# 1955 Shelby Golden Eagle



## Oilit (Jul 31, 2020)

I picked this up last weekend, and it's well worn, but looks complete except for the replaced chain guard. I believe the paint is original, but other than pin stripes on the forks, there's no decals anywhere. So I was looking for pictures of a better example, and there are pictures of the ads, but none of the actual bikes. Has anybody got pictures showing the decals, and does anyone have an original chain guard?


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## Jeff54 (Jul 31, 2020)

Not gonna be easy to find one but, they sure advertised the heck out of it. And what the heck color is this? It's looking sort of Chartreuse and in this 54-55 period, same as others with that bright yellow/green or  green/yellow like, safety colors.













						1954 Shelby Bicycles Ask for it for Christmas Vintage Print Ad 12142  | eBay
					

Year Published: 1954. NOT a Reproduction - NOT a Reprint. We often get one of a kind material nobody else has. For example rare low print trade publications. internal SKU Code: PM-16100. Condition:   G.



					rover.ebay.com


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## Oilit (Jul 31, 2020)

Jeff54 said:


> Not gonna be easy to find one but, they sure advertised the heck out of it. And what the heck color is this? It's looking sort of Chartreuse and in this 54-55 period, same as others with that bright yellow/green or  green/yellow like, safety colors.
> 
> View attachment 1238903
> 
> ...



You notice the bike in your ad is slightly different, with painted chain guard and fenders, truss rods and a Rocket Ray(?) head light, where mine has no truss rods and the ad shows a generator light. Evidently yours is the balloon tire version and mine's a middleweight, but I couldn't find any photographs of either version. Pictures would help show how true the color in the ads was to the color on the bikes!


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## Jeff54 (Jul 31, 2020)

Oilit said:


> You notice the bike in your ad is slightly different, with painted chain guard and fenders, truss rods and a Rocket Ray(?) head light, where mine has no truss rods and the ad shows a generator light. Evidently yours is the balloon tire version and mine's a middleweight, but I couldn't find any photographs of either version. Pictures would help show how true the color in the ads was to the color on the bikes!



Thing is, that ad is; xmas 54 otherwise the 55 model  and, the same as the ad says: "Balloon Tire lightweight" frame you've got.


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## Rivnut (Jul 31, 2020)

Did you catch the wording in the ad following yellow "Golden Eagle"?  "Balloon tired lightweight."


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## Jeff54 (Jul 31, 2020)

Oilit said:


> You notice the bike in your ad is slightly different, with painted chain guard and fenders, truss rods and a Rocket Ray(?) head light, where mine has no truss rods and the ad shows a generator light. Evidently yours is the balloon tire version and mine's a middleweight, but I couldn't find any photographs of either version. Pictures would help show how true the color in the ads was to the color on the bikes!



Did U see this ad, a photo of the later or lesser priced version and it's defiantly yellow. I wonder if it's 'Golden' metlac too?  flicker won't let me  do any more then link it. : 




__
		https://flic.kr/p/7rV2rh


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## Jeff54 (Jul 31, 2020)

That


Rivnut said:


> Did you catch the wording in the ad following yellow "Golden Eagle"?  "Balloon tired lightweight."



Splains a lot. No wonder nobody has any. Apparently, these bikes got 'tried' out before launch.


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## Oilit (Jul 31, 2020)

Jeff54 said:


> Thing is, that ad is; xmas 54 otherwise the 55 model  and, the same as the ad says: "Balloon Tire lightweight" frame you've got.



Do you think "Balloon-tire Lightweight" meant middleweight? I didn't think of that, but it might be. The middleweights had been on the market less than a year, maybe they were still getting the terminology straightened out.


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## Jeff54 (Jul 31, 2020)

Oilit said:


> Do you think "Balloon-tire Lightweight" meant middleweight? The middleweights had been on the market less than a year, maybe they were still getting the terminology straightened out.



The 2nd ad I recently posted and more like yours, says: "Middleweight".  And for the same frame , yeah, ' Balloon-tired Lightweight' is just the _tired out_ phrase.


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## Jeff54 (Jul 31, 2020)

Jeff54 said:


> The 2nd ad I recently posted and more like yours, says: "Middleweight".  And for the same frame , yeah, ' Balloon-tired Lightweight' is just the _tired out_ phrase.





Now that you brought it up, obviously kids in the day didn't approve of bright colors like this. Even in other manufactures, sort of neon bright failed as there are so very few.

However, potentially, if somebody's got an yellow one or similar yellow-ish gold that stands out like these advertisements do,  hiding under house paint; THE HUNT IS ON!.


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## Rivnut (Jul 31, 2020)

You all know why bikes lean on a kick stand


Because they're always two tired.


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## Rivnut (Jul 31, 2020)

Jeff54 said:


> Did U see this ad, a photo of the later or lesser priced version and it's defiantly yellow. I wonder if it's 'Golden' metlac too?  flicker won't let me  do any more then link it. :
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Does the kid in the picture look like you in the day?  Rolled up cuffs on the blue Jean's because mom bought them big so you could grow into them.  And the all black PF Flyers so you could run faster and jump higher.


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## Jeff54 (Aug 2, 2020)

Rivnut said:


> Does the kid in the picture look like you in the day?  Rolled up cuffs on the blue Jean's because mom bought them big so you could grow into them.  And the all black PF Flyers so you could run faster and jump higher.





I'm Thinking like; Red Ball Jets er somtin. But, no, not Norman Rockwell knock-off Milk kid expression, nope.

As with any kid, capturing that fleeting second Dopamine is rushing through their system, sure sells stuff.

I caught my son once, by sure luck, when  he got up on a wake  board, the very first  time, I had a camera:






Couldn't believe that happened, The odds of getting the shot against it. And then, once I saw the photo, couldn't help but to say,: All that's missing is a Pepsi ad.


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## Rivnut (Aug 2, 2020)

Not the Norman Rockwell feel good expression but just the clothes. Roebucks jeans from Sears; a little big in the waist, way too long, and double knees.  Mom, "Gotta last you for a while."  I think the PF Flyers were cheaper than the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars, plus they weren't white which showed how dirty you'd gotten them.


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## Oilit (Aug 3, 2020)

My mom always took us to Pic 'N' Pay and got the cheap plastic tennis shoes with a thin layer of rubber on the soles. After the first week, the rubber was gone and you had absolutely no grip. The kids called them "skates" because when you got on a polished and waxed hardwood basketball court, that's what they did. I despised those shoes. When I was 14 I found a $10.00 bill somebody lost and bought a pair of Converse All-Stars. I was moving up in the world!


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## mickeyc (Aug 3, 2020)

Jeff54 said:


> Did U see this ad, a photo of the later or lesser priced version and it's defiantly yellow. I wonder if it's 'Golden' metlac too?  flicker won't let me  do any more then link it. :
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The ad also says "1.75 middleweight tires"......


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## Oilit (Aug 3, 2020)

I got this from the Googlebooks website, from their on-line back issues of Boys' Life (Boy Scouts of America). Hopefully this is large enough to read the fine print. Interesting that this shows the color to be darker, even though it's supposed to be scanned from the same issue. I don't know where the variation comes from.


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## mickeyc (Aug 3, 2020)

Those 2 ads show 2 pretty different bikes...chrome fenders & chain guard, painted fenders & chain guard, different headlight, truss rods, no truss rods.....but they are both yellow...


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## jpromo (Aug 3, 2020)

I like how Shelby got around Schwinn's cantilever patent by making a frame look like a canti, but it isn't.


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## Oilit (Aug 3, 2020)

mickeyc said:


> Those 2 ads show 2 pretty different bikes...chrome fenders & chain guard, painted fenders & chain guard, different headlight, truss rods, no truss rods.....but they are both yellow...



And it could just be my imagination, but the more I look at it, the more the first version looks like a balloon-tire bike with a set of middleweight tires.  It makes me wonder if AMF planned to sell it as a balloon tire bike, until they saw how successful Schwinn's new middleweights were. "Hey look, kids! We've got a middleweight too!"


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## Jeff54 (Aug 3, 2020)

Oilit said:


> I got this from the Googlebooks website, from their on-line back issues of Boys' Life (Boy Scouts of America). Hopefully this is large enough to read the fine print. Interesting that this shows the color to be darker, even though it's supposed to be scanned from the same issue. I don't know where the variation comes from.
> 
> View attachment 1240844



Wishfull thinking but the paper is aged almost making it look copper like yours. .

IDK But maybe it's Donald duck yellow..  Here's another 1955 ad, yellow and blue; 




Yet, I ran across this  on ebay today and it sure looks yellowy gold:


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## Jeff54 (Aug 3, 2020)

And,


Oilit said:


> I got this from the Googlebooks website, from their on-line back issues of Boys' Life (Boy Scouts of America). Hopefully this is large enough to read the fine print. Interesting that this shows the color to be darker, even though it's supposed to be scanned from the same issue. I don't know where the variation comes from.
> 
> View attachment 1240844



they're on faceTook, ( Your identy and pawned it off)

https://www.facebook.com/ShelbyCycl...gNp4JFgk11gqx0QFBqnZ8ItDo&fref=nf&__tn__=kC-R

I don't do facetook.  But can see, practically, the whole danged town. If these folks don't know what a golden looks like then, tell em to walk away.. Stop selling T-shirts, close the museum and walk away. If they say, copper is gold then, let em  know I got  chunk for sale, special numb-nuts clearance only; $100 an ounce..

They're posting a few years of annual parade, U should watch em, see if yours and or gold rides.

Maybe yours has its own special name too B/C I ain't finding Shelby copper anywhere as well.

Photos of your fork crown ;  it's strange.  Fender is dropped by fender bracket, big space in-between. And, try cleaning the grease and dirt all the paint then, get few shots it in bright sunlight and see what happens. 

Let us know what they say, eh.


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## Oilit (Aug 3, 2020)

Jeff54 said:


> And,
> 
> they're on faceTook, ( Your identy and pawned it off)
> 
> ...



Thanks for the link! I hadn't heard of the Shelby Cycle Historical Society. It sounds like Shelby Cycles was just about the biggest thing in town, until AMF bought them and moved them to Cleveland. Oh well...


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## Rivnut (Aug 3, 2020)

Post #17
Second bulleted item:  • "*Slim new balloon tires..........*"
Looks like they hadn't quite figured out the middleweight nomenclature.


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## Oilit (Aug 6, 2020)

Jeff54 said:


> And,
> 
> they're on faceTook, ( Your identy and pawned it off)
> 
> ...



The fork and fender is the same as AMF used on the middleweight 1955/56 Roadmaster Flying Falcon, which had 2 speeds and a front caliper brake. The bracket usually mounts to the back of the fork and the fender angles up under the fork crown, which closes up the gap in the front. Comparing it to my 1954 Flying Falcon (balloon tire single speed), you can see the difference, but I haven't gotten around to changing it yet on the Shelby. As to why they put a fork to mount a caliper on a bike without one, your guess is as good as mine.
But you're right about the paint, I need to clean and polish it and then see what it looks like. I would look under the head badge, but it's riveted on.


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## Oilit (Aug 6, 2020)

Come to think of it, I think @GTs58 said that the early Schwinn middleweights all had frames set up for caliper brakes, even though the single and two speed bikes didn't use them, so maybe that was the only thing available.


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## Jeff54 (Aug 6, 2020)

Oilit said:


> Come to think of it, I think @GTs58 said that the early Schwinn middleweights all had frames set up for caliper brakes, even though the single and two speed bikes didn't use them, so maybe that was the only thing available.



Yeah but no, Schwinn had fork with mount hole and without yet randomly on single speed and or, manual 2 speed,  you might find either.
Although unrelated by 25 years or so, this holds true in the 78-81 Schwinn cruiser group. You might get a hole in fork to mount brake in single speed or not.
These forks on your 2 are not the same as Schwinn's too, that gap on yours is huge in comparison. So, those forks are, in the least, taller than Schwinn's ..


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## Oilit (Aug 6, 2020)

Jeff54 said:


> Yeah but no, Schwinn had fork with mount hole and without yet randomly on single speed and or, manual 2 speed,  you might find either.
> Although unrelated by 25 years or so, this holds true in the 78-81 Schwinn cruiser group. You might get a hole in fork to mount brake in single speed or not.
> These forks on your 2 are not the same as Schwinn's too, that gap on yours is huge in comparison. So, those forks are, in the least, taller than Schwinn's ..



The gap does look big. I'll have to shift the bracket back and see how much difference it actually makes. It looks like when AMF started building middleweights they just put smaller tires on the same rims, so maybe that's the difference.


