-7 years old, Grandma how old does something have to be, to be considered an Antique? She replied, 50 years old minimum is rule of thumb for the most part in my store. Which makes sense, because in the early 70's most of her items were from the teens, 20's and older. To this day I still think that's a fair answer.

 

[Verrt]

Yep late 90's to mid 2000's is now Vintage, hahaha! Silly kids.
When I was a little kid my grandma owned an Antique Store (That's now a Vintage Store to you kids) on Ventura Blvd in the San Fernando Valley, California. Needless to say, I've always been intrigued by old items. I asked her when I was 6-7 years old, Grandma how old does something have to be, to be considered an Antique? She replied, 50 years old minimum is rule of thumb for the most part in my store. Which makes sense, because in the early 70's most of her items were from the teens, 20's and older. To this day I still think that's a fair answer.

I think I remember hearing something similar. 50 years antique, 30 years retro, 20 years vintage.

Could have made it up though, the old brain is well past vintage.

 

[Duchess]

I think it varies with the item. I was always told 100 years for an antique for things like furniture, but 25 for cars. Don't know where bicycles fall, but just from that small sample, it appears that it might depend upon the likelihood that the item will survive the term. Furniture traditionally built to last and existing indoors with good repairability and nearly no loss of utility over time (just loss of fashion, perhaps, but trends often return and furniture is also adaptable) more easily survives 100 years than an automobile. Of course, with the pace of change and move toward disposability and forced obsolescence for nearly every industry across all price ranges and the manufacturing of anything made to last generations becoming an increasingly niche market, I think the number of years that define the items in the respective categories may necessarily have to change. In some cases, like the automobile, the trend toward greater short term longevity has increased (the average age of the automobile on the road is about the highest it's ever been because 25 years is a much easier milestone to make before the cost of required maintenance exceeds or gets too close to modern replacement cost than it had been traditionally, especially in the corrosion areas thanks to better metal protection and resistant alloys), but the long term longevity has decreased. (While the average 1990-up car is more likely to make it 25 years than earlier cars, I would posit that it is far less likely to make it to 50. Their more numerous and specialized parts that change more frequently and the required repair knowledge of complicated systems get rarer and more expensive with age and largely negate the business case for reproduction parts that currently can be made for simpler older cars. That's assuming a world where the nostalgia for cars of one's youth still hold the same attraction and similar economic and environmental stability as today, but I don't want to turn this into a whole thing about cars and speculating on the future of a changing world, just illustrate that maybe what qualifies as antique, vintage, etc. has to be somewhat amorphous.)

 

[wheelbender6]

The chain ring looks really thick. It must have carried a heavy, industrial chain.

 

[hamqqea]

The chain ring looks really thick. It must have carried a heavy, industrial chain.

Noticed and browsed my funky chain collection photos...
Thought this, different system tho.

Only 2,300 USD... I'll be watching.

 

[Couch tater]

The chain ring looks really thick. It must have carried a heavy, industrial chain.

It is a blockchain, my Pope has the same chain & sprocket. Here's a photo from the web

 

[hamqqea]

@Couch tater
Does your chain look like the example you posted or more like this?

Scanned this work of art from The American Bicycle - Jay Pridmore and Jim Hurd.
Tonk's Old Hickory.

Bamboo Cycle Co., England - c.1897

 

[Couch tater]

@Couch tater
Does your chain look like the example you posted or more like this?
View attachment 139388


Scanned this work of art from The American Bicycle - Jay Pridmore and Jim Hurd.
Tonk's Old Hickory.
View attachment 139389

View attachment 139401


Bamboo Cycle Co., England - c.1897
View attachment 139395
View attachment 139396
View attachment 139397
View attachment 139398
View attachment 139399
View attachment 139400

My chain is exactly like the photo except the blocks are hollow on mine and have felt inserts to lube the chain. My bike is 1892 - 93. Here is an actual photo of my chain. I'm going to resume the restoration of it this winter.

 

[hamqqea]

My chain is exactly like the photo except the blocks are hollow on mine and have felt inserts to lube the chain. My bike is 1892 - 93. Here is an actual photo of my chain. I'm going to resume the restoration of it this winter.

View attachment 139403

It appears chains were slightly more refined in years after yours. Details are scarce. Vaguely remember a wide chain when you commented.
Thanks for linking your build thread.

1888 replica of a Whippet.

 

[Verrt]

I'm going to resume the restoration of it this winter.

Can't wait!

 

[us56456712]

Definitely, but that's a lot more than I'd want to spend.

 

[us56456712]

I got a fence made out of bike frames. I should take one and cut off the lugs and epoxy and screw wood or bamboo unto the cut off lugs to make a faux wood bike. I would not feel safe with a splinter cycle though. Bamboo with carbon fiber rods epoxied inside the bamboo would be my choice if using old cut off lugs.

 

[us56456712]

The chain ring looks really thick. It must have carried a heavy, industrial chain.

Antique bicycles had massive skip tooth block chains. Replacements are custom made and costs 5 x a Walmart bicycle. 1900 side by side tandems had skip tooth chains that looked like they could be used for bulldozer treads, ha ha. I have pictures of massive skip tooth chains from an antique bicycle ride (must be older than 1920) on mackinaw Island, but I can’t locate them. The above picture of the skip tooth chain on the reproduction Whippet is a laminated block chain. The one with the felt inserts looks like an original made from solid blocks. No rollers on these. I have three bikes with skip tooth block chains, but only one is not laminated. Non laminated block chains took a lot more machining to make and I consider them the gold standard of skip tooth chains.