steelbikeguy

Howdy everyone! I've posted stuff from the glory days of the Brit magazine Cycling Plus and had some good responses... mostly for the Design Classic stuff. Well, I've got a small handful of articles from the great Jim Langley when he was writing for Bicycling magazine that might be of interest too.

These are primarily brief write-ups of some great classic bikes of many decades ago. They were intended for a general audience, so no great detail, but enough to make you say "that's pretty cool! I need to go find out more about it!".

The first article is about the 1936 Bianchi Specialissima with the Vittoria Margherita gear changer.
Enjoy!



Steve in Peoria

btw, the earlier series of "Design Classics" can be found in this thread
and the series of Roger St. Pierre's musings about the old days, titled "Retro", can be found in this thread.

52telecaster

Ty!

steelbikeguy

good question.

I recall mentions of Mr. Denny in the early days of the Classic Rendezvous list. Never knew anything about him. My impression is that some folks had assorted conflicts with him, but he was reputed to have had quite a collection of bikes!

Steve in Peoria

edit: He must have at least been an authority on A.S. Gillott bikes, since he is mentioned in an article on them. There's also a very brief video with him and Richard Sachs.

steelbikeguy

Cinelli Speciale Corsa, 1970
The Cinelli SC is a classic in itself, but this one features the matching fenders and the Cinelli Bivalent hubs (which use the same hub for front and rear, and the freewheel stays attached to the frame). I've seen Cinelli bikes displayed at bike shows with their matching fenders, which is novel, but I haven't heard why Cinelli seems to be unique in this regard. Anyone know the details??




a couple of examples of Cinelli fenders.
The first has some short fenders. I don't understand the function of these, but tiny fenders were a "thing" back in my youth.




and a pair of fenders on a Cinelli that could actually stop the water from spraying on you....




Steve in Peoria

Andy_K 

I have trouble taking a drink of water without swerving. I can't imagine trying to shift that Vittoria Margherita system.

steelbikeguy

I imagine a bit of practice is involved!
Still, it has advantages over the Campagnolo equivalent, the Cambio Corsa. This involves opening the quick release on the rear hub, so the hub can roll fore and aft to get the correct tension while pedaling backwards to make the shift. For folks who complain about reaching for downtube shift levers, it could be worse.

There's not a ton of info popping up on the web about the Cambio Corsa, but this quick video is good...

Steve in Peoria

bulgie 

Pretty sure he's the same Ken Denny who was sentenced to 4+ years in prison for bank robbery. That was in 2017 so he should be out now. It was reported on the ClassicRendezvous list, where he was a frequent contributor, that this was indeed "our" Ken Denny. The fact that he left his wallet behind during the robbery, with his ID/address/headshot inside, tells me he was not in his right mind at the time.

Mark B

steelbikeguy

The Old Weigh
A quick look at the idea of "drillium", with a great shot of the Zeus crank that came pre-drilled from the factory! A number of manufacturers sold pre-drilled chainrings, which was primarily ornamental, but this Zeus was the only crankset with the arm slotted in such a fashion. The only parallel that comes to mind was the "Mexico" treatment that slotted the spider arms and took a small amount of material off of the arms on the Campagnolo Record crankset. As Mr Langley notes, component manufacturers started updating their designs with lighter, better engineered versions with less chance of failure than the drillium modifications.




Steve in Peoria

chain_whipped

The Bivalent hubs are a clever thought. Peculiar enough, I'm still kicking myself for not bidding on an early Peugeot carbon tubed / lugged with full exotic French components and version of the Bivalent hubs! Never seen or heard of before. Seller was on French ebay. Think to have saved pics of it. Bike wasn't cheap, no bids but what an interesting exotic.

--------

Those splash guards surely are 'Gucci' and I suppose were partially functional to keep crud from embedded into the brake. The shorties remind me of the mentality when fin's were in during 1950's on cars or in modern era, wings and racing rear spoilers on vehicles.

steelbikeguy

Was that a French equivalent of the Cinelli Bivalent hubs? I know that the idea of leaving the sprocket cluster on the bike is one that keeps coming back and from different manufacturers.

