# Bad Bicycle Ideas



## Boris (Oct 21, 2017)

1) Pedals that you can't open up to grease the bearings.
2) Grooved seat clamps. Often get ground down so far that they no longer catch.


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## cyclingday (Oct 21, 2017)

The Huffman notched seat post binder bolt.
Weak in design and a nightmare for the guy who tries to drive the bolt out with the seat post still inserted in the frame. Doh!


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## cyclingday (Oct 21, 2017)

The straight side "Triple Step Rims"
Absolutely nothing to hold the tire on in the unfortunate event of a blow out.
Talk about unfunded liability!
They look cool, but that's where the cool stops.


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## dfa242 (Oct 21, 2017)




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## MarkKBike (Oct 21, 2017)

If you type "Bad Bicycle Ideas" into Google, like I did, I was hoping to get a image of Boris's Avatar so I could try and make a joke. I did not find that. What I did find, was a websites devoted to the topic, and its pretty interesting. I think many here would enjoy the content presented.

*http://pardo.net/bike/pic/mobi/*

*http://pardo.net/bike/pic/mobi/d.pmp-cranks/index.html*


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## fordmike65 (Oct 21, 2017)

cyclingday said:


> The straight side "Triple Step Rims"
> Absolutely nothing to hold the tire on in the unfortunate event of a blow out.
> Talk about unfunded liability!
> They look cool, but that's where the cool stops.



As long as they're straight & not bent or flattened, they work just fine. I have 4 bikes that currently sport these very rims without issue. That being said...I have had a couple mishaps along the way. Not fun.


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## SirMike1983 (Oct 21, 2017)

I'll take a different approach. There are loads of absolutely rotten bicycle inventions, but what about just plain bad bicycle manufacturing and business practices? 

Trying to maintain profit margins by cutting corners on manufacture of a current product instead of developing improved products to stay competitive. You can't win by cheapening your current product to keep up with down-market or imitation-type competitors. They beat you on price, and you can only "stand on your brand name" for so long before people migrate to other products. There's no substitute for keeping your components and bicycles sharp and competitive on quality _and_ price. If you don't stay sharp, 20 years later you may find yourself as a brand of cheap junk sold in Wal-Mart, and loaded with faulty, plastic components on your bikes.


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## cyclingday (Oct 21, 2017)

For every bad design, there's the new and improved design that replaced it.
There's a reason that the hooked bead drop center rim was invented.
Too many trips to the dentist caused by straight sided rims.
The super hairy part of this failed design, was that they were being used on early motorcycles as well.
Try going 70 mph on your badass Excelsior twin and have that Firestone deflate suddenly.


fordmike65 said:


> As long as they're straight & not bent or flattened, they work just fine. I have 4 bikes that currently sport these very rims without issue. That being said...I have had a couple mishaps along the way. Not fun.



Drop centers are way better.


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## MarkKBike (Oct 21, 2017)

*SirMike1983* "I'll take a different approach. There are loads of absolutely rotten bicycle inventions, but what about just plain bad bicycle manufacturing and business practices?

Trying to maintain profit margins by cutting corners on manufacture of a current product instead of developing improved products to stay competitive. You can't win by cheapening your current product to keep up with down-market or imitation-type competitors. They beat you on price, and you can only "stand on your brand name" for so long before people migrate to other products. There's no substitute for keeping your components and bicycles sharp and competitive on quality _and_ price. If you don't stay sharp, 20 years later you may find yourself as a brand of cheap junk sold in Wal-Mart, and loaded with faulty, plastic components on your bikes."

Story of what happened to Schwinn? Once desirable, They sat put on there technology (relied on brand name), and ultimately folded behind the curent market place.


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## ricobike (Oct 21, 2017)

MarkKBike said:


> Story of what happened to Schwinn? Once desirable, They sat put on there technology (relied on brand name), and ultimately folded behind the curent market place.




I'll take an even different approach to your different approach.  I think I would have done the same thing as Schwinn did.  I would not have seen a reason to change at all.  My feeling is that the bikes that they made at the height of their success are the best bikes ever made.  Why would they ever need to change them?  .


