..

I don't believe it is a Schwinn. Three reasons: The chainring is not pattern normally used. The seatstay-seattube junction does not look like a Schwinn (they tended to use rounded and not squished ends). And the brace bar between the two down tubes is not a feature I've noticed on Schwinns. Of course I could be wrong about all of this.

BTW, very nice pictures. Thanks for sharing.

There's writing on the top tube. It says "ROADSTER". Dunno if that helps, but it's probably a model name, so you might be able to find something under that name.

Some googling indicates that both Raleigh and Triumph made a "Roadster" model.

I can't believe you guys are fixated on that *** bike and not the girl!

Hah! I noticed that feature in the photos too.

Very distracting - and not in a bad way, at all...

What bike?

While I can't say exactly what it is, but i can say it doesn't look like anything Raleigh made.
the Crank alone looks too lightweight, lack of lugs, that support tube etc..

Does it look Japanese to anyone else?

"Hey Baby do those legs go all the way up?"

I'm with the guys with no decorum. I want to marry that woman.

But I did notice the one-inch pitch of the teeth on the chainring. Can't help it. I'm a bike guy, too.

it must have sucked to pedal with leather soled shoes with rubber pedals. no wonder she has the ball of her foot in the wrong place. one would have thought her calves would be more developed if she rode this fixed gear everyday.


sorry women's legs to nothing for me.

My grandmother, who lived in Buffalo NY, went out and bought a bike during WW2. It was badged T. A. Rick, Buffalo, NY. It had the skiptooth chain like this one, and thin tires like this one, though I don't recall whether they were 26 x 1 3/8.

I don't mean to suggest the bike in the picture was a T. A. Rick; my point is only that at this period there were a lot of American bicycle manufacturers.

Yeah, what Robbie said.....

It is a single speed with a coaster brake, not a fixed gear.

vjp

Higher res versions.



https://images.google.com/hosted/life...31f9f21c229651

https://images.google.com/hosted/life...7894bbeac32186

So that we can see the construction of the bicycle better, of course...

I say it's a Columbia

oops my bad. someday someone's gonna have to 'splain the difference to some of us.

btw anyone else think that the handlebars are painted black and the wheels are white?
neither metal reflects as if it were chromed.

With a coaster brake hub, you can coast. And when you apply backward pressure to the pedals, you actuate a brake inside the hub, which slows or stops the bike.

You may have had a coaster brake bike when you were little.

That figures for wartime production - was chromium in restricted supply (only for military use) in the US as well as Britain during WWII?

edit: as Proofride mentioned, the white patch on the rear mudguard would normally be a sign of wartime blackout use if it were an English ride. Did that happen to bikes in the US too?

I will throw one in there. Hercules??? The way the front fender comes to a point reminds me of an old one I saw at an auction. Maybe all old fenders were like that, what the hell do I know. A quick google just told me that they made a roadster too in 1939

Yes it's a Columbia Roadster shown on page 51 of "classic American Bicycles" by Jay Pridmore

damn.
fun's over.

someone find another picture

Hardly! I keep going back to those pictures.

Erasergirl says women's legs don't do anything for her. Sure, I understand. I'm more of a breast man than a leg man, but those pictures are just amazing. I can't even put my finger on it.

Wartime Columbia. I think the Stars are a Columbia thing, that and there have been 3 other Columbia lightweight threads in the last week. Why stop now? I'd have to check but there were only a couple of companies that were allowed to continue producing bikes for civilians . As I recal, Monark was chosen for the military bikes but I forgot who got the civilian privileges.
Skiptooth coaster brake, Persons saddle, Torrington pedals, and you see that cute finned fender on a lot of american lightweights of that era too, including that new Pinup thread.
A good night for ladies on bikes.

Funny, no chrome but they still had time for boxlining.