# Wright Brothers and W.F.Meyers



## shoe3 (Oct 19, 2017)

1909 era The Wright Brothers sold the contents of 1127 West Third Dayton,Ohio Cycle Shop to W.F.Meyers of Dayton,Ohio. Meyers had been in the cycle business for years in Dayton,Ohio. He also was granted use of the Wright Brothers namebadge that was used on the St.Clair, VanCleve & Wright Special by the Wright Brothers they had built and sold. Meyers badge W.F.Meyers on it in place of Wright. The bicycle were built by Davis Sewing Machine with Meyers badges on them.He sold Iver Johnson and other makes until 1939. He was struck by a automobile after stepping off a trolley. He died Dec.15 1939. Shop closed in 1940.


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## Goldenindian (Oct 19, 2017)

That is an amazing photo! Thanks for sharing the history too.


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## fordmike65 (Oct 19, 2017)

Great looking bike too!


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## catfish (Oct 19, 2017)

Cool!


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## shoe3 (Oct 19, 2017)

shoe3 said:


> View attachment 694883 1909 era The Wright Brothers sold the contents of 1127 West Third Dayton,Ohio Cycle Shop to W.F.Meyers of Dayton,Ohio. Meyers had been in the cycle business for years in Dayton,Ohio. He also was granted use of the Wright Brothers namebadge that was used on the St.Clair, VanCleve & Wright Special by the Wright Brothers they had built and sold. Meyers badge W.F.Meyers on it in place of Wright. The bicycle were built by Davis Sewing Machine with Meyers badges on them.He sold Iver Johnson and other makes until 1939. He was struck by a automobile after stepping off a trolley. He died Dec.15 1939. Shop closed in 1940.TOP PICTURE IS W.F.MEYERS BADGED DAVIS SEWING MACHINE WHO PRODUCED DAYTON BICYCLES View attachment 694855


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## Bikermaniac (Oct 19, 2017)

Does anyone here owns one of those bikes??


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## hoofhearted (Oct 19, 2017)

Bikermaniac said:


> Does anyone here owns one of those bikes??




*My 1917 W.F. Meyer machine is built using a Davis RACING Frame and a Fauber Special
crank unit featuring ''pencil''- size cranks.  The chainring is a highly refined ''6-bubble''
variety.  The Meyer aluminum I.D. tag is stamped ''357'' as is the frame at the seat cluster.
The instructions on the one-inch long tag ask a potential ''finder'' of the machine to return 
the bicycle to the W.F. Meyer store.

The fork is not a Davis-Built .. but rather, a single-plate fork crown design ... same as featured
on Iver Johnson machines.  Don't forget, Meyer was a distributor of Iver Johnson.

Strange but true ... I acquired the Wright's-Patent racing hub with a feature on the cog that
allows the rear cog to be placed to the left or to the right ... so there is as close to perfect
alignment with the chainring via the chain.  The Wright Hub featured below is in a much-less
pristine condition ... than the specimen I got from shoe3.

These hubs featured tapered, roller-bearings.

Shoe3 (Phil S.) found the entire rear hub in a box of ancient bicycle hubs ... in the boneyard
of MLC ... when it was located in Perrysburg, Ohio .... alotta years ago.  Thank you, again, Phil
for participating in a trade with me.

Got the badge from Mel Short ... in trade for a 1919 H-D N.O.S Motorcyke battery-tank.  Mel
knew where the badge was ... in Greenville, Ohio ... owned by a fellow Wheelman.

...... patric


This Page Is From The Catalog Of 1900.



 



 *


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## shoe3 (Oct 20, 2017)

shoe3 said:


> View attachment 694883 1909 era The Wright Brothers sold the contents of 1127 West Third Dayton,Ohio Cycle Shop to W.F.Meyers of Dayton,Ohio. Meyers had been in the cycle business for years in Dayton,Ohio. He also was granted use of the Wright Brothers namebadge that was used on the St.Clair, VanCleve & Wright Special by the Wright Brothers they had built and sold. Meyers badge W.F.Meyers on it in place of Wright. The bicycle were built by Davis Sewing Machine with Meyers badges on them.He sold Iver Johnson and other makes until 1939. He was struck by a automobile after stepping off a trolley. He died Dec.15 1939. Shop closed in 1940.TOP PICTURE IS W.F.MEYERS BADGED DAVIS SEWING MACHINE WHO PRODUCED DAYTON BICYCLES View attachment 694855





hoofhearted said:


> *My 1917 W.F. Meyer machine is built using a Davis RACING Frame and a Fauber Special
> crank unit featuring ''pencil''- size cranks.  The chainring is a highly refined ''6-bubble''
> variety.  The Meyer aluminum I.D. tag is stamped ''357'' as is the frame at the seat cluster.
> The instructions on the one-inch long tag ask a potential ''finder'' of the machine to return
> ...



