Originally Posted by
Road Fan
Bendix 2 speed w. coaster brake? I had one of these around 1963, assembled by LBS into a 26" middleweight, frame unknown. I hated this bike because it felt slow and sluggish, and neither of the gears seemed to be able work with my young legs. I see they are quoted as having ratios of 1:1 and 1:0.67. Mine seemed to hae very long cranks, one-piece ashtabula-style. Frame had curved TTs, so perhaps it was 1950s. A used build from a decent bike shop, I'd not limit the hub to being a 1950s or any other year. We just don't know. Lost track of that bike 50 years ago, but were there any such hubs with different ratios?
There were several Bendix 2 speed hubs, the one in question here is the manual shift 2 speed that seemed to surface around 1955 or so.
In 1961, the Automatic (Kickback) 2 speed came about with the red band and yellow band models, and I believe there was a blue band as well.
The manual 2 speed had a good bit of drag, and it got worse with heavier grease.
Keep in mind that just because they didn't list it or that something may have gone out of production didn't mean they didn't build something using older components. Lesser models and shop built bikes often got what ever parts were on the shelf at the time. This was even more common with American manufacturers during the bike boom. I remember back in the day we'd all get put on bike assembly duty right before Christmas. It got to the point where you never knew what equipment any particular model may have, often models varied box to box off the same truck. You were lucky if both hubs were the same brand on some bikes. They used what they could get when parts production or supply didn't keep up with the demand. I remember having to pull a dozen or so bikes out of their boxes just to walk around and pair up wheels or switch tires around to make sure each new bike had at least two matching hubs and tires. You would open bikes up and find completely different components than the specs in the catalog ir worse yet, bikes with decals from two different models on opposite sides, or surprise paint colors. One instance that I remember well was a lower end 10 speed road bike which I pulled out the box with one 26x1 3/8" front wheel, ten speed stem shifters, a front and rear derailleur, and a 26x1 3/8" gumwall coaster brake rear wheel. all tied up and boxed from the factory. Either someone was having a good laugh or they were just that screwed up back then.
They would substitute any part that worked in a pinch, usually it was no big deal but sometimes they flat out missed the mark.
The best one's were when you opened a box and found a bike branded with two different brands. (Headbadge didn't match the chainguard or frame decals).
This happened a few times with manufacturers that fielded multiple brands.
Distributor or 'house' brands were worse then the big brands when it came to this.