# Bone shaker barn find date help



## redline1968 (Dec 6, 2015)

Saw a ad and went to see it it was 4 hrs away. Turns out this and a blasted out high wheel bike was in this shed. Obvious the high wheeler was toast but had good parts and this bone shaker appears to have everything but the wood. He said the bikes were in a barn and a fire caught and they burned up. I looked at the bone shaker and it appeared to be in great shape but the wood was all gone. The high wheeler was gone but salvageable as I was driving the dude got cold feet on selling them I almost passed on them from that but the price was a little higher but still reasonable. My question is what year is it anything else you notice on it to help date it. Thanks


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## redline1968 (Dec 6, 2015)

More pics


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## barracuda (Dec 6, 2015)

Incredible find. If you could back away a bit and take a nice clear picture of the whole bone shaker frame it would help. I can't really get a grasp on the overall design. Best guess would be late-1860s, early 1870s.





Does yours have a breaking system of any kind?


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## redline1968 (Dec 6, 2015)

I will get better pics on it there are no breaks on it. Weighs a ton. Turns out the head tube is bronze with a oiling hole in it.  The seat through me off I thought it might be newer.Here are some. Is it American euro or China? Thank you for your responses


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## barracuda (Dec 6, 2015)

....


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## barracuda (Dec 6, 2015)

Are your pedals steel or cast bronze? What are the rim sizes?

You need to post this thing at the Wheelmen site, but I'll give you my opinion as a non-expert: your bike is very austere in design. Pedals are fixed and non-adjustable on the cranks, no front hook, no brakes. I don't see any obvious signs of welding it all appears to be cast or forged. 

I have heard it said that the use of hex nuts generally post-dates the mid 1880s, but I do not believe that to be true as a blanket statement, there is significant photographic evidence to the contrary, for example, see these Union siege cannons from 1862. 

If it is a repop, it is a bitchin one, get thee to a wheelwright and you'll be cruising civil war style.

If it is genuine, the dating is easy as these were really only produced for ten years or so.


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## SirMike1983 (Dec 6, 2015)

barracuda said:


> Are your pedals steel or cast bronze? What are the rim sizes?
> 
> You need to post this thing at the Wheelmen site, but I'll give you my opinion as a non-expert: your bike is very austere in design. Pedals are fixed and non-adjustable on the cranks, no front hook, no brakes. I don't see any obvious signs of welding it all appears to be cast or forged.
> 
> ...




Siege of Yorktown- nice picture.


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## redline1968 (Dec 6, 2015)

Thanks the pedals are solid iron and hex nuts you posted as an example is great it really proves they are earlier. That was a concern.  I'll get measurements on rim size  looks large too me I took a measurement seems like a 37 in front and 31.5 rear.  Thanks


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## Andrew Gorman (Dec 6, 2015)

I've seen that bronze head fitting before.  In the US the velocipede craze only lasted from late 1868 to early 1869. It looks like the handlebars turn for a brake.  Are the bearings bronze or babbitt metal?  Wrought iron will survive a fire just fine so get some Amish wheels, straddle a saddle, paddle and skedaddle!


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## vuniw (Dec 6, 2015)

Wow what a find! Are you going to give it a second chance at life and get it riding again?


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## Boris (Dec 6, 2015)

Congratulations on a GREAT FIND Mark!


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## Andrew Gorman (Dec 6, 2015)

It's genuine, even from just looking at the pictures.  It's chunkier than the best bikes, but better than the worst.  I've found my blacksmith m,ade bike suprprisingly rideable once I was able to make rotating parts round again and fitted parts to fit.  After the fire the spring the seat rests on looks like it lost its' temper, but an automotive spring shop can re-temper  and re-shape it back to springy.  When I had to do some repairs to my velocipede, it was worth the effort to find a good and sympathetic blacksmith.There is a lot of good velocipede reading on google books-
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=velocipede


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## redline1968 (Dec 6, 2015)

Thank you woo hoo!   it's Awesome I knew my gut feeling was right. THe earliest bike I've ever owned!   There are bronze blocks that help the pedals move and still works. I'll restore it and get it back to original condition with the spring working but I got other projects on my list First. Nest thing is freeing it up and then restore the wheels...Looks like it was painted red or blue. Appreciate all the info. If any more pics on it please ask


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## rustNspokes (Dec 7, 2015)

Great find. You know it's an old bike when you need a Blacksmith and a Wheelwright for parts.


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## bikebozo (Dec 7, 2015)

the amish near Hearshey Pa. make wheels for theses type bikes , they are very nice


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## redline1968 (Dec 7, 2015)

Thank you that's good to know. Ha wagon wheels! That's a first for me.


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## bricycle (Dec 7, 2015)

now THAT is old.....  "oh Walter..." come lookie dis.


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## bikebozo (Dec 7, 2015)

The place  that I am writing about , they are genuine, reproduction style boneshaker wheels , I am trying to find a photo ,   the people were great to deal with .


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## Andrew Gorman (Dec 7, 2015)

Stutzman wheel shop is the place most Wheelmen use.  They are used to dealing with bike (and car) nuts, and will ship.


