G519 Columbia Chainwheels

[Mercian]

Hi All,

Johan Willaert makes an observation on his website about the two different chainwheels fitted to mens Columbia G519's, 'Coffin' and 'Sweetheart' styles (left and right respectively on Johan's picture, below)

http://www.theliberator.be/BicyclesImages/MGFrontSprockets.jpg

It seems the early bikes were fitted with the Coffin style, and later bikes with the Sweetheart style, being a complete change for all of the end of production. Mine is fitted with the Sweetheart wheel, hence the interest.

Oddly, the USMC bikes, which have later frame numbers than the Army production revert to the Coffin type wheel.

I know the Coffin type was a standard prewar Columbia pattern.

Does anyone know:

Where the Sweetheart pattern wheels come from (Bike make, model or supplier)?

Why they were changed in production? (I presume war shortages, but interesting that they would go back to the Coffin for the USMC bikes, though, since there seem to be far fewer of these, perhaps there were sufficient wheels available).

Thanks for your help.

Best Regards,

Adrian

 

[Bozman]

I have evidence of both 1942s, 1943s and 1944s having the coffin chain ring. I'll have to look at some of my collection of war Era G519 pics to see if I can find any 1942 curved bars with the sweetheart ring.

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[Mercian]

Hi Bozman,

Thanks for your reply.

I have a list of around 45 known Columbia G519 with construction details where possible, and I've not yet seen a Sweetheart ring on a curved bar frame. (It doesn't mean it's impossible, I've just not seen it).

On the straight bar frames, the changeover seems to occur between MG119086 (Coffin) and MG134319 (Sweetheart), the majority after this point being Sweetheart. One Coffin exception is your MG137342, which is close to the breakover point. Since it's unlikely they would be building up the frames in strict frame number order, or necessarily using up all of the Coffin parts before moving on to the Sweetheart, I guess that's quite possible. Do you know if the chainring was original to the bicycle? (That's a difficult question, as I appreciate that they could be changed in service too).

I would welcome your thoughts on the ideas above.

Best Regards,

Adrian

 

[Bozman]

Adrian,
Thanks for your research. Let me look through my paperwork and photographs to see if the coffin chain ring was on the bike when I got it. Of note is the women's M306 which I believe always had the coffin chain ring.

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[johan willaert]

Women's (M306) G519s had the smaller chainring of a different style...

 

[Mercian]

Hi Bozman,

Thanks for checking to see if it was the original chainwheel. Whilst you are looking, could I ask if the Eclipse rear hub was also the original, and, if so, what was the date code (if you don't want to share in public, happy for a pm).

Johan is correct about the chainwheels on the ladies bikes (as he would be since I saw the first one on his site). I have 8 listed, and they seem (so far) to be in two batches, one from around MG139xxx to MG141xxx, and the other around MG154xxx. Both of these blocks occur amongst the later Sweetheart bikes.

Best Regards,

Adrian

 

[Bozman]

Adrian

I will pull out the bike this week. I know the Eclipse hub was original to the bike. I'll look through my records but as I recall the bike actually had a Huffman Chain ring and a Huffman chain guard on it. I have pictures in my backup files. I'm pretty excited to have a sweetheart chain ring bicycle in my collection. Now I'll have both styles. I have a spare sweetheart chaining in my collection.

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[Bozman]

Adrian

I will pull out the bike this week. I know the Eclipse hub was original to the bike. I'll look through my records but as I recall the bike actually had a Huffman Chain ring and a Huffman chain guard on it. I have pictures in my backup files. I'm pretty excited to have a sweetheart chain ring bicycle in my collection. Now I'll have both styles. I have a spare sweetheart chaining in my collection.

Thanks again to you and Johan for all your research.

Boz

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Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[Bozman]

Adrian,

Enclosed are some of the pics from when I restored my bike. It was originally found with a Huffman chain ring and chain guard. A fellow G519 enthusiast kept the Huffman parts and gave me the coffin ring and Columbia chain guard. Original Morrow hub marked M1 = first quarter of 1943.

 

[Mercian]

Hi Bozman,

Thanks for taking the trouble to dig out and upload those new old pictures. It's the first time I've seen the bike on this site, all the previous information I had on it came from your G503 postings. It's good to hear some of the background story to it's aquisition too.

I'm happy the info on the chainring has come in useful for you. For me, this bike was the only anomaly on the list I've compiled so far, and, as I explained above while a coffin ring mildly surprised me, a sweetheart ring does seem far more likely.

Best Regards,

Adrian