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## rustystone2112 (Oct 21, 2017)

Aluminum axel nuts on Sturmey Archer hubs


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## Sped Man (Oct 21, 2017)

Bad bicycle ideas? 
1. Repainting a bicycle with house paint


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## Boris (Oct 21, 2017)

ricobike said:


> I'll take an even different approach to your different approach.  I think I would have done the same thing as Schwinn did.  I would not have seen a reason to change at all.  My feeling is that the bikes that they made at the height of their success are the best bikes ever made.  Why would they ever need to change them?  .



I'm sure that you already know the answer, but I'll mention it just the same. In hindsight, yes it would be great if the old tried and true were kept in place, but when you're starting to lose marketshare because your stuff isn't keeping up with an ever-shifting market, you've got to readjust to stay competitive or lose out altogether. Sad but true, and business is business. This is not to say I condone the practice, it's just the way of the world or at least that's the way it's been in this country.


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## Sped Man (Oct 21, 2017)

Farming out all of your manufacturing to a Chinese bicycle company that will eventually replace you. Sounds familiar Schwinn?


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## cyclingday (Oct 21, 2017)

Closed fork ends.
Trying to get the wheel in or out of a fork with closed ends will make you want to get into vintage European road bikes. Just a flip of the quick release lever and watch as the wheel seems to drop out all by itself.
Thank you, Tullio Campagnolo!


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## Bikermaniac (Oct 21, 2017)

Fork truss rods that hits the tank...


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## SirMike1983 (Oct 21, 2017)

MarkKBike said:


> *SirMike1983* "I'll take a different approach. There are loads of absolutely rotten bicycle inventions, but what about just plain bad bicycle manufacturing and business practices?
> 
> Trying to maintain profit margins by cutting corners on manufacture of a current product instead of developing improved products to stay competitive. You can't win by cheapening your current product to keep up with down-market or imitation-type competitors. They beat you on price, and you can only "stand on your brand name" for so long before people migrate to other products. There's no substitute for keeping your components and bicycles sharp and competitive on quality _and_ price. If you don't stay sharp, 20 years later you may find yourself as a brand of cheap junk sold in Wal-Mart, and loaded with faulty, plastic components on your bikes."
> 
> Story of what happened to Schwinn? Once desirable, They sat put on there technology (relied on brand name), and ultimately folded behind the curent market place.




That's a big part of what happened to Schwinn, but a fair number of American, French and British makers of bikes and components ended up the same way. There's a profound danger to losing your innovative edge and either farming out your operation, or just plain falling out of step. Today we're left wondering what might have happened if Schwinn had been able to adapt its welding capabilities to TIG welding aluminum (instead of thick-walled electro-forged carbon steel frames), of it Sturmey Archer had not been starved for money by its parent companies (the technology to build 5-speed hubs existed in the 1940s for Sturmey, and perhaps we could have been talking 7+ speed hubs by the 1960s). Instead Suntour, Shimano, and Giant out competed them.


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## ricobike (Oct 21, 2017)

This one I'm sure to get a lot of crap for, but I think rear dropouts were a bad bicycle idea along with attaching the fenders and racks on the axles.  Forward facing dropouts with a separate connection point for the fenders and racks were a vast improvement in bicycle maintenance in my opinion.


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## kreika (Oct 21, 2017)

Pacemaker shrouds made out of crappy pot metal!!!!


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## Goldenrod (Oct 22, 2017)

Loop (rear) frames on Whizzer 24"  Pacemakers.


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## cyclingday (Oct 22, 2017)

The Torrington pot metal stem.
Just one more little snug of the wrench, Snap!
Oh, /;(;;!
But, without that piece of crap, we might not have got the so called, Parade/Aero struts.
Invented to keep the rider from losing control in the event of a broken stem.
Thanks Torrington!
Wald and Persons really appreciated the business.


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## Boris (Oct 22, 2017)

Goldenrod said:


> Loop (rear) frames on Whizzer 24"  Pacemakers.




Why?


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## Sped Man (Oct 23, 2017)

How about initially designing an awesome bike but after going through several committees to reduce cost, they end up with a bicycle no one wants.


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## bricycle (Oct 23, 2017)

*3 piece cranks*
Aluminum frames
Poor chrome plating
Single tubes
Wood wheels
Skip tooth chain
Drop stands
Flimsey forks
Hammock saddles
Whicker saddles
Sissy bars
Wheelie bars
Drag chutes
not keeping good MFG records


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## Boris (Oct 23, 2017)

Razor stems.
Swing bikes.


