# New/Old Mead Ranger - Craig'sList find



## Larmo63 (Apr 19, 2011)

Help me date this Ranger, has metal clad painted wheels, the front one even holds air! Cool glass headlight and rear reflector. What do I do about tires if I would like to ride this thing? Also, the chain is connected with a screw? I've never seen that! Also, does anybody have a crank for this? One side is stripped, or can it be fixed?


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## Larmo63 (Apr 19, 2011)




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## OldRider (Apr 19, 2011)

Thats a beauty Larmo! I'll bet those are 28 inch rims, tires shouldn't be overly hard to find in my opinion. I have a "Canadian" CCM Ranger with the same connector in the chain, a little  bolt and nut hold everything in place, I always thought it was a home made job but if you have the same thing maybe its not.


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## irene_crystal (Apr 19, 2011)

I think I'm in love! What a cool bike!


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## dave the wave (Apr 19, 2011)

i would date your bike in the mid 1920's - 1930.


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## chitown (Apr 19, 2011)

Looks like mid 20's. Super nice bike there. Some catalog pics show the battery mounted on top of the top tube. Are there any marks that show that it was mounted on top at one time?


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## slick (Apr 19, 2011)

SCORE!!!!! Awesome find! Especially for craigslist. The only bikes I find on there are "vintage schwinn collegiate". Ya right. The rims are  28". I would buy new Velocity woodgrain rims and tires and lace them up to vintage hubs like lobsterboyx did, unless you want to just leave it in the living room as a conversation piece which would be awesome too! My wife won't let me keep my motobike in the living room until it's restored. Which will happen right before I die if i'm lucky!


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## bricycle (Apr 19, 2011)

Larmo...WoW!!!!!!! I"m leaning more toward '30 or so, Isn't that rack more modern than a '20's rack?


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## scrubbinrims (Apr 19, 2011)

That tubular rack came on my Shelby made Airman Zep frame anyway and I was thinking the same thing... mid-late 30's, but it's cool nonetheless.
I think it is also used on Manton Smiths?


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## Larmo63 (Apr 19, 2011)

1) I went on nostalgic.net and typed: "Mead" into the search box and almost all of the Meads there (go check them out!) have this same rack, called a "Hercules" rack. 2) Yes, the Delta can is usually mounted on top of the bar on most Meads, (I added this one myself, it didn't come on it,) but it seems like it could be a junk killer if and when I get this bike going. 3) The serial number starts with "26______ ," so I am going to assume 1926?? 4)The dropstand may be terminally bent, we'll see. It does have the cool eyelets on it so you could put a lock through the dropstand to lock the bike! 5) The tank is very nice! 6) I need a new crank for this bike or help in fixing what I have. (stripped on one side.) 7) Tires; what to do? People do ride these things, do they ride the expensive semi-solid ones? 8) I need new front struts too. (cracked at the top.)


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## ericbaker (Apr 20, 2011)

depending on how bad the crank is stripped you may be able to helicoil it, I would bring it to a competant bike shop and ask them if it can be helicoiled.

im assuming you are talking about the pedal threads being stripped, if that is not the case then nevermind.


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## redline1968 (Apr 20, 2011)

here is my 1916 schwinn built meade. it has the orig tubular rack. think i have a crank for it.


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## Adamtinkerer (Apr 20, 2011)

Cool bike! Repop tires are about $110 EACH, so most just use 700C rims & tires, or the English/Dutch/Chinese 28 x 1 1/2 Roadster wheels.


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