# 1914 Columbia Chainless Two-Speed Model 400



## Dweber (Jul 1, 2018)

Would like to correspond with other collectors who have restored or had experience with Columbia Two Speed Chainless Bicycles. My bike is fairly complete missing some of the rear axle parts. Mostly needing the (half moon?) cast bracket that the axle sits in. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Dave (Dweber736@aol.com)


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## locomotion (Jul 1, 2018)

wow, very cool, never knew there was a two speed model.
how do you change the "speeds" or move the gear?

I had to make a "C" bracket for one of my bikes
I have a couple of Columbia drive-shaft bikes and the brackets are not even interchangeable from year to year

btw, who made that gear cover? is it fiberglass?
I am looking for one for a new departure hub/pierce drive shaft


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## GiovanniLiCalsi (Jul 1, 2018)

Jesse McCauley is very knowledgeable


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## fordmike65 (Jul 1, 2018)

@Velocipedist Co.


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## Dweber (Jul 1, 2018)

Metal dust cover came with the bike. Not completely sure how shifting works.  Anyone out there have a 1914 Model-400 Columbia Chainless?


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## bikewhorder (Jul 1, 2018)

Pretty much the coolest bike made in the teens.  https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/1...0-dual-suspension-two-speed-chainless.128761/


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## Jesse McCauley (Jul 1, 2018)

It is a “kick back” style shift mech. 




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Duchess (Jul 2, 2018)

How does the shifting mechanism work? Off the cuff, how I would do it is something like how a manual transmission in a car works. The inner gear would be mounted on a shaft/tube and the outer gear secured to a concentric tube. Both gears' tubes spin with the wheel at all times that the wheel is rolling as they would be connected to the hub. The driven shaft from the bottom bracket would have some kind of sliding collar that would alternately lock either the inner or outer gear tube to the driven shaft to supply the desired drive ratio. I imagine, more gears would be possible with this method, but that would be a LOT of drag and weight for human power.


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## mike cates (Jul 3, 2018)

Someone should post information of the 3 speed model (not Columbia) chainless as they do exist. A Wheelmen member was posting about one a few years ago.


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## catfish (Jul 5, 2018)

let's see the whole bike.


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