I've never held a Bivalent hub/wheel in my hands, but have gotten a few photos at the Classic Rendezvous events. Harvey Sachs ("the other Sachs") was nice enough to display his Cinelli with one Bivalent wheel removed.





and I think this was someone else's bike...


Clearly, the convenience(?) of having interchangeable wheels does have some overhead cost of extra bits that have to be bolted into the dropouts, with the resultant extra cost and presumably extra weight. It also means that no one is getting a spare wheel from the support vehicle in the race (unless you put one of your spares in the vehicle ahead of time?).
That was an era of extreme standardization of components on race bikes, so the Bivalent hubs were an act of optimism by Cinelli.


Was that just the automotive style back then? I really don't recall, but I'm assuming that hotrod cars .. or probably chopped motorcycles.. were the inspiration for the Schwinn Stingrays and its imitators (i.e. my old Sears Spyder).
The '76 Stingray certainly had fenders of marginal utility...



I've got some clip-on semi-fenders for a recumbent that bear some similarity to this era of tiny fenders.
The clip-on front fender was more destructive than I anticipated though... it fits behind the fork and channels all the water right onto the lower headset bearing. It was the first time I'd seen a sealed cartridge bearing with the grease washed out of it, resulting in complete rust! Terrible.

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

Schwinn Varsity, an All-American
The bike boom hit America pretty hard, but do we remember those first bikes with drop bars to enter the bike shop down the street? That was probably the venerable Schwinn Varsity. Jim looks at an early one, with a 4 speed freewheel, half-step chainrings, and "suicide" shifting front derailleur. At 35 to 40 pounds, it made my LeTour look like a featherweight!




Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

Victor Spinroller
In the early days of the safety bike, the chain was a miracle of efficiency and allowed the use of gearing, which let little wheels go as fast as the old high wheel bikes. As nice as the chain was, it could still get filthy lube all over your good trousers or bloomers! Shaft drives were tried by various manufacturers, with the benefit of clean clothes, as well as no chance of getting your clothes snagged in the chain or chainring. A downside of shaft drive designes were the inefficiencies of the bevel gears at the crank and the rear wheel. The Spinroller was the solution to this... instead of gear teeth sliding past each other, the Spinroller has rollers meshing with other rollers. Presumably the rollers and their small shafts didn't wear as well as the bevel gears, but there are no details available to prove or disprove this hypothesis.

A few years back, a new shaft drive bike was unveiled by Ceramic Speed that used rollers to mesh with their multi-cog rear wheel. Not sure what has happened since their press release...
https://www.ceramicspeed.com/en/cycl...re-is-shifting
Some ideas just keep popping back up, not unlike oval chainrings.




Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

Wood on Wheels
Jim discusses the 1898 Chilion bicycle, built with a hickory frame and aluminum/bronze lugs. While it didn't quite live up to the promises made by the manufacturer, wood does have some virtues.





There was a recent resurgence in wood frames by small manufacturers, and even Bike Snob NYC was fond of one that he rode. The 2016 NAHBS had wood frames displayed by Connor Wood Bicycles and Woody Bicycles.

A couple of models by Connor...




and a road bike from Woody Bicycles...


I'm not sure if this is just a trend that has faded away. It's been a while since I've seen any discussion of this technology.

Steve in Peoria

El Chaba

Very interesting. I recall him absolutely going off on me a month or two after I joined the list for mentioning that I had purchased a brand new Super Record crankset in what I believed to be an unopened box with one of the five chainring bolts labelled “Gipiemme” instead of “Campagnolo”. I concluded that the list was a bit of a club that was not really interested in new members and so I left rather than to have any other encounters like that.

bulgie 

Well that's a shame, maybe try it again? He was banned from the list for being hostile, so that is definitely not your average CR member. Not everyone likes the rules; and there are a few for sure. It's a tightly-run ship. Pretty good for friendliness though, no flame wars allowed. Rule #8 reads "Civility is #1 in importance!" Um, then why isn't it rule #1?

The rule people have the most trouble with is the requirement to sign off with your real name, city state and country, on every post. Maybe that's extreme, but I think the "no anonymity" rule helps with the civility. Scammers, trolls and cyber-bullies don't like to give their real names.