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## Jeff54 (Aug 7, 2020)

Oilit said:


> The gap does look big. I'll have to shift the bracket back and see how much difference it actually makes. It looks like when AMF started building middleweights they just put smaller tires on the same rims, so maybe that's the difference.



Maybe not as huge as I was thinking and perhaps, it's both tires and fender in your copper and  a lot closer to Schwinn on the green bike.

I forgot, over 5 year ago, I'd taken this photo of a 55 Schwinn corvette fork. The Brackets mount on back side verses yours front but,  the gap looks much like your green bike has.


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## Oilit (Aug 7, 2020)

Jeff54 said:


> Maybe not as huge as I was thinking and perhaps, it's both tires and fender in your copper and  a lot closer to Schwinn on the green bike.
> 
> I forgot, over 5 year ago, I'd taken this photo of a 55 Schwinn corvette fork. The Brackets mount on back side verses yours front but,  the gap looks much like your green bike has.



Yeah, I shifted the bracket to the back yesterday evening and it rotated the fender back and up a fair bit. Although it still looks like it has a little more clearance than the Schwinn. Maybe they needed it because of the shape of the fenders?


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## Jeff54 (Aug 7, 2020)

Oilit said:


> Yeah, I shifted the bracket to the back yesterday evening and it rotated the fender back and up a fair bit. Although it still looks like it has a little more clearance than the Schwinn. Maybe they needed it because of the shape of the fenders?
> 
> View attachment 1243188
> 
> View attachment 1243189



Yeah, that's more like it and surprisingly, obviously, Schwinn didn't have an exclusive on those, designed to host caliper brake, forged forks.


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## Oilit (Aug 7, 2020)

Jeff54 said:


> Yeah, that's more like it and surprisingly, obviously, Schwinn didn't have an exclusive on those, designed to host caliper brake, forged forks.



I'm guessing Schwinn and AMF both bought the caliper-mounting forks from Ashtabula Forge, starting with the balloon tire Jaguar and Flying Falcon. AMF may actually have used them first on the balloon tire bikes, but Schwinn was even earlier on the lightweights, going back pre-war, but I don't know who produced the lightweight forks. Adopting 3 speeds and caliper brakes on anything except lightweights seems to have kicked off just before the middleweights arrived, but information is scarce. I know you've seen the "Prototype Jaguar" thread, but you might not have seen this one:








						1953 Roadmaster Flying Falcon | Classic Balloon Tire Bicycles 1933-1965
					

I like 3 speed balloon tire bikes and I've had a 1954 Schwinn Jaguar for a while, but these Roadmasters seem harder to find. I finally picked this up last summer and comparing it to the example @Dave Stromberger has posted, it struck me that the head badge, seat post decal and truss rods are...




					thecabe.com


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## Rivnut (Aug 7, 2020)

Here's a WAG.  Perhaps the profile of the brake arms dictated that more room was needed between the fork and the fender.


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## Oilit (Aug 7, 2020)

Rivnut said:


> Here's a WAG.  Perhaps the profile of the brake arms dictated that more room was needed between the fork and the fender.



I've been trying to call AMF, but I never get anything but some bowling alley.


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## Jeff54 (Oct 18, 2020)

Certainly pins are lined up by now? Otherwise did ya contact the faceTook people and their annual parade party? Tell em ya want a lane to bowl on, Lane : Where TF are the friggen goldens at?


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## Freqman1 (Oct 19, 2020)

I don't believe I've ever seen that style Shelby badge and the fenders are interesting as well. I wouldn't think the guard would be too hard to find but matching the paint may be a challenge. V/r Shawn


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## Oilit (Nov 6, 2021)

So I finally ran across another Golden Eagle, and it's the earlier version. @SilverBullet08 saw this bike on Offerup and posted it in this thread:








						Anyone need a Shelby? | Stuff on eBay, Craigslist, Facebook etc.
					

Not mine and I don’t know if that’s a good price either. Check out this item on OfferUp. https://offerup.co/rFyG1b9VXjb




					thecabe.com
				



I've been in contact with the seller and he sent some more pictures, so I'll post them here for future reference. The bike looks original except for the chrome Rocket Ray, which has been replaced with an electric horn.
It's interesting that this bike has plenty of room under the fenders for balloon tires, even though an ad in the Nov. 1954 American Bicyclist specifies 1.75 inch tires.


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