Classic & Vintage - Western Wheel Works, Chicago, Crescent No.15

Hi,
i'm new in this forum and writing from Germany, so my english is not to good.
Does anybody knows something about this bike: Western Wheel Works from Chicago, Model "Crescent No.15". It's maybe a trackbike and built about 1900. I would look foreward for some information.

If you can post a photograph showing the lug & component details you will get more response.

well here are some pics

Hi there! :) very beautiful bicycle you have there! Pop on over to http://www.thewheelmen.org/default.htm they can help you out as I just came from there and there is a bit of info on both your bike and the maker, it really is a sweet old bike, be sure not to do anything to it before asking these guys, they know their stuff! ;) wooden wheel set? if so the wheelmen can tell you where to get nice reproduction tires for it, leave it as original as possible dont change a thing! not even the paint! Please take good care of that fine antique bike! :) heres a little poster I found on Google.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/stumpyspic/cresentwheelworks.jpg

Wow. As we Americans say, dude, cool bike.

The crescent 319 I have is a sweedish bike from 1970. Let me know what you discover!

Curious myself, so I did a Google search. Came up with these hits:

eBay listing of an old advertisement (http://cgi.ebay.com/1899-WESTERN-WHEEL-WORKS-CRESCENT-BICYCLE-IVORY-BAKERS_W0QQitemZ110036806183QQcmdZViewItem)

Blurb from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_bicycle):

Bicycle historians often call this period the "golden age" or "bicycle craze." By the start of the 20th century, cycling had become an important means of transportation, and in the United States an increasingly popular form of recreation. Bicycling clubs for men and women spread across the U.S. and across European countries. Chicago's immigrant Adolph Schoeninger with his Western Wheel Works became the "Ford of the Bicycle" (ten years before Henry Ford) and by rigorous use of sheet-metal stamping and mass production made his "Crescent" bicycles affordable for working people, and massive exports from the United States lowered prices in Europe.

Blurb from a website advertising a tour guide (http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/428826_central.html) for Chicago:

By the late nineteenth century, industry in Chicago had expanded well beyond food processing. Clothing, shoes, furniture, and a myriad of other products were manufactured in small and large plants across the metropolitan area. While whole districts were dedicated to industry, neighborhoods and suburbs also evolved which integrated factories and other enterprises into already established residential and commercial areas. The Western Wheel Works (1889-1891) (C8) manufactured bicycles in its first decade of existence. The very latest production methods were employed, but the company failed.

Great bike, I see drillium chainrings were the rage long before the 1980's. :)

From what I know, the Crescent bike company started out in the US but was later (not sure when) bought out by a swedish company, thus most of the Crescents we now know come from Sweden. If you look at the headbadge of this example and one from Sweden in the 70's/80's there is a striking similarity in design.