sailorbenjamin

I'm downsizing my collection as we're moving next week. It was only logical that I would trade 3 english 3 speeds for 2 old american 1 speeds.
Usually when folks show up here at C+V with this kind of stuff, I send them to thecabe.com. I'll go there next, but I like you guys so I'm giving you first peep.
Here's the really old one;


It's a Rover, made by Colson. Looks like 1920s to me but what do I know about old bikes. 28" singletube tires would indicate 1933 or older I think.
Here's the really, really old one;

It's a Barnes, 1901.

I don't think 1901 is the year, though. The League of Wheelmen says that Barnes made bikes from 1895 to 1898. I've seen advertisements on Ebay claiming to be as late as 1901. Just when I'm getting my hopes up about having a 100 year old bike (I was terribly envious of PastorBob when he found that ancient thing he found, even though #7 in the tenspeed commandments is about not coveting) I notice the patent dates on the steel clad wood rims, 1910;

Here's some other clues, 1 piece crank with cast iron chainring (the Raleigh I traded for this was "All Steel");

Really nifty fork crown;

New Departure coaster hub;


And a new fangled theft deterent device;

I know grandpa left that key in this shoebox, I just know it.

sailorbenjamin

The United States No. 76 Chain Tread single tube" tires arent bad looking (haven't tried the air yet).

And both bikes have saddles that could almost be sat on;



Well, back to the basement to scratch my head some more.

Kommisar89

That Barnes is wicked sweet!

Ronsonic 

Some things never change. You always get stuck with locks when you buy old bikes.

Mike Mills

Lolololol!

pastorbobnlnh 

Ben,

My reaction to the Barnes is that it looks like a genuine 1900 era bicycle--- except the wheels and crankset, which look like replacements. My antique safety turn out to be a Coventry from England, dated 1892, so really there's no comparison to an American bike of that era.

These are both keepers in my mind, even if you just wait to next April's Copake Auction, in order to earn some extra cash. It will be a short drive north up the Hudson from your new home.

John E

I guess I can no longer refer to Capo #1 as old, even though it now qualifies for membership in our 50+ forum.

cycleheimer

If anybody is interested in these older bikes, this posting is still active on Hudson Valley (NY) CL...


1911 wood wheel bike - $50 (highland falls, NY)

https://hudsonvalley.craigslist.org/bik/1231410932.html

Reply to: sale-emzup-1231410932@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-06-20, 3:45PM EDT



wood wheels are in good complete condition. no badge . but looks like 1911 hawthorne girls bike.(" Evolution of the bicycle" p46 bottom right) this is a rare juvenile bike because most were adult bikes. ser # 434148 frame measures 16.5" center crank to top of seat tube. 24" wood wheels . in this era bikes came with rear fenders only with skirt guards (holes are in fenders). new departure front/rear hubs. nice form, great project bike!

• Location: highland falls
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 1231410932

sailorbenjamin

Well here's some interesting reading;
https://www.fundinguniverse.com/compa...y-History.html
Assuming this is the same Barnes. The history starts in the 1600s and continues today.
Key Dates:
1857: Wallace Barnes acquires clockmaking shop in Bristol, Connecticut.
1922: Three businesses merge to form Associated Spring Co.
1946: Associated Spring begins trading shares publicly.
1963: Associated Spring is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
1976: Associated Spring is renamed Barnes Group Inc.
1995: Wallace Barnes resigns as last family member to head company.
1998: New CEO Edmund Carpenter sets company on acquisition path.
2004: Nine acquisitions in five years have added $370 million to annual sales.
Seems they made clocks and springs and cattle medicine and there's even a little bit about hoopskirt wire. Here's what it ways about the bikes;
"Despite economic turbulence at the time, he was able to get his creditors to back his foray into manufacturing bicycle wheels and related parts. The Barnes Company, as it had become known, cashed in on the bicycle fad and generated much needed profits in the late 1890s. That put the company in good financial shape going into the 1900s.
The fading bicycle boom was replaced in the early 1900s by the emerging automobile industry. Barnes benefited from strong demand for motorcar springs for valves, clutches, starters, suspensions, and hundreds of other items."
Would be kind of a bummer if those wheels replaced the Barnes origionals, assuming that this is one of those Barneses.
They still make springs for the automibile and aerospace industry.

sailorbenjamin

Well, I am moving to the Hudson Valley next week. Do I want to get interested in these older bikes? for $50?...

