# Can someone tell me about this bike?



## BrendaSue (Aug 19, 2010)

I picked up a bicycle at a garage sale today.  It is a Firestone Vagabond Feather Weight.  Serial number looks like 15175 07.  I have attached a picture.  Thanks for your help.


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## Gordon (Aug 19, 2010)

Looks like it has a $200 front brake. Chainring would indicate the bike was made by Dayton I believe.


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## BrendaSue (Aug 19, 2010)

Thanks Gordon.  Do you know about what year it was made and what it's value might be?  It says Firestone Vegabond Feather Weight.


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## sam (Aug 19, 2010)

Isn't that a colson sprocket?


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## militarymonark (Aug 19, 2010)

sam said:


> Isn't that a colson sprocket?




thats what I thought


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## BrendaSue (Aug 20, 2010)

I am having a hard time finding anything about my Firestone Vagabond Feather Weight bicycle.  What year do you think it is and what is the value?  Thank you for your time.


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## DonChristie (Aug 20, 2010)

Firestone were made by other Manufacturers for the Firestone tire company. It was typical for tire stores to sell bikes. Generally, girls bikes are worth less than Boys compounded with the Light/Feather weight style, not real collectible. I would guesstimate age to be from 50s - 60s. Im no expert. Worth might be 50 - 100 dollars. Bottom line, if you like it, ride it!


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## BrendaSue (Aug 20, 2010)

Thank you Schwinndoggy.  The bike rides great and I only paid $15 for it so I win!


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## Adamtinkerer (Aug 20, 2010)

This would be considered a lightweight bike actually. It does look like a Colson chainring, which wasn't used after around 1954. I believe I've seen one of these before, but I can't remember where! Yours looks brand new for it's age!


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## BrendaSue (Aug 20, 2010)

*Better pictures of chain and brake.*

I added better pictures of the chain and front brake.  The bike looks and rides great.  All we had to do was blow up the tires.  The license plate says 1956 but I didn't know if that was also it's age.


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## RMS37 (Aug 20, 2010)

Your bike is definitely a Colson product. Colson introduced their version of an adult lightweight line in 1939, contemporary with several other manufacturers in an industry move to regain ground in a market they had generally abandoned during the teens. 

Colson offered the “Featherweight” models with a unique three piece crankset with a detachable dogged sprocket. Featherweight models were offered through the start of WW2. I don’t have enough information to be sure that the design was reintroduced after the war but what I do have shows a name change to Vagabond for lightweight models. 

I believe your bike is prewar but it might have been produced after the war in the late forties. Being a Colson the serial number located on the bottom of the crank hanger may help pin down the date.

While collector blood doesn’t usually boil over for ladies lightweight models, you have a very special bike. Colson lightweights are much rarer than their Schwinn counterparts and finer built that the standard Schwinn World models. Considering the condition and the front brake you have a bike that is easily worth over $200 to the right person.


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## 37fleetwood (Aug 21, 2010)




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## BrendaSue (Aug 21, 2010)

Thank you for all the great information Phil!   Here is the serial number from the bike:  15175 07.


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## 37fleetwood (Aug 21, 2010)

To my knowledge the Vagabonds were all Huffmans. perhaps the sprocket has been changed. I would place the bike somewhere between 1939 and 1942.


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## BrendaSue (Aug 21, 2010)

Thanks Scott,  I was hoping I had an old one!  Is the brake something that was added later?


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## RMS37 (Aug 22, 2010)

American Lightweights from the immediate pre and post WW2 period are difficult to pin down because they are all very similar. Based on several things I will stick with Colson built for this one.

The featherweight name was applied to the Colson lightweights from the outset in 1939 and the pictures of the ladies frame match the pattern of this bike with its upswept top tube and the tubular fork with forged crown.

Typically the featherweight models are shown with a Colson sweetheart sprocket but other lightweight Colsons are shown with the same 3-Comet design as this bike.

Firestone sold both Colson and Huffman built models and my impression is that the model shown in the posted Firestone catalog cut is Colson sourced.

The serial number appears to be in more of a Colson pattern than a Huffman one.
Typical Colson serial numbers have an upper and lower line of characters. One line consists of a letter and a number, the number has been interpreted to represent the last number of the year of the bike. In that light, O7 could be interpreted as 1947 as the feather weights were not produced in 1937 and Colson had sold out their bicycle division before 1957.

As I started out saying, lightweight models from this period can be among the most difficult to pin down, The bike compares well to Colson literature but I don’t have any Huffman lit for a similar comparison.

New Departure front hub brakes were available during the time your bike was produced and it could be factory original to the bike or a dealer add-on either at the time of purchase or during a return visit.


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## BrendaSue (Aug 22, 2010)

I really do love the education I am getting on my old bike here.  The serial number was on 2 lines.  The 07 was under the 15175.  The license plate says 1956 Bicycle Bismark 773.  There is another tab that says Minneapolis Bicycle Registration 55878.  Thanks again for your time!


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## 37fleetwood (Aug 22, 2010)

I will defer to your expertise Phil. the 1940 Colson catalog has a bike that looks like this one, and one that doesn't but has the same sprocket. the complete catalog is posted on my site along with all the other Colson and Firestone catalogs I have.
from the 1940 Colson catalog:


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