Worksman
 

Yeah, I bought one. It's okay. Could be better.
But what I'm really wondering is this,
(and I should probably just ask the guys at the factory but...)
if Worksman is the oldest bike manufacturer in the US,
where are all of their old bikes?

Worked to death.

"Worked to death" is probably about right. The company may be old, but it's not huge, either, so even newer bikes are not that common on the used market. But I have seen some older ones restored and whatnot.

I've got an oldish front-loading trike, and am currently trying to figure out just how old it is.

Edit: Just got a response back from Worksman: "anywhere from appx 1970- 1985" :)

http://tampa.craigslist.org/psc/bfs/840223210.html
http://denver.craigslist.org/bik/842458923.html
http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtop...orksman#p78809
http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtop...orksman#p76428

Great question. In all the time I've been on these forums, I haven't seen one post - not one - in regards to a C&V Worksman cycle.

If their old stuff was anything close to the crap they produce today, then it doesn't surprise me why there aren't any in existence!

-Kurt

I thought Columbia was the oldest.

Well, according to the definition, my trike counts as "vintage". But in fact, they still make nearly the identical model 23-38 years later, and you can still buy new parts for it from the manufacturer. And it's still useable. So there's a nice long post on it, only it isn't in the C&V section, it's in the Utility Forum.

Realistically, the content of the C&V forum is VERY skewed to a certain type and era of bicycle. 95% of it is multi-speed bikes from the 70's and 80's. You'll see the occasional old cruiser post, but considering that the Schwinn cruisers probably outsold Worksman bikes 100 to 1 or more, it's not too surprising not to see them too often.

As I pointed out above, I have seen posts on old Worksman bikes, just not on THIS forum- but rather on forums that dealt more specifically with "old" bikes and not 70's/80's 10-speeds. I've never heard of the frame of a Worksman bike "wearing out", and pretty much everything else is replaceable. So there is no inherent reason why bikes as old as the hills wouldn't still be floating around. I would expect that industrial use and corporate ownership would account for the low numbers you see.

I think you'll find a similar thing in the automotive world. When I was in high school and college, I worked at a dump truck place that mainly ran old Internationals. These were gas-engine 18-wheelers or 10-wheel bobtails, mostly with straight 6's, the hoods that folded up in the middle, etc. I think they were from the early 60's, but pretty much looked like trucks from the 40's. But, you just don't hardly see any of those around now, especially restored to "new". And for every one you see, you'll see 10,000 hot rods and restored cars from the same era. Heavy use just drove those things right into the ground, and corporate ownership sent most of them to the scrap yard instead of somebody's barn. But it's not a reflection on the trucks that you don't see many around now. In a similar way, you see lots and lots of old tractors, but very few old bulldozers.

I grew up in that part of Queens and never heard of Worksman until a few years ago.

Sitting around on the back lots of factories all over the country, or they got scrapped when the plant closed down.

Aaron:)

Still in use. Those things are tanks and last forever. The navy yard by us has a fleet of them--they are coveted and new owners/caretakers usually paint them... meaning there are bikes cruising around with enough paint to add significant weight to the bike. The users never own the bike, gov't property, and pass them along to someone else when they no longer need them or move on to another job or position. Most of the ones in use today date from the 50s and 60s.

Thanks for the replies everyone.
Gotta get a digital camera.

Worksman -- brings back memories of my days as a delivery boy for one of the local supermarkets. The store had several delivery bikes. They might have been made by Worksman -- they certainly looked the same as some of the bikes Worksman displays on their website. There was a three-wheeler (two in front, the drive wheel in back) that looked identical to the ice cream vending trikes currently sold, except that the box wasn't insulated. Also a few two-wheelers with a small wheel up front to allow for a huge basket.

Here's one. Great price, too, somebody go grab both of these:

http://houston.craigslist.org/bik/874310805.html

old schwinn cruisers - $50 (spring)

I have two heavy duty industrial cruisers.The black one is a worksman,the yellow one is a schwinn.They both are ready to ride good tubes tires and chains.They are great bikes to throw in the truck to take to park or beach.They are great restoration bikes.50.00 each cash only call scott 281 615 6716

I was doing a little more research on Worksman....slow night!

One statement up there: "I grew up in that part of Queens and never heard of Worksman until a few years ago."

From this link: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...=&pagewanted=2

"Barbara Mishkin, his granddaughter, recalled her grandmother's saying that in those early days Mr. Worksman spent all the family's money on patents. ''They moved from place to place because they didn't have enough money for food,'' she said.
"All three of Mr. Worksman's children ended up working with him. It was his youngest son, Irving, then still in his teens, who struck the deal with Good Humor. That enabled the company to move from Manhattan to a bigger space in Brooklyn. In 1979, Worksman moved to its current factory in Queens....
"In 1979, the city helped finance the company's move to Queens by giving it tax breaks for 20 years. That arrangement ended last fall, returning the company to its full tax rate."

The Good Humor deal was in the 1930's, so it looks like they moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn in the 1930's, from there to Queens in 1979.

From this website: http://www.freewebs.com/alamanceattic/familyphotos.htm
I find an old ad for ice cream bikes of unknown vintage and an old invoice from 1940. The ad shows the address as 446-456 Adelphi Street, Brooklyn 17, N.Y. The invoice shows addresses as Office- 8 Cortlandt Street, NYC; Factory- 125 Navy Street, Brooklyn, NY.

From what little I can find on the history, it sounds like Mr. Worksman's operation was pretty limited up until the 1930's, maybe just custom work or something like that, but not regular manufacturing. Their big hit in the 1930's was the Good Humor ice cream cycles. It sounds like they also started making industrial bicycles in the 1930's.

Currently, Worksman sells direct to the public (via their website), and markets certain bikes for recreational use. But I don't know how long that has been the case. As long as they were selling industrial bikes to Ford Motor Company or similar clients, relatively few of those would have ever made it to the civilian market.