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

welcome to the neighborhood. Where are you moving to?

cycleheimer

"Well, I am moving to the Hudson Valley next week. Do I want to get interested in these older bikes? for $50?..."

Plenty to do in the Hudson Valley region. Welcome (in advance) to New York! That guy has been trying to sell that bike for awhile now. Maybe it will be down to $25 when you get there.

sailorbenjamin

We're moving to Chestnut Ridge, just up the hill from Nayak on the West side of the Chimpan Zee Bridge. Looks like there's a lot to do in that neighborhood.
See you next week.
Does that look like a Schwinn cranks on the girls bike?

Fast Cloud

Man, those are like museum old...

cudak888 

That Barnes is in surprisingly good shape. Give it a good cleanup, and she'll look splendid.

-Kurt

smorris 

I love that Colson Rover! And here's the bizarre part; Your bicycle may have been made in the factory where I work.



The office on the second floor left corner was mine for a few years. Now I'm in a newer building attached to the side of this one.

This was the Garford Manufacturing Company, which made the first padded bicycle seats in the world. Later, Garford made bicycles, and then branched off into automobiles, and eventually sold the auto company to Williys-Overland. Meanwhile, the bicycle business became the Colson Company.

sailorbenjamin

I've never heard of a Garford car. Did they make cars in their own name or did they make parts?
I tell you the Colson is growing on me. At first it was just sort of the booby prize of the two but the paint job and the curves are really growing on me. I'm starting to dream of nexus 7 speed coaster hubs laced into red 700 wheels with big cream 29er Schwalbes or something like that.
Over at the CABE folks seem to think that it's mid 30s, maybe even as late as 1936. I did find a serial number under the bottom bracket, 5a1927. We'll see what they say about that.

sailorbenjamin

Well, the red bike has a clearer paper trail. The serial number, 5a1927, is probably a 1935 serial number.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Boy that Colson would be a trip outfitted with a 7speed IGH and Schwalbe Fat Franks

be sure to head down the hill to Nyack and grab a bite and a beer at the Brew Pub. Its a winner.

geez maybe a Hudson Valley C&V ride is in order.

sailorbenjamin

Which brew pub is that? We had a decent meal and beverage when we were down there checking out houses and doing interviews. Don't remember the name of the place, might have been Irish.

sailorbenjamin

Can you get skip tooth cogs for Nexus 7 speeds?

smorris 

Under the Garford name for many years. They also built Studebaker's first gasoline car beginning in 1904, shown below.





We had a 20's Garford in the lobby several years ago from a local collector. Other than the bicycle saddles, I've never heard of the Colson bicycle link until your post. Here's the front view of an auto, and the first single headlight car ever sold.




Here's the building where the Garford Saddles and Colson bikes were made as it is today.




This is the Ridge Tool Company, which manufactures professional pipeworking equipment under the name


Getting too far off topic, but hopefully it gives you a little flavor of the history of where your bike came from. Here are three local ladies making Garford Saddles in the plant I work at.




And here's the finished result on one of their tandems. I'd hate to come off that saddle on a rough road and come down on that top tube! Yoiks!!




https://elyriapride.elyria.com/timema...transport.html

Coincidentally, if the Barnes/Associated Spring connection is really related to your other old bike, I have spec'd out a lot of their springs for our machines.

sailorbenjamin

Wow. Thanks Smorris. I love this kind of stuff.

BobHufford

Rigid ... loved those calendars that my dad kept in his den ...



Thanks for all this interesting geneology!

Bob

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Check that Tandem out!



Its got the ladies style frame for the captain and a mens style for the stoker and the Stoker can steer from the back...or does that make the rear seat the captain?