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## bricycle (Oct 23, 2017)

Boris said:


> Razor stems.
> Swing bikes.



now yer reach'n....


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## MrColumbia (Oct 23, 2017)

Plastic handle bar tape on 70's racer style bikes. 
Side pull brake calipers on 70's racer style bikes.
Little chrome fenders on 70's racer style bikes.
Poorly made rubber covered saddles on 70's racer style bikes.
70's racer style bikes.


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## Boris (Oct 23, 2017)

bricycle said:


> now yer reach'n....




This kind. Not a good idea.


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## bricycle (Oct 23, 2017)

Boris said:


> This kind. Not a good idea.
> View attachment 696610



 Tomahawk?


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## OldSkipTooth (Oct 23, 2017)

Chinese rubber tires....you know those black tires that smell toxic for about 2 years.


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## vincev (Oct 23, 2017)

Plastic "chrome".Seat posts with grooves.water runs down into the frame and rots out frame.


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## partsguy (Oct 23, 2017)

Plastic tank light shrouds.
Walmart.


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## vincev (Oct 23, 2017)

Boris said:


> This kind. Not a good idea.
> View attachment 696703



why ?


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## bairdco (Oct 24, 2017)

Torrington pedal caps with the pointy shoe catcher on the ends.

Schwinn-only oddball sized stuff.

The metric system.

Slime tubes.

Plastic bmx "uni" seats.

"Super sound" air horns.

Kickstands that bite into the frame.

Most springer forks and their pedal-sucking anti-uphill action.


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## dnc1 (Oct 24, 2017)

CARS!


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## morton (Oct 24, 2017)

No guard on outer chain ring of road bikes.  I most frequently ride my road bikes because I can almost never friend a large frame ballooner or middleweight.  And since I ride with shorts or jeans, no spandex, my pants or legs get greasy, or caught in the chain ring if I don't  use a clip or sometime to tie back the pants leg.

And then there is the accident potential. My wife feel one day and opened up some nice grease filled gashes on her leg by hitting the exposed ring as she fell.

 Now we won't buy a bike without a guard unless I have a cluster with one I can use for replacement.  Is it really that hard or expensive to mount a guard.....plastic will do nicely.


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## vincev (Oct 24, 2017)

Suicide shifter mounted on the lower section of seat tube


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## Oilit (Oct 24, 2017)

SirMike1983 said:


> I'll take a different approach. There are loads of absolutely rotten bicycle inventions, but what about just plain bad bicycle manufacturing and business practices?
> 
> Trying to maintain profit margins by cutting corners on manufacture of a current product instead of developing improved products to stay competitive. You can't win by cheapening your current product to keep up with down-market or imitation-type competitors. They beat you on price, and you can only "stand on your brand name" for so long before people migrate to other products. There's no substitute for keeping your components and bicycles sharp and competitive on quality _and_ price. If you don't stay sharp, 20 years later you may find yourself as a brand of cheap junk sold in Wal-Mart, and loaded with faulty, plastic components on your bikes.



And there's been so many examples that it's not funny. The only exception I can think of is BMW's motorcycles. They never cut their quality, even when they considered quitting motorcycles to concentrate on cars. And to be fair, the original Schwinn company never built junk bikes, although the Chicago factories got badly out of date. As @Sped Man mentioned, their solution was to move production offshore, along with the required skills in design and manufacturing, only to find themselves competing against their own suppliers and getting their throats cut on price. If they hadn't done it entirely to themselves, I could almost feel sorry for them.


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## vincev (Oct 24, 2017)

The 70's Viscount with the "Death Fork"


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## bricycle (Oct 24, 2017)

Boris said:


> This kind. Not a good idea.
> View attachment 696703




Anyone notice that this carefully drawn depiction is incorrect? The blade does not come down far enough (near cinch bolt head) in the smaller left drawing.


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## cyclonecoaster.com (Oct 24, 2017)




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## Boris (Oct 24, 2017)

cyclonecoaster.com said:


> View attachment 697138



There are some among us (one in particular) that might take issue with this.


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## cyclonecoaster.com (Oct 24, 2017)

Boris said:


> There are some among us (one in particular) that might take issue with this.




*LOL ... I couldn't resist