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## bikebozo (Dec 7, 2015)

not stutzman, close 2 hershey pennsylvania , . the wheels, are duplicates of original wheels already made , why try to get people mixed up when I am trying to help this guy out , for a good price ,  the cabe is like weird .


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## Andrew Gorman (Dec 7, 2015)

Sorry.  But where is this shop?  I need a velocipede wheel too.


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## redline1968 (Dec 7, 2015)

It would be nice to have a resource index of people that repair and restore  toc.  and  antique bikes I probably won't do wheels right now anyhow  I'm  going to restore a simplex this spring.  I appreciate all the help thanks.


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## Andrew Gorman (Dec 7, 2015)

Well, shucks... My velocipede is really surprisingly rideable, and you can't beat the sound of steel wheels on asphalt!  If you need any 1869 assistance, let me know.  I've pulled mine completely apart.  Have fun with the Simplex, but keep the boneshaker in sight.  Here's a link to mine:
http://s53.photobucket.com/user/gormanao/library/ca 1869 Boneshaker
There are not a lot of moving parts!


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## redline1968 (Dec 7, 2015)

Wow nice bone shaker..  No serious resto but in the mean time I will dissect it. I did get the bars off and straighten them out a little to see the way they should look. Here is a pic of the bars and the bronze bushing. I'm soaking it for now in oil. I did notice a small hole on the rod in the center no sure what it's for possibly to center it?


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## Andrew Gorman (Dec 8, 2015)

The hole in the handlebars is for the string that operated the brake- roll the bars, wrap the string around them and that would pull the brake against the rear tire.  Here is a typical installation:
http://www.brhoward.com/mercer-velocipede.html


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## redline1968 (Dec 8, 2015)

Sweet... Looks like I'm missing the brake system.  Earliest hand brakes interesting history.


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## Wheeled Relics (Dec 8, 2015)




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## barracuda (Dec 8, 2015)

Question for the more knowledgeable here: what is the scrolled front hook used for? I have read that it was used to tow the bike, or to hang a lamp, but neither explanation seems quite right.


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## Andrew Gorman (Dec 8, 2015)

It's a foot rest for coasting down hills!  Throw your feet up and away from the spinning ring of death that your pedals become.


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## redline1968 (Dec 8, 2015)

Oh ya I can see som serious damage to a human body on these babies. Looks like decorative function or a spear to end another's life....��neat pic. Boy that looks pretty close to mine except the marshmallow toaster on the front


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## shoe3 (Dec 8, 2015)




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## redline1968 (Dec 8, 2015)

Nice I'm digging the early pics.  Thanks here are some pics I thought would be interesting to see what the early bearings and crank hub and rear hub looks like of that era. The bearings are bronze and have a oiling hole on one side of each set. The pedals are fixed no adjustments and they are iron the arms are in pinned in place dont know how I'm going to get them off for the restored wheels... :0 sure is a cool bike.


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## wasp3245 (Dec 9, 2015)

Nice find of a velocipede ...  In America they were made late summer 1868-May 1869 , France summer 1867 -July 1870 and production resumed on a much smaller scale 1872-74, England  1869- 72. 
Even though they were made for a very short period many manufactures both big and small jumped on the band wagon in producing velocipedes.   Considering velocipedes are 145 years old + - ...there are quite a few that remain considering they fell out of fashion so quickly . 
Your machine looks like a blacksmith made with perhaps bought pedals.... that type of pedals can be found both on American and French machines. The basic style "the diagonal" frame was the most popular and copied style. 
The little stub out front could be the remains of the leg or foot rests, they were an option when new.   No sign of a brake , most commonly found pivoting between the rear forks rubbing on the rear wheel. The fact that there is no brake may be the hint of it's origin...America .
America's first bicycling experience was riding laps inside .... at a roller rink.   America had dumped all it's money in the railroads to tame the nation ..leaving roads to cities and towns to tend to ... a annually scraped dirt surface was  best you could hope for in many cases. 
France had the Romans and Napoleon to pave roads  so troops could invade thou neighbor.
Last year a group of 7 riders rode from Paris to Avignon ( about 530 miles)  on period velocipedes (1869-71) retracing the original "bicycle road trip" of 1865.
Please see the youtube link  for some action packed footage of velocipedes tearing up the pavement 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK9gh2PCO_8
I've had work done by Noah Stuzman of Baltic Ohio a Wheelwright ... and have seen other velo wheels that he has done ..excellent quality.
Next year (2016)  marks   the 150 anniversary of the fist bicycle patent in the world  filed by Pierre Lallement .
Get some new wheels and pedal towards New Haven Ct for the CYCLE-bration   June 25th-26th .....  all bicycles ( and riders) welcome  whether Eagle or Blue bird, Star or Silver Streak, Sting Ray or Kangaroo , ordinary or extraordinary ..come one come all...please see more information at 

http://www.thewheelmen.org/sections/events/2016-06-26.asp

Riding a velocipede is an acquired habit ( like eating broccoli) once mastered you kinda like it . 
Happy pedaling ..welcome to the velo world !
Cheers Carey


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## redline1968 (Dec 9, 2015)

Thank you. I do believe its American in origin. I finally got the bike straighten out. 
It starting to look like it should. Wow I really appreciate the info.  When the time comes I'll get wheels for it. Possibly sooner than later.


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