THANKS PATRIC COOL STUFF. WHEN W.F. Meyers died in 1939 his son Raymond sold shop and inventory for $852 only 4 bicycles were left and misc. parts and tools. It is not known who shop contents were sold to at this point.


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## Bikermaniac (Oct 20, 2017)

hoofhearted said:


> *My 1917 W.F. Meyer machine is built using a Davis RACING Frame and a Fauber Special
> crank unit featuring ''pencil''- size cranks.  The chainring is a highly refined ''6-bubble''
> variety.  The Meyer aluminum I.D. tag is stamped ''357'' as is the frame at the seat cluster.
> The instructions on the one-inch long tag ask a potential ''finder'' of the machine to return
> ...





Thank you Patric, very cool story. Thanks for sharing it.
Here's a photo of that 6 bubble chain ring that is for sale now. It belongs to a cabe member I think.


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## partsguy (Oct 20, 2017)

This is some GREAT information on American history. Thank you for sharing!!


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## ccmerz (Oct 22, 2017)

Bikermaniac said:


> Does anyone here owns one of those bikes??



No, but I know where one is. Selling it....hmmmmm  maybe/maybe not. I never paid much attention to it because it was not Wright Bros. built, but now, I have different glasses on!  This changes everything!


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## Bikermaniac (Oct 22, 2017)

ccmerz said:


> No, but I know where one is. Selling it....hmmmmm  maybe/maybe not. I never paid much attention to it because it was not Wright Bros. built, but now, I have different glasses on!  This changes everything!




I'm interested. Can we see it? even if you don't want to sell it?


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## Jesse McCauley (Oct 24, 2017)

The Fauber chainwheel mentioned above is still available if anyone needs one, beautiful condition.


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## Wards Guy.. (Nov 4, 2017)

Bikermaniac said:


> Thank you Patric, very cool story. Thanks for sharing it.
> Here's a photo of that 6 bubble chain ring that is for sale now. It belongs to a cabe member I think.
> 
> View attachment 695089


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## Wards Guy.. (Nov 4, 2017)

Love the story and info!!! I just brought home a bike with the Fauber Special sprocket. Has a July 11 99 trademark stamp on it.


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## Bikermaniac (Nov 4, 2017)

Wards Guy.. said:


> Love the story and info!!! I just brought home a bike with the Fauber Special sprocket. Has a July 11 99 trademark stamp on it.




Post a picture of it if you can.


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## Uni-Bike Lou (Nov 7, 2017)

I saw a talk by the grandson and great grandson of Charles Taylor. Charles Taylor was the mechanic for the Wright Bros bike shop and airplane.

At some point, later in Charles Taylor’s career Henry Ford offered him a job to create an exact duplicate of the Wright Bros bike shop at the Henry Ford museum. The grandsons didn’t go into detail of what parts, tools, or bikes Charles Taylor put in the museum. Maybe he got some parts from W.F. Meyers.

On a side note, the grandson went to visit his grandfather (Charles Taylor) who introduced the grandson to his boss (Henry Ford). At the time the grandson was only 7 or 8, and didn’t realize the significants of Henry Ford.


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## Uni-Bike Lou (Nov 7, 2017)

Here’s a photo of Charles Taylor.


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## hoofhearted (Nov 24, 2017)

hoofhearted said:


> *My 1917 W.F. Meyer machine is built using a Davis RACING Frame and a Fauber Special
> crank unit featuring ''pencil''- size cranks.  The chainring is a highly refined ''6-bubble''
> variety.  The Meyer aluminum I.D. tag is stamped ''357'' as is the frame at the seat cluster.
> The instructions on the one-inch long tag ask a potential ''finder'' of the machine to return
> the bicycle to the W.F. Meyer store.*



*







*


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## hoofhearted (May 2, 2018)

*
Could very well be only. the Davis-Built machines were
badged Van Cleve .. W.F. Meyers .. Dayton, O.

Just found this ad ... Christmas 1916.

..... patric



 *


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## cyclingday (May 2, 2018)

So did W.F. Meyer contract with Davis to build bikes with his newly acquired rights to the Van Cleve name badge, or were the Wright bicycles already being contract built by DSM around that time?


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## GiovanniLiCalsi (May 2, 2018)

Fascinating history!
My dream is to someday acquire a Wright Brothers bicycle....


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## hoofhearted (May 2, 2018)

cyclingday said:


> So did W.F. Meyer contract with Davis to build bikes with his newly acquired rights to the Van Cleve name badge, or were the Wright bicycles already being contract built by DSM around that time?




*Let's back up a bit with an exploratory question.

Did the Wright Brothers make their own machines ?

If you are able to see their bicycles .. you may notice
that the frames are different from one another.

