An antique bike

For a friend, who would like to know more about this bike

Sergio
Pisa
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Mia figlia ha fatto questa foto
http://yfrog.com/b761321200824462228127705j

oggetto spettacolare!
sarebbe bello saperne di piu'

On Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:59:09 -0700 (PDT), sergio
wrote:

For a friend, who would like to know more about this bike

Sergio
Pisa
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Mia figlia ha fatto questa foto
http://yfrog.com/b761321200824462228127705j

oggetto spettacolare!
sarebbe bello saperne di piu'

Dear Sergio,

It looks like a typical bike-boom era (~1896) scorcher model, meaning
little more than a dropped handlebar for speed and style.

There were hundreds of companies building such bicycles, most of which
were almost identical.

There may be a big silver name plate on the steering tube.

A large collection of photos of similar bikes:
http://www.nostalgic.net/arc/pre1920....asp?start=100

An 1894 "scorcher" ad:

http://www.nostalgic.net/index.asp?S...corcher+ad.jpg

A $100 1897 "scorcher" given the more dignified name of "racer":

http://www.nostalgic.net/index.asp?S...yers+cat+4.jpg

By 1899, the bike boom has collapsed, the price of "scorchers" has
dropped to $40, and the bicycle companies are going out of business:

http://www.nostalgic.net/index.asp?S...lyer+cat+2.jpg

Cheers,

Carl Fogel