# What are these 28" wheels? And help identifying the year of this bike?



## Lraybike (Feb 29, 2012)

I just picked up this bike and I need some help identifying the year and parts? I've only seen 28" rims in wood and metal clad wood before. These are all metal but take a single tube tire. Please help me out here. Does this help identify the year? Also the sprocket has a paten date of Jan. 1918 and the frame has a decal date of 1922. Please take a look at the pics and tell me what you think? Thank you for your time in advance. Lawrence


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## npence (Feb 29, 2012)

I have a mead ranger with the same kind of rims. Seems to be kind of rare.


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## Lraybike (Feb 29, 2012)

There is a serial# of 177872 if this helps?  What year is your ranger?


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## Backpedaler (Feb 29, 2012)

i got some of those too. i thought they were elgin/sears stuff but what do i know. i also asked on one post but never got a good answer. someone will tell us . . .


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## Rust_Trader (Feb 29, 2012)

Good to know that bike didn't leave SoCal. I started getting into bike about 2.5 year ago and I think this bike was for
sale back then. The bike never sold and it was cool to see it pop again now, I did bid on it but at the end I forgot about it lol.
Real nice bike I seen about 2 other mead crusaders and they had the same sprocket as yours, those wheels are cool I like 'em better than wooden wheels.


Congrats nice bike


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## scrubbinrims (Feb 29, 2012)

That is a nice bicycle and I really dig the color combo...it was pick up only and quite the distance to make a run at it, besides a flocycle popped up and one thing lead to another...
Rustyspoke has posted this rim description in the past that I saved and attached..
Since the steel clad wood rim ran concurrently with this H type, it is hard to say that there was an exact begining or end without looking at the catalogues of the period which I don't have anyway.
My guess is that they were are option for many makers and not specific to a particular.
Chris


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## Lraybike (Feb 29, 2012)

Thank you, I didn't need another bike but,... well, you know how it is!  It's cleaner and more untouched than I thought it was going to be.  So that sprocket looks familiar to you?  Yes, I agree, I like these rims better than the wooden ones, they have a slim look and they're very strong and well made with nice detail ribs. Each spoke nipple has it's own bushing. Well, still trying to figure out the year of the thing?  L


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## Nick-theCut (Mar 1, 2012)

Can you show us more pics of your bike? Tank, hub, etc. 
Beautiful bike, I couldn't find another crank like that one in my Mead ranger and Mead bicycle magazine.  I do see similar handle bars and rim/tires.  Show us more.


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## ericbaker (Mar 1, 2012)

with 28" clincher rims and 1/2" pitch chains it seems like mead maybe adopted some British practices earlier than other american companies.


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## ericbaker (Mar 1, 2012)

on second thought... looks like they might be for single tubes.


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## hoofhearted (Mar 1, 2012)

*What are these 28" wheels ?*




  IF YOU ARE looking for a set of way-fly wheels for 28-inch rubber .. look no further.  PAUL GENARO 
introduced me to a set of these rarities more than fifteen years ago .. saying, "the way the rims hug the tire .. you would swear it's a 
motorcycle adaptation !!"  PAUL is correct, as usual.  Your 28" X 1.5" single tube tires will want to bounce right on to these glue-on 
rims .. if they get a chance !!  But ..please do not think you can find them with the greatest of ease !!  This writer recently asked SCOTT 
McCASKEY to bid on a beautiful, teen's camel-back having these wheels ( look .. i barely know how to navigate on ebay .. and most folks 
know i ask SCOTT to place my bids ).  We won the prize .. i paid for the $450 win .. asked SCOTT to ship me the wheels .. he could keep 
the rest of the bicycle .. and everybody's happy.  

BY NOW YOU'RE thinkin', "four-hundred and fifty simoleons .. that's a lotta cheeze for a pair of spoked wheels ?!!"  Not for a pair of rims 
made of unobtainium that cry to be painted (in a world where nickel or chrome wheels are dished up by the ton), and these rims true-up 
straighter than a carbon-fiber arrow shot from the bow of a descendant of Robin Hood !!  

ONE MORE THING ... at the INDIANAPOLIS meet in January, i found a choice, matched pair of these rims for thirty bucks a wheel (seller
 had only the one pair of rims) .. seller said, "fifty for the pair !!" ... you know i whipped sixty bucks on him saying, "ya got any more ??" 

IF YA CONTINUE EXPECTING TO SCORE the good stuff ... keep the seller motivated.

