Anyone Recognize this Teens Motobike Frame?

[Brian R.]

This bike I just picked up has a head badge from a small Canadian company that ceased production in the late teens, early twenties. The crank hanger that is probably a CCM replacement, the front fender doesn't fit well between the fork truss, and I suspect the steel rims were a later replacement for original wood rims. It seems to to me to be a frankenbike. Early small Canadian bike makers could have built their own frames, or made use of economies of scale and imported American frames for assembly in their local factory. The construction of the fork truss looks very distinctive, so I would like to know if anyone here recognizes the features of this frame and can identify the maker. The serial number on the bb is 519133

 

[Goldenindian]

Looks 1920-22 Davis made motobike to me. Good score. Frame and fork.

 

[Goldenindian]

Can we see the headbadge?

 

[Brian R.]

Thank you, that's a very interesting tip. I did a search for photos and it sure looks like Davis either made the frame or supplied the bits and pieces for the Canadian company to weld together (to get around tariffs). What do you think about the lower tube not being parallel with the top tube, was that a Davis thing or just poor assembly?

Yes, I can post a photo of the badge. I held that back at first because I didn't want to influence people's opinions on who made it. It was assembled by The Berlin and Racycle Manufacturing Company in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Here is what I know:

In 1897 in Berlin, Ontario (later Kitchener) Arthur Pequegnat began building Berlin bicycles (his own design) and assembling Racycle bicycles from Miami in Ohio. Miami stopped production of the Racycle in 1918. The Berlin and Racycle Co. stopped making bikes in 1923.

So what did Pequegnat do between 1918 and 1923 when there was no more Racycle hardware to import? With Goldenindian's tip, here is my theory (yes, I'm guessing! Pequengnat was already accustomed to sourcing bikes in Middleton Ohio, so he went down the road to the Davis Sewing Machine Co. in Dayton and sourced his bikes from there, either complete frames, or the parts necessary to weld one together. And then, about to lose his second supplier in a row with Davis set to be liquidated in 1924, he decides that 1923 will be his last year of bike assembly and he will focus exclusively on making clocks, which his company did until 1941.

So now we have a Canadian assembled Davis bike with a Racycle badge on it and a CCM crank hanger. Does that sound right?

 

[Goldenindian]

"What do you think about the lower tube not being parallel with the top tube, was that a Davis thing or just poor assembly?"

That is the way the 1920 frame construction looks. Good research. Sounds about right to me. Racycle badge Davis in Canada. Way cool.

 

[Brian R.]

Found this picture via Google Images, from another CABE thread: