# Mead Bicycle Co.



## Ohdee (Feb 6, 2021)

I was reading a forum and thread about the Mead Bicycle Co.  It was interesting and I thought I may have some info for them but I had to get registered before I could post, well I got lost and lost my place.  I hope I don’t make anyone mad by putting this here.  The discussion was about the history of the Mead Bicycle Co., so this is what I know.  James L. (Bunny) Mead is the son of James R. Mead. James R.Mead is one of the four founding fathers of Wichita Ks. in the 1860’s. James R. Mead had two son’s with his first wife and Bunny was one of the two son’s.  They had a trading post in Towanda Ks. and Wichita Ks.    If you want to read the family history find a copy of “Hunting and Trading on the Great Plains 1859-1875” by James R Mead.  The book is edited by Schuyler Jones, the grandson of James R. Mead.  This is a great book with lots of history about the early life of James L. Mead, the founder of the Mead Bicycle Co., and his father.


----------



## dnc1 (Feb 8, 2021)

Never worry about making information more widely available to the uninitiated. 
I think The Cabe is a great learning experience for everyone.  
No one can know everything about everything!


----------



## chitown (Feb 11, 2021)

Ohdee said:


> I was reading a forum and thread about the Mead Bicycle Co.  It was interesting and I thought I may have some info for them but I had to get registered before I could post, well I got lost and lost my place.  I hope I don’t make anyone mad by putting this here.  The discussion was about the history of the Mead Bicycle Co., so this is what I know.  James L. (Bunny) Mead is the son of James R. Mead. James R.Mead is one of the four founding fathers of Wichita Ks. in the 1860’s. James R. Mead had two son’s with his first wife and Bunny was one of the two son’s.  They had a trading post in Towanda Ks. and Wichita Ks.    If you want to read the family history find a copy of “Hunting and Trading on the Great Plains 1859-1875” by James R Mead.  The book is edited by Schuyler Jones, the grandson of James R. Mead.  This is a great book with lots of history about the early life of James L. Mead, the founder of the Mead Bicycle Co., and his father.



James L Mead went into business with fellow son of a Wichita founder George Lewis when he moved to Chicago. Lewis's dad was a banker in Wichita. Lewis is pictured lower left corner from this photo of the Wichita Bicycle Club (dated 1885-9 era). Lewis went on to found & design the Monark Silver King flagship line of aluminum bikes in 1935/6. He also ran Premier Bicycle line which mirrored Meads business model of sourcing parts from multiple sources. Drive chains/forks/many accessories were English made while frames were multi sourced here in the states.

Thanks for posting and the James R Mead book is great look at early trading & enterprise of the 




west.


----------



## dnc1 (Feb 11, 2021)

And Mead of course were one of the few USA manufacturers to establish a factory over here in the UK,  in Liverpool.....








Images from VC-C library.


----------



## Cooper S. (Feb 12, 2021)

I’ve always wondered, did England get different models than the US? Are they common?


dnc1 said:


> And Mead of course were one of the few USA manufacturers to establish a factory over here in the UK,  in Liverpool.....
> View attachment 1356103
> 
> View attachment 1356105
> ...


----------



## chitown (Feb 12, 2021)

They were 100% English built, just the Mead name used. Lewis did build lightweights in US for export to England but this was in late 1930's. Meads in England bikes were in the teens. My holy grail bike is a Lewis road bike.


----------



## dnc1 (Feb 13, 2021)

chitown said:


> They were 100% English built, just the Mead name used. Lewis did build lightweights in US for export to England but this was in late 1930's. Meads in England bikes were in the teens. My holy grail bike is a Lewis road bike.
> 
> View attachment 1356873
> 
> ...



Simply gorgeous!


----------



## dnc1 (Feb 13, 2021)

Cooper S. said:


> I’ve always wondered, did England get different models than the US? Are they common?



Here are a few extracts from their 1907 UK catalogue.
Starting with a familiar US model name, but a very English style machine......











And by 1922, their UK catalogue was pretty sumptuous,  offering a wide range of very English style machines......
















And with a nod to their American heritage,  a model with just a rear coaster brake.....




Children's bicycles too......




And 'stylish' clothing and accessories.....

















Quite an extensive offering, these are just some of the models.

In answer to your question on whether they are common over here; I've never seen one personally,  but I'm sure there must be some survivors.
Personally I would love one of the "North Road Pacer" models in my collection!

(All images from VC-C library).


----------



## pinky88 (Jun 21, 2022)

dnc1 said:


> Here are a few extracts from their 1907 UK catalogue.
> Starting with a familiar US model name, but a very English style machine......
> View attachment 1356895
> View attachment 1356896
> ...



Hi first time posting, any clue on how many years they produced the 'North Road Flyer' model? I have (most of) one and it's been nearly impossible to find any information on it until I got lucky today. If it helps date it the badge lists Birmingham, London & Liverpool. I was ready to give up on ever finding info on this particular model. I can get more pictures but I am really looking for suggestions or any recommendations in general. I plan on selling- just not sure where to start with anything (do I clean it up more? what price point?). I may even have more of this bicycle I will have to look at the options they had and what I have.


----------



## dnc1 (Jun 22, 2022)

pinky88 said:


> Hi first time posting, any clue on how many years they produced the 'North Road Flyer' model? I have (most of) one and it's been nearly impossible to find any information on it until I got lucky today. If it helps date it the badge lists Birmingham, London & Liverpool. I was ready to give up on ever finding info on this particular model. I can get more pictures but I am really looking for suggestions or any recommendations in general. I plan on selling- just not sure where to start with anything (do I clean it up more? what price point?). I may even have more of this bicycle I will have to look at the options they had and what I have.
> 
> View attachment 1649895
> 
> ...



Welcome to The Cabe.

Unfortunately, there isn't a great deal of information available on the V-CC library site.
All I can say for definite is that your model appears in the 1907 catalogue and isn't listed in the 1913 catalogue. 

There is an article in one of the club publications which states that the ribbed forks are not shown in the 1909 catalogue but are shown in the 1911 catalogue, along with the ribbed chainstays which seem to be shown in your photos.
If yours has ribbed chainstays too, I think you may then have a date range of 1911 to 1913.

I see that yours has an 'inch-pitch' chainring however rather than the 1/2 inch pitch chainring. 
These were practically redundant in the UK around that time, I wonder if they still fitted inch-pitch chainrings for American export models?


----------

