# 1902 Rambler model 52, newly aquired



## andybee75 (Jul 11, 2021)

Bought this Rambler 1902 yesterday from a museum, looks very original and amazing condition for it's age. However, the back wheel wood rim is warped, some repainting on the frame has been done and some minor things are not original, but overall a very nice bike. It was sold new in Sweden where I live, hence the fenders that I don't american bikes was equipped with. Hope to get it running soon. Notice the bottle holder, such a nice one!


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## JoeBass (Jul 11, 2021)

Beautiful! Is that a bottle holder on the bars? I’ve seen those referred to as “newspaper clips”.


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## rusty_apache (Jul 11, 2021)

A little warpage is common and can be mostly corrected with a spoke wrench.


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## Billythekid (Jul 11, 2021)

I love those g&j lugs nice bike


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## andybee75 (Jul 12, 2021)

JoeBass said:


> Beautiful! Is that a bottle holder on the bars? I’ve seen those referred to as “newspaper clips”.




You're probably right, it didn't work well with a bottle or can. Too bad, hoped to have beercans on it...😆


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## dnc1 (Jul 12, 2021)

Is the 'bottle holder' Swedish made?
I have an early Spanish one, they were also used in France. Sometimes called newspaper clips, packet holders, or bread holders ( think French baguettes).


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## willswares1220 (Jul 12, 2021)

Beautiful Bike!


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## tim elder (Jul 12, 2021)

Stunning!


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## andybee75 (Jul 14, 2021)

dnc1 said:


> Is the 'bottle holder' Swedish made?
> I have an early Spanish one, they were also used in France. Sometimes called newspaper clips, packet holders, or bread holders ( think French baguettes).




I haven't found any markings at all on it, but i suspect that it might be US made due to the design of the fastening clamp.


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## GiovanniLiCalsi (Jul 14, 2021)

Sweden bicycle distributor imported many American bicycles and eventually bought license agreements to manufacture them, but this one is American made.


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## GiovanniLiCalsi (Jul 14, 2021)

Crescent Bicycles in Sweden 
Cykelhistoriska Freningen 

- From USA to Sweden -
The American company Western Wheel Works in Chicago was a big manufacturer with a production yearly of 50.000 bicycles in 1894. Adolph Schoeninger, the founder came from Germany. He had the idea of making "Crescent" bicycles affordable for working people and of widening the market by massive exports. He used sheet-metal stamping and other production methods aimed at lowering costs. In many ways he was preceding Henry Ford and mass production. Due to that the export from the United States generally lowered prices in Europe. And the bicycle boom was a fact. In Sweden few manufacturers was at hand in the middle of 1890ies. As the demand was great – the interest for the new method of transportation was rising enormously - a stockholder company was formed called Aktiebolaget Amerikansk Cycle Import, Eli Pettersson & August Lindblad in 1896. August & Eli decided to import and sell, among other brands, the Crescent and Miami bicycles, and also had agencies of several bicycle accessories. They were no beginners in the business, although both were young men. August (born 1864) was importing among other bicycles the American brand Eclipse and some English brands. His hardware store in Stockholm was selling bicycles as a side-line. Eli (born 1868) was a renowned racing man and managed a small bicycle store selling the Humber from England and also repaired bikes.
In 1896 August and Eli imported 6.000 Crescent bicycles. Stockholm was a rather small city at the time with 200000 inhabitants. In only a half year all bikes were sold, either to the countryside or in their own shop. With the purchase of a bike followed a free lesson in a bicycle school (Östbergs Velocipedskola). The following year they had 38 employees, and got the agency for Dunlop in Scandinavia.
Crescent Amerikansk Cycleimport also sold the American Snell in black or green, and the German bicycle Allright with Dunlop tires and yellow mudguards made of wood
Around the years 1907-1908 AB Amerikansk Cycleimport started to produce bicycles with the name Crescent in their own factory. How they could use the earlier so well-known American name is unclear. As a comparison the name from Gormully Jeffery, Rambler was registered by Albert Öhman around this time and used on Swedish made bicycles for a long time.The factory was actually more like a large forge, 10 men working with tools and machines of old-fashioned types. The frames were made during the autumn & winter and were assembled in the spring & summer. An ordinary working day was between 8 am and 8 pm, except during high season (April-October) when they worked until midnight. Between 1500 to 2 000 bicycles were made each year. As fashion influences from abroad.dictated the bikes had a long basic frame with a height of 24(60cm) inch but also 22(55cm) or 26(65cm) inch were possible. For the exceptionally long gentlemen they could make a 28(70cm) inch frame on special order. In the primitive storage were supplies for American Crescent and Rambler, English B.S.A., German Dürkopp, and Austrian Styria.The request for more and more bikes and frames made it necessary to move the manufacturing to larger space. In the autumn of 1910 the company moved to Tunnelgatan 10 and the business changed the name to Velocipedaktiebolaget Lindblad. For unknown reasons the partners Eli Pettersson and August Lindblad went separate ways. Eli Pettersson moved and started business at Birger Jarlsgatan 9 in 1914. He was selling the New-Hudson motorcycle. 
The company Lindblads Velocipedfabrik had a number of users among the competitive men in Sweden. The long and demanding road races were most popular as velodromes were scarce. One rider using Crescent during the Olympics on the July 7 1912 in Stockholm was Henrik Morén. He was expected to be the best Swedish rider since he had won the distance 10 times. Against the toughest competition the Swedish team won the gold medal. The individual gold went to the completely unknown Rudolph Lewis from South Africa who won his biggest victory. The race had individual start and Lewis was second out from the start. Henrik Morén and many others suffered in the morning heat and he was only the fifth Swede far away from the medals. Still Sweden and Morén had hopes for the next Olympic Game.The first world war changed many things and the Olympic games were no exception. Even though Sweden didn't participate in the war it had its effect - tires and other bicycle parts were extremely hard to get. 
After the war Lindblads had a good time where new machines were bought and branch departments was opened in Malmoe and Gothenburg. Lindblads sold, together withtheir own makes Crescent and Drott, the Torpedo hubs from the German company Fichtel & Sachs and motorcycles from Harley-Davidson. The Danish racer Henry Hansen went to Sweden 1924 and for a long time during the 1920's he was competing more in Sweden than in Denmark.He managed to take the Olympic gold in Amsterdam 1928 on a Crescent and became the world champion in Copenhagen 1931. With those victories the bicycle brand Crescent showed its capacity. Even though the brand Crescent was successful in competition and the times were good, a deal of cooperation between Lindblads in Stockholm and Nymans in Uppsala was discussed. In the autumn 1931 the manufacturing went to AB Nymans Verkstäder in Uppsala, with Lindblads as a sales organization. This deal came about mainly because the factory in Stockholm had old machinery and no possibility of expanding. Already the same year the production of Crescent and Drott moved to Nymans Verkstäder and also the agency for the Torpedo hub. Gustaf Grahn who had been an employee of Lindblads since 1910 and had shown his skill, got a head position in Nymans Velocipedfabrik. Later he become the president and worked for the company until Monark purchased Nymans in 1960.
Written by Åke Stenqvist


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## GiovanniLiCalsi (Jul 14, 2021)

They imported Racycles and Pierces, too.


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## Rusty McNickel (Jul 15, 2021)

Hi Andy, Beautiful Rambler!

One thing caught my eye on this bicycle that I'm completely perplexed by. The small supplemental "successors to" badge above the main badge was used briefly mid 1900 as GJ was transitioning to ABC control. Some early 1900 Ramblers were produced and released with the original GJ badge design. Mid 1900's saw the addition of the small supplemental badge as seen on your bicycle (but mounted with a much smaller screw, minuscule compared to yours as I still have the original). By late 1900 ABC had incorporated the "successors to" declaration into a newly designed but still similar main badge.

By 1901 the badge was redesigned again to resemble the badge on your 52 (a badge design that continued on Swedish Ramblers for half a century as you know) and the "successors to" declaration was transferred to the seat tube decal as seen on you bicycle. I'm curious if someone took liberties in adding that small badge on your bicycle post production.

Also, the pedals, which may be the nicest example of GJ pedals I've ever seen, are of the older design used up to 1900. 1901 saw a slight design change in the cage with two "tear drops" added on either side of the center hole on the front and back of the cage.