I'm a big fan of list founder Dale Brown, who's a gentleman and a scholar. Also a race promoter, framebuilder, community activist, fine artist, veteran, and all-around cool dude.

Mark B

Road Fan

the Raleigh Club-style bikes or the ‘50s and perhaps before had a small pointed section of mudguard ahead of the fork, which was kind of fixed in place, and the rest of the front guard is detachable with wing nuts. The rear ‘guard detached with wing nuts as well. I’m not sure what problem this solved, but perhaps Cinelli also saw what the Brit designers did. Or vice-versa.

I assume pulling the ‘guards was done in the same breath as clamping in the sprints. Well, maybe just a few more breaths … but part of event preparation when your race bike is your work bike.

chain_whipped

Yes, that EBAY listed French exotic lightweight was full built French components including a version of the 'bivalent' hubs. Had Huret Jubilee derailleurs, CLB Pro brakes, etc.. Tricked out with special seatpost and stem too. I came across the posting while searching for Perache saddles.

Its obvious the design never took on, but never say never. Laugh, but in the 1970's JC Penney road bikes had Shimano disc brakes (rear only).
Then it all vanished. Decades later started to re-appear in the mountain bikes and now today the roadie bike snobs wont be caught nothing less than having disc brakes.

steelbikeguy

America's Bicycle Museum
Way back when, the Schwinn family's bike collection was on display at the Navy Pier in downtown Chicago. This article is dated 1993, and I recall making a trip there with the local bike club sometime in the late 90's. It was truly an amazing collection! Naturally, the Schwinn family wasn't able to afford to display them at this prime location for a long time. I think it has mostly moved to a location in Ohio?? I suspect that some has been (and may still be) on loan to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The Museum has had an interesting and novel display on the evolution of bikes and some of the more unusual variants.
The Schwinn family did display part of their collection at RAGBRAI 19, which must have been around ... 1993??
Photos included in the next post.













Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

The Schwinn family did display part of their collection at RAGBRAI 19, which must have been around ... 1993??
Photos below.

Schwinn high speed record holder. 108.92 miles per hour

high resolution: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...22415_3k_d.jpg


Schwinn 1934 Streamline Aerocycle

high resolution: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...449e9_3k_d.jpg

maybe a Bowden Spacelander in the left rear??

high resolution: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...bc7c0_3k_d.jpg


a chromed highwheel bike, a.k.a. Ordinary.

high resolution: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...00f81_3k_d.jpg


a variety of interesting bikes, including a side-by-side two person bike (in blue).

high resolution: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...74a17_3k_d.jpg


A 3 person tandem bike. The bottom brackets appear to be bolted to the bottom of the lower frame tubes?? Looks like this might be to get the chain tension right??

high resolution: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c94bd_3k_d.jpg

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

and another follow-up to the Schwinn Museum...
I visited the museum on the Navy Pier in Chicago in 1996, and took some modest photos. Not bad for the point & shoot cameras of the day, but pretty poor compared to most modern phone cameras.
Still, there were some pretty cool bikes there!

Not sure if this is an American Star, known for putting a small steerable wheel in front of the large rear wheel. It's certainly an interesting variation from the usual high wheel bikes of the era.


A couple of novel high wheel bikes. The one on the right, with the linkages connecting the pedals to the crank arms, is the 1884 Singer Xtra Ordinary. The other is almost reminiscent of modern low-spoke-count wheels.. except that it uses radial spoking with some arms attached to the hub to permit the wheel to transmit torque.


this certainly appears to be the 1898 Chilion hickory framed bike mentioned in Mr. Langley's earlier article.


the bike that is hiding in the shadows in the center of this photo is technically a tricycle. It has a large drive wheel on its left, and two small in-line wheels on the right that steer the machine. I happen to have a postcard published by Pryor Dodge that says that the machine is the Rudge Rotary Tricycle, circa 1882.


in the dim background is the Schwinn Streamliner Aerocycle. This was the era of the balloon tire bikes for kids, so it's all about style!! Who knew that aerodynamics would be the cutting edge of bike tech in just 60 or 70 years??



that's enough for now... to be continued.

