rhm

A. Winthrop brought this to my attention last Friday, but I didn't call the seller until yesterday. Here's the Craigslist ad:

Antique Men's 1920's "The Racycle" Bike (Pennington,N.J.)
Date: 2010-02-04, 7:04PM EST

Selling an antique 1920's men's bike.The headbadge reads"THE RACYCLE,SELF OILING,MIAMI CYCLING,MIDDLETON".The seat is origional,has a bell and wooden oak rims.The tires are marked "WEARWELL GIANT KNOB CORD RACER"Aug 25,1923 Patent and the size is 28"x1 1/8".Looks to have homemade fenders that were added when person stopped racing this bike.If interested call (609)273-3060 and make me an offer.

* Location: Pennington,N.J.
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests





So anyway, I called the seller yesterday. The guy is an antique dealer who bought this bike as an antique, from the original owner, 20 or 30 years ago. Allegedly the original owner had raced on it when he was young, continued to ride into the 40's, and then put the bike in storage. Seller says it's all original, tires still hold air, and has no rust on it. He even has a photo of the original owner, with the bike, at a race in the 20's.

The seller has some idea that this is worth something, and isn't interested in a low-ball offer (so that rules me out!). So I'm not looking for an appraisal either. But I am tempted to go look at the bike and take some photos to post here. Any advice?

norskagent

take $100 cash and point out everything wrong with it.

JunkYardBike

I saw that, too. Did a fast search on the interwebz and learned it's got an outboard bearing system at the BB. What's old is new again. Too bad that one doesn't have the giant chainring like this one:

Mos6502

He can expect to get about $300. Maybe $400 if somebody cares about the history of the bike.

Bicycles made after the golden age, but prior to the balloon era are not especially sought after - and like this one are generally pretty plain machines.

He might try looking up Copake auction results.