# Late 1890’s to Early 1900’s National



## cr250mark (Feb 6, 2020)

Late 1890’s to Early 1900’s up to 1916 National Bicycle (excellent badge ) Tyson Bay Michigan
Adjustable Collar on Seat Tube is Unique to National 
Serial # 61480 on lower case 
Original Blue/Black paint bike - Early Floral design on upper , lower tubes and seat tube .
Also has “ National “ script seen on lower tube. 
“Universal “ saddle Wolverine Leather Works 
( heavy duty dual springs ) unique 2 piece frame
Original Rats - Crusty 
Very cool Chain ring 
Unique Drop outs - no tensioners - teeth with unique threaded washers to grab . Missing 

Added a few changes to spice up the appearance .( only my opinion) 
Reversed drop bars - Unique grips 
Early 28” -1-1/2 Grey Tubed Rubber ( do not fit perfectly on these wood wheels , new 700 tubes were added to hold air and to provide some profile but definitely not meant for these wheels ) 
Missing several spokes otherwise nice set 
Early hubs - not sure if original ( looks to be period correct)-Chain sits well on front ring but not on rear sprocket. , Looks to be a wear mark 
On rear stay possibly from brake arm . Was thinking possibly Originally had a Corbin rear hub to make it correct which would date it to be Early 1902 -04 ish ?
Unique custom made brass - chain linkage. pretty cool add on 
Fork looks to be only thing touched up at some point. ( black )
Wrong seat post ( looks to be on for quite awhile as.patina matches saddle frame well )

Really wanted to post these pictures of this Cool and Unique Early ride . 
Good History lessons are hard to come by. 
Never know if you’ll see another and seems like they all vary in the slightest ways !
Hope these post help the next !!
And At the least , please simply Enjoy this post as a reference of the Simplicity and Early Means of Transportation that we all still enjoy, collect and recognize as history. !!



Mark


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## Rambler (Feb 7, 2020)

@cr250mark, very nice National, I will send you some catalog information about it after the weekend. Sorry I can't do it sooner but I don't have time this weekend to get out the National catalogs to reference them prior to Monday. I'll post some information about your bike beginning of next week. Tyson

In the meantime, contact rusty_apache here on the CABE and order a set of the correct spiral washers for the rear axle which will properly engage the teeth on the rear dropouts. https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/national-spiral-hub-washers.128448/


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## stezell (Feb 7, 2020)

Mark you sure do have some cool finds there in the Paw Paw area.
Sean


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## dnc1 (Feb 7, 2020)

Nice to see another example, and it seems you have everything except the special dropout washers; you're a lucky man! 
These Nationals ride beautifully, ride it as often as you can!
@Rambler is definitely the man when it comes to National's,  couldn't have got mine rideable without his help, advice and information.
Enjoy that lovely machine.


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## Rambler (Feb 10, 2020)

To the best of my knowledge, Mark's National is circa 1910 give or take a year. The catalogs for 1909-1911 all provide exactly the same information and pictures for this model during those years and the serial number 61480 places it solidly in the middle of that year range based on my records. I would be very comfortable calling it a 1910 based on all information available to me. It appears that Mark's National is the Optional Black color with decoration.













*Optional Black color with decoration.*




Mark mentioned that he believed the seat post did not look original to him but it looks 100% correct to me for National in both appearance and design.





The front and rear wheels and hubs on Mark's National look period correct to me. The hubs have the general appearance of National hubs and one easy way to know for absolute sure if they are National hubs is to look for flats on the axles. National used especially narrow slots on their front forks and rear wheel dropouts necessitating the need to provide flats on the axle where it slides into the fork and frame dropouts. 

Based on the photos posted by Mark above, it appears to me that the rear wheel dropouts may have been enlarged on Mark's National at some point to allow for a larger diameter axle to be inserted.

*National Hubs and showing the flats on axle.*




*Mark mentioned above "Fork looks to be only thing touched up at some point. ( black )"*
Simply an observation based on my experience with Nationals. It appears to me that the front fork may have been replaced on Mark's National with a Schwinn forged steel fork. If I am correct about my suspicion I have to say this was an excellent choice for substitution because it looks very much like the National fork. Possibly the handlebar stem on Mark's National is also Schwinn based on appearance. The fork and handlebar stem do not look National to me. Though overall Mark's National is an excellent example considering the amount of original paint and filigree decals still remaining on the frame. 




*Original National handle bar stem below for comparison.*


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## cr250mark (Feb 10, 2020)

Absolutely amazing info 
This is the information that allows people to understand , absorb and enjoy this Bicycle Hobby.  
Excellent Layout of explanation and comparisons 
Nice Job 
Very much appreciated!!!!

Mark


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## olderthandirt (Aug 22, 2020)

love those semi white tires !


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## andybee75 (Aug 24, 2020)

Nice bike! Interesting to see that it has swedish Trelleborg tyres, those are hard to find nowadays. Very high quality if made in Sweden and not labeled  "import". If they are 28 X 1 5/8 X 1 1/2  ,(44-635) in size they are too large, wooden rims are normally 622 mm.


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