There are maybe six known examples ... including a 
woman's machine at the Air Force Museum in Riverside, 
Ohio .. and a St. Clair.at the Henry Ford Museum.

This writer cannot imagine those two inventors actually
measuring .. cutting tubes .. fitting .. and brazing up
fresh frames when there were numerous manufacturers
not only in the Middletown / Dayton area ... and Indiana ..
and the East Coast .. who were more than happy to whole-
sale frames .. forks .. and components to them.

The Brothers ran a Buy .. Sell .. Trade .. Rent and Repair
business ... in addition to whatever they were up to when 
they had a spare moment ... like Inventing Flight.

Not really sure if the Brothers had any contract with DSM ..
but frames / forks were available to them, wholesale.

Here is a fresh consideration for the reader .... DSM machines
were never equipped with Fauber crank-sets and chainrings ..
as far as we know today.  The DSM crankcase differs from
the Fauber crankcase, in that the Fauber measures out to
be a smaller O.D. than the DSM case.

Information is on the line referencing when the brothers
stopped futzing with their bicycles ... 1900 - 1902.

They did keep their shop open past that time ... eventually
signing off and moving on to total involvement in airplane
development.  Keep in mind, the Brothers achieved flight
at Kill Devil Hills, NC IN 1903. Their aircraft had no real 
ability to turn left or right ... but the craft was fitted with
whatever it takes to influence ''nose up'' and ''nose down''.

Then, in 1904 the Brothers used a field in Greene Co. Ohio.

Huffman Prairie ... is still located on the Western side of a chain-
link fence.   The City of Fairborn .. (then - Fairfield) is on the
Eastern side of that USAF Military fence.*

*1904 saw the development of controlled flight.  

In 1905 .. the Brothers achieved real, controlled flight ... from 
takeoff thru landing.

Their Flight School .. on the Prairie, began sometime later ..
closing around 1916.

Wright bicycles were not thought to be contract built by DSM.  

At least there is no historic record.  The Brothers assembled 
their own from whole components.  The Wright bicycles all 
sported Fauber crank-sets and rings.  DSM had the ability 
to incorporate a Fauber crankcase within the DSM machine ... 
but, to date .. one has never shown up -- either in metal form .. 
or in documentation.

An interesting note .. my 1917 DSM, lugged, 7/8'' tube Racer
has a standard (to DSM) size crankcase.  However, that crank-
case is fitted with a Fauber crankcase ... which was pretty-
much slipped right in to the DSM crankcase  .. and attached .. 
at the Meyer's facility.

Am currently  in process ... hand sanding the frame paint ... 
which I applied in 2008.  The frame was not rusty at all ... but it 
was totally void of paint.  I applied the paint to further preserve 
the frame.  Woodenshoe ?   

My machine sports an Iver Johnson single-plate fork.  The Meyers 
shop did carry Iver Johnson bicycles.

It is highly probable that Meyers did contract with DSM ...
circa 1909 ... bought whole components ... and had them 
assembled .. painted and badged Van Cleve at his multiple-
level shop in the City of Dayton.   No historic documenta-
tion has come to light of day to refute this.

..... patric



 




 



 Greatly Enlarged



 



 Note Fauber Fittings



 The Wright Racing Hub Is Not Shown



 
Not All Pages in The 1900 Wright Catalog are shown here ... but are easily found on Ethernet



 



 

*


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## cyclingday (May 2, 2018)

Thank you, Patric.
My mom always told me, that I am some how, distantly related to the Wright brothers.
I have no idea, if that is true, but since the time I was a kid, I've always been fascinated with aircraft and bicycles.
Who knows?
Maybe it's in my blood. Lol!


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## ccmerz (May 2, 2018)

Given the six degrees of separation, that is a possibility!


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## GiovanniLiCalsi (May 2, 2018)

cyclingday said:


> Thank you, Patric.
> My mom always told me, that I am some how, distantly related to the Wright brothers.
> I have no idea, if that is true, but since the time I was a kid, I've always been fascinated with aircraft and bicycles.
> Who knows?
> Maybe it's in my blood. Lol!




You can get your DNA analyzed and use their shared data base to find other Wright family matches....‍


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## Dayton Vintage Speed (Dec 1, 2018)

shoe3 said:


> He also was granted use of the Wright Brothers namebadge that was used on the St.Clair, VanCleve & Wright Special by the Wright Brothers they had built and sold.




I'm familiar with the St. Clair and Van Cleve names but this is the first I've heard mentioned the "Wright Special". Was this some sort of racing bike? Are there any photos of these machines? And did the Wright Brothers build these before WF Meyer purchased the rights to the names or were these WF Meyer specific machines?


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## hoofhearted (Dec 15, 2022)

Bumping to  honor the Wright Brothers .... for their accomplishment of heavier than air flight ... December 17, 1903.


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## catfish (Dec 15, 2022)




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