Steve in Peoria

Pompiere

The president of Crown Forklift company bought the Schwinn collection from the bankruptcy court and started The Bicycle Museum of America in New Bremen, Ohio. He wanted something to attract visitors to the small town. It is a very nice display, filling three floors. There are a lot more in storage, so they rotate periodically. They also have purchased bikes to add to the collection, like a couple of Robin Williams' bikes. The museum is not far from the former Huffy plant, so they are also represented. THE BICYCLE MUSEUM OF AMERICA

The hickory bike is currently on their homepage slide show.

steelbikeguy

'Ya know, I was pretty sure that someone had mentioned that their collection was over in Ohio, but I forgot the details. Sorry about that oversight!
Best wishes to New Bremen and the museum. Very good of them to provide a home to those bikes, and I hope it does draw the tourists. Ohio is reputed to have a good network of trails across the state, so perhaps a trail goes through town and to the museum?

Poking through the web site, I notice that they identify the high wheeler with the torque transmitting rods as the 1875 Ariel. It shows the Otto Dicycle too!! Definitely one of the wildest ideas on two wheels!

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

.... and here's the remainder of the photos from the 1996 visit to the Schwinn museum in Chicago:

the Whizzer motorized bicycle... sort of a moped, I guess.


the original Schwinn Black Phantom:


the Hopalong Cassidy bike, complete with saddlebags and a holster for your six-shooter. Is the fringe on the rear fender's mudflap a bit too much??


The bike on the right is a Bowden Spacelander.. right? What's the bike on the left? I can't imagine that removing the down tube did a lot for the torsional stiffness.


One of the first real weight-weenie bikes in the USA, the Teledyne Titan, with a titanium frame! This one looks like it is set up for time trialing, judging by the single chainring.


a 1910 Iver Johnson bike, which the display suggests was ridden by Major Taylor.
The 5 place tandem bike in the background is pretty cool too!


The 1881 Otto Dicycle, complete with wavy spokes to absorb road shock. I wonder how well that worked out? The wavy spokes mean that you couldn't get much tension on the spoke, so there must have been some way to lock the nipple in place?? The Dicycle steered by letting the drive belt slip a bit on one or the other wheel, IIRC. That must have been interesting to operate!


The 1897 Old Hickory bicycle.


Three boneshakers on display, with a treadle-driven bike in the background. The treadle-driven bike appears to be similar to what MacMillan was reputed to have created in 1840.


That's the last of the photos of the Schwinn museum display in Chicago!

Steve in Peoria

John E

That specimen has had the usual Huret upgrade for the rear derailleur. The original was that dreadful normal-low bandspring unit, mate to the equally dreadful and primitive Simplex "suicide shift" front derailleur. Schwinn parts manager and "father of the 8/10-speed Varsinental," Keith Kingbay, is quoted in "The Dancing Chain," relating the story of how he got the Huret brothers drunk at a Chicago steak house to convince them to lower their price to match Lucien "Simplex" Juy's, so that by 1962, all Varsities and Continentals had Huret derailleurs front and rear.

iab

When I was much more flexible one or two back surgeries ago, I used both quite a bit. Although I had a first-gen VM which requires you to use your hand to move the chain instead of the flappers of gen 2. And when a VM is setup properly, it is smooth. The problem with VM is that when it is not setup properly, and I mean that jockey wheel is off by a millimeter or two, it just doesn't work. Best case scenario it makes a horrific grinding noise, worst case scenario your chain is popping off the chainring every 100 meters.

I understand why Campagnolo's marketing campaign for the CC was "Senza attriti e senza rumore", without friction and without noise, especially compared to an out-of-tune VM. I prefer CC over VM.

The problem with Campagnolo was he was not first to market with his derailleur. VM was about 1930 and won Worlds by 1932. The CC didn't hit the market until 1934 and the Italian pro peloton was dominated by VM. But whatever Campagnolo did, it worked. By 1940, CC was standard equipment on on the Bianchi Folgore. 1946 the CC had its first overall Giro win and dominated the Italian derailleur market until the Gran Sport in 1951.