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Real Bike Co. Philadelphia, PA

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S

stratto

Guest
Looking for info on a bike I picked up badged Real. Underneath says Real Bike Co., Philadelphia PA. Haven't had a chance to clean it up yet, any info on this company would be helpful. Other bike I got were a 60's Columbia Thunderbolt - missing dual headlight and rear rack, and a large green one with decals worn off, seat says mesinger on back. Any Thoughts?
 

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Real bicycle reply

Hi, i have been a collector of everything since i was in first grade. I am now 58yrs old. I have a real co. Boys bike that i bought 20yrs ago. It is from the 1950s and was mint when i bought it. I was told that they were a little mom + pop company on 3rd street in phila. They used schwinn parts to ake their bikes. I use upper case letters because i can not type and it is much easier. This is my first time on a forum and i am having trouble getting my response out. This is my third try. Please let me know if you get it, oldguy
 
Hi, i have been a collector of everything since i was in first grade. I am now 58yrs old. I have a real co. Boys bike that i bought 20yrs ago. It is from the 1950s and was mint when i bought it. I was told that they were a little mom + pop company on 3rd street in phila. They used schwinn parts to ake their bikes. I use upper case letters because i can not type and it is much easier. This is my first time on a forum and i am having trouble getting my response out. This is my third try. Please let me know if you get it, oldguy

I know this is an old thread, I just came across it today. The bicycle company you speak of was the Real Cycle Co. Located at 807 N. Third st. in Philadelphia's Northern Liberties section. I know because I used to work there part time after school in the late 1960s. Shame they have since shut down operations. The family that ran the business is still around.
 
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I know this is an old thread, I just came across it today. The bicycle company you speak of was the Real Cycle Co. Located at 807 N. Third st. in Philadelphia's Northern Liberties section. I know because I used to work there part time after school in the late 1960s. Shame they have since shut down operations. The family that ran the business is still around.
Additional Information On the Real Cycle Co. is that it started out as N.T. Cycle by the founder Nicholas Toconita, as seen on this old Bicycle head badge
310663_264798696974385_1759579298_n-1.jpg
and later became the Real Cycle Co. as seen on this bicycle Head badge, in the 1960's the head badges were made with a silvered paper and glued on, with the REAL spelled out verticaly with wings to either side, still trying to find a photo of one.
292851_264799533640968_759769986_n-1.jpg
Here is the building years after the bicycle company closed.
577414_264793820308206_1550688290_n-1.jpg
and this
388949_264796490307939_1971109306_n.jpg
Shame trying to find photos of these bikes is like trying to find hens teeth.
 
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Pictures of my Real!!!!!!!!!!!

I just picked this up I've been questing after it for over a year now and finally got it. Ive done a lot of searching and have not yet found one picture of a bike from this company. So here they are. (Hopefully this works ive never uploaded pictures to this website before.) Hopefully i will be posting more pictures of my collection soon.
 

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Wow!

That is cool and extremely unusual in a number of ways. What a great find :) - I guess it goes without saying that what you got there is rare.
 
I just picked this up I've been questing after it for over a year now and finally got it. Ive done a lot of searching and have not yet found one picture of a bike from this company. So here they are. (Hopefully this works ive never uploaded pictures to this website before.) Hopefully i will be posting more pictures of my collection soon.

Barnegatbicycle what you have got is just plain incredible. Not only is it an authentic Real Cycle bike but also it is the early version. You can tell by the location of the rear wheel support tabs (later one had the tabs at the curve of the of the rear frame) also by the old style skip tooth sprocket and chain and then of course the old style head badge. Thanks for the photos, this older style bike was rare even when I was working part time at the Real Cycle Co. back in the late 1960's. Question. Do you plan to restore it? That would be awesome.
 
Plans for the Real

Thank you all for your comments. I liked the bike from the moment i saw it. I loved it for the frame. The paint is original and ive already started to clean a small portion of it and it came out great, painting it would be a sin. So as for the restoration yes. I plan on taking it apart and cleaning it up the front wheel and bars were wrong which is why they were removed. If anybody knows what the stem bars look like i would like to know. Im going to lace up a set of drop center rims that have matching patina to the rest of the bike with the matching ND front hub. The only change I am making is in installing a ND 3 speed to it that ive been saving for a project such as this. I was going to use it on my whizzer build but i decided not to for fear of breaking it. I will however need a few pieces such as a cable with pulley and the shift lever. I haven't been able to find a lever yet. I do have the chain for the shifter. I am also going to try to find a matching tire for the front. This is definitely a bike that deserves to be left in its original form. If anybody can help me out that would be great.

I am also looking for some other parts for my other projects. Mostly G&j rims, G&j 1901 rambler fork and a lobdel champange with red stripe 1" wide racing rim. The rims can be bent and out of true because ive had good luck pulling them back with a technique ive been using. Ill try to get up some pictures of those projects too.

Thank you all and ill keep posting pics once i get further into my resto.
 
Oops forgot one thing.

It has dropouts to put a drop stand on but it doesnt look like it had fenders for it to hook onto when up. Im probably going to put a drop stand on it though. Just wondering if anybody knew anything about the original "stationary support structure". lol
 
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