..........  patric


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## Lraybike (Mar 1, 2012)

That same thing happened to me when I first looked at the pictures.


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## meteor (Mar 1, 2012)

Model A hub with 1/2" pitch sproket. Must be a modification. The rims are 25 1/4" diameter? American rims I believe are exactly 25".


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## Lraybike (Mar 1, 2012)

Question?, How long did they use the model A hub?  Because Schwinn catalogs dating back to the teens show 1/2" pitch sprockets & chains. I know sometimes looks can be deceiving but this thing looks really untouched.   As for the extra 1/4",  that's 1/8" on each side which kinda explanes the mentioned above... on how well the tires "jump onto the rims". A deeper "U shape" if you will?  I haven't been able to find anything on Lewis built rims yet but someone out here has to have seen them before? 
Thanks for the input!  L


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## bricycle (Mar 1, 2012)

Lraybike said:


> Question?, How long did they use the model A hub?  Because Schwinn catalogs dating back to the teens show 1/2" pitch sprockets & chains. I know sometimes looks can be deceiving but this thing looks really untouched.   As for the extra 1/4",  that's 1/8" on each side which kinda explanes the mentioned above... on how well the tires "jump onto the rims". A deeper "U shape" if you will?  I haven't been able to find anything on Lewis built rims yet but someone out here has to have seen them before?
> Thanks for the input!  L




"A"'s ran till about late '20's.


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## sam (Mar 1, 2012)

Your mead looks compleatly original
Steel rims were offered for most bikes not many had them as they were heaver than the wood rims.


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## Larmo63 (Mar 1, 2012)

Mead had a Chicago/Liverpool connection. The regular pitch is correct for this Mead and I

think those wheels were special ordered with it originally. They look rare and bitchen

to me.


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## Luckykat32 (Mar 2, 2012)

Those rims are great!  Classic Cycle in Germany makes the same ones...now I feel better about my purchase and my rider!

http://classic-cycle.de/en/Ready-Spanned-Wheels-Rims-Parts/Westwood-Rim-black-28-x-1-1-2-36-holes.html


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## Lraybike (Mar 2, 2012)

Close but not, I looked at those from Germany and they appear to be clincher wheels. They do look similar.  Hey, if you use these rims, do you have to change spokes? and are there any good looking (vintage) tires out there for them?


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## Luckykat32 (Mar 3, 2012)

They are clinchers, which is a good thing. Classic cycle has cream, red, & black tires that look great. I'm running the black rims w/ the red tires & I used ND model D hubs w/ NOS Torrington spokes. But, you could run your original spokes if you can save them all. 

They look very similar to your rims in the picture. Yours aren't clinchers?  They look it.


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## Lraybike (Mar 3, 2012)

Here are a couple more pics and as you can see there's nothing to grab a standard tire.  Another interesting note: these rims haven't been trued in years (as evidence of the rotten front tire) and when I pluck the spokes they all have that perfect chime of a tight spoke!  Wooden rims shrink over time and loosen up under tention needing tuning more often.  I haven't had one off yet to feel how heavy they are but it feels very thick.  L


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## sam (Mar 4, 2012)

Take a good look at the wheels in the scan and you will see the all steel rims were 10cents extra


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## Nick-theCut (Mar 7, 2012)

That's the crank and 1/2 pitch new departure hub.  Great find, what catalog year?


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## Nick-theCut (Mar 7, 2012)

Well I just recieved a 1924 Ranger catalog today in the mail, and the Pathfinder models (Model A, motorbike, and camel-back) all have the similar crank, 1/2 " pitch chain and rim style.  No Crusaders in this catalog, hope this helps widdle your mystery bike down.
Here's a pic of the motorbike


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## dave the wave (Mar 9, 2012)

sam said:


> Take a good look at the wheels in the scan and you will see the all steel rims were 10cents extra




so sam what year catalog is that from? 1915-16 ?


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## sam (Mar 10, 2012)

The catalog does not have a date but came with a letter and other info sent from the Mead co dated 1923.


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## Lraybike (Mar 11, 2012)

*A little help with this rack?*

Does anyone out there have the rack pictured above called "Husky rack"?  (A.) I'm looking for one and if you weren't willing to part with it... , I would gladly pay you for you're time to take some pics and measurements so I can make one for my bike. (and no not to fool anyone, just to complete it in appearance).  Thank you,  PM Lraybike if you can help me.   L


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