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Need Help Identifying a Pierce Arrow

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Need Help Identifying a Pierce Arrow

Old 06-21-10, 12:33 AM
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Need Help Identifying a Pierce Arrow

I just put this up on ****** and received a suggestion to put it up here because "they'll tell you everything about it, probably down to the dental records of the guy who assembled it."

I have recently taken possession of my mom's old Pierce Arrow bike and am looking to fix it up. It has been sitting dormant in our family's garage for 30+ years. It was probably purchased by her sometime in the seventies, and she said that even then it was a really old bike.

There are very few internet resources on Pierce Arrow bicycles, but I was able to find this site, which has an article with photos of a bike that is very similar to mine. According to that site, these "pretender" Pierce Arrows were not made by the car company, but rather by some NY based retailer in the late 50's and early 60's. I am sort of happy that it is not a collectible, because now I can fix it up without worrying about destroying an antique.

I still would like to know as much as possible about the history of this bike, so if anyone has any information about the NY company that imported them, where they were made, (even random stuff, like if anyone recognizes the type/make of the saddle) etc. it would be greatly appreciated.

The one thing I have been able to find out, is that the 3 speed internally geared Sturmey Archer hub is model A.W. and was made in '66 (as seen in one of the photos). Is it safe to assume that the rest of the bike was made in the same year? Do you think any of the builders saw the (almost serendipitous) relation of having Sturmey Archer hubs on Pierce Arrow bikes?

I would also greatly appreciate any advice on fixing it up. Luckily Sheldon Brown has an article on repacking the hub, otherwise this probably would have ended up as a single speed. The only work I have done on it so far was to clean the front tire. There are surprisingly few articles online on how to deal with dry/cracked rubber, so I had to use my best judgment on rejuvenating the tire. I ended up lightly scrapping it with a dull knife, to remove all the dry pieces that were on the verge of falling off anyway, and then I used a paintbrush to heavily coat it with canola oil. After letting the oil soak in for a few minutes I wiped the entire tire down aggressively with a utility towel. This process worked better than I expected (I am not sure what I expected), but I am all ears if there is a proper way to do this for the rear tire.



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Old 06-21-10, 04:39 AM
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Looks like a Raleigh clone, if the rear wheel is original then the bike is probably a 1966 model. Raleigh was huge back then an made quite a few bikes under different labels. Did the bike ever have fenders? I would suspect that it did at some point in it's life.

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Old 06-21-10, 04:42 AM
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Yeah, I took them off since they were bent up and grinding against the wheels.
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Old 06-21-10, 07:45 AM
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Clean it, ride it and enjoy it. Give it a good wash, you can use black shoe polish to bring back the original shine to the frame, replace the tires and at some 30W oil or ATF to the rear hub and front hub. There are several methods to clean up the chrome, try rubbing with a some Aluminum foil fashioned into a scubber, lemon juice seems to help also. Have fun, it's a neat old bike.
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Old 01-30-13, 04:46 PM
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This post is probably late for you But PIERCE ARROW was "Bellitte and Son's" own label built for there own line in the store.
There web sight: https://www.bellbikes.com/pages/index.php
News paper article (8/12/2008): https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...ticle-1.318259
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Old 01-30-13, 05:03 PM
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Need Help Identifying a Pierce Arrow

I agree with Aaron. It's a rebadged Raleigh. Closeup pictures of the dropouts, seat cluster and headtube lugs will help but the serial number will probably confirm our suspicions.
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Old 01-30-13, 05:04 PM
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Nothing is ever too late on the Internet! (but I had kinda forgotten about this thread)

I am actually quite familiar with Bellitte and Son's. (I bought my current road bike, a Trek Soho S, from them a couple of years ago. They are also the closest bike store to my house). There is a good possibility that my mom bought her Pierce Arrow there as well, but I don't see anything there about Pierce Arrow being their own label. The article just mentions that there is a shaft driven Pierce Arrow in the store.
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Old 01-30-13, 05:14 PM
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Also, the bike has since been disassembled and used to make this monstrosity:

But I still appreciate any and all info about the Pierce Arrow Brand if anyone has it.
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Old 01-30-13, 05:14 PM
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Originally Posted by Andrew F
Clean it, ride it and enjoy it. Give it a good wash, you can use black shoe polish to bring back the original shine to the frame............
This is why I read posts that have nothing to do with me. Great suggestion, am going to try it on my American Eagle.
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Old 01-30-13, 06:18 PM
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This is a Pierce Arrow also. 1896 Made in Buffalo NY.


29 115 by barnstormerbikes, on Flickr
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Old 01-31-13, 11:31 AM
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I also had a bike from Bellitte and Son's. I was living in Jamaica on 168th St way back in 1965. also in HOLLIS on 191st ST. Back then we called Raleigh an "English Racer". Sturmey Archer was the slandered used for the multi gear change which we called a "3 SPEED". Only the richer kids had the Raleigh Bike and we considered them GEEKY. Actually most of us didn't even have a bicycle. It was a lot harder then most of us walked.
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Old 01-31-13, 12:07 PM
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Originally Posted by ftwelder
This is a Pierce Arrow also. 1896 Made in Buffalo NY.


29 115 by barnstormerbikes, on Flickr
Can't wait to see that one restored, Frank. Is that a two piece handlebar?
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Old 01-31-13, 12:29 PM
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The Gilmore Car Museum near Kalamazoo have a couple of Pierce bicycles on display. They are adjacent to their Pierce Arrow automobiles.











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Old 01-31-13, 04:39 PM
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Originally Posted by Italuminium
Can't wait to see that one restored, Frank. Is that a two piece handlebar?
Thanks, it's a project for a museum. The handlebar is a "Fredrick adjustable".
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