I'm curious to know if your frame model stamp found on the right side of your seat binder lug matches your 52 badge. And of course, if you have not already done so, check the bottom of the seat tube for the manufacturing tag. I still do not know how long this practice persisted after ABC took over.

Attached is an example, albeit a rough one, of a mid 1900 Rambler 32 with the small supplemental badge. Note the tiny screw hole.


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## Rusty McNickel (Jul 15, 2021)

The newer pedal cage design can be seen on this 1902 52 which is here on the CABE.


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## Pondo (Jul 16, 2021)

Wow, what a looker!  That is a very nicely preserved bike.  Beautiful.  Congrats and enjoy!


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## andybee75 (Jul 24, 2021)

You are right, the "successors to" badge hole looks crude and the screw don't match the head badge screws. And looks like some one used some kind of glue also. This really puzzles me, why in the world would anyone do this and how did they got hold of the badge? And how did they even know this, i suspect extremely few people in Sweden knows about the Rambler history i such detail. If you found a loose one, how many could identify it as a Rambler badge? Amazed... 

As for the pedals, is it possible that export version got older parts from the factory?

No frame model stamp found and no seat tube manufacturing tag. Guess this was a G&J thing only


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## Rusty McNickel (Jul 24, 2021)

Nevertheless, fine wheel there Andy. Haven't heard from you in a while but you never fail to impress with what you find. 

Over the years I have seen a few anomalies on these Ramblers that defy what we expect to be otherwise, based on the information available. Your suggestion on the pedals is certainly plausible. But since this is a detachable component, who knows what took place in this bicycle's past? One of the more puzzling things I remember seeing was a 1898 paint pattern on a 1899 frame. I think it may have even been one of your bicycles, can't remember now. 

I was also intrigued by the import decal. The artwork seems to be quite modern for the era. Quick search indicates the place may still be operating in Älta and was established in 1954. Maybe it was on display there. Just another part a the bicycle history mystory.


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## andybee75 (Jul 24, 2021)

Thanks for your input, Mark. The decal belongs to the bicycle importing company called Europeiska Cykelimporten (ECI) and was founded and owned by Mr Thord Lönnqvist. He was also a keen bicycle collector, this bike came from his collection wich was sold after his death. It was then acquired by another bicycle collector who had a museum, but this collection was also broken up after the owners death. ECI is still runned by the son of Mr Lönnqvist called Mats. The company specialised in exclusive racer bikes and famous Swedish cyclists often bought their bikes there.

As for my bike it has been some done to the back wheel as I saw today that it has stainless steel spokes not quite spoked in a correct angle and some missing, so I will get this fixed if the rim can be repaired. The overall condition seems not to have been restored except for some paint touch up on the frame. The nickel plating seems to be original and are in fabulous condition, I must say. Does the hub seem to be original?


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## Rusty McNickel (Jul 24, 2021)

The front hub as is appears to be original with the characteristic domed fixing nut. Up to 1900 I know the hubs had a stepped cone that fit into an oversized fork hole so the weight did not bear directly on the axle threads. Also there was a tanged washer that fit into a fork notch. Prior years used a dowel pin pressed into the cone to fit into the fork notch. Up to 1900 Rambler oilers were pretty recognizable.










The rear hub as is, not so sure. A look at the oiler if there is one may help but I'm not certain if they were the same by '02. I posted a 1900 hub and related bits. Note how the washers are contoured to interface with a raised area on the drop-out. Prior years used just one right side tensioner which may explain why your left side appears different. A word of caution when you are fortunate to have original domed nuts, when assembling a wheel onto the bicycle make certain the axle thread exposure is equidistant. Any uneven protrusion will force the pressed in dome out of the nut. They can be pressed back in but never look the same. The right nut in the photo is a replacement and never had a dome.


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## andybee75 (Aug 2, 2021)

Hi Mark, forgive my late answer, your info is very valuable to me. I been quite busy in restoring another bike, but now I will have time to adress th Rambler again. This bike is the culprit: 








						Newly restored 1938 swedish Crescent | International Bicycles
					

Hi guys, yesterday I finished the restoration of a quite rare bike, a 1938 Crescent with optional stainless steel fenders and rims AND optional 192 other parts in stainless steel. In fact, all shiny parts except for hubs and chain wheel are made of 304 stainless steel. Never seen this combined...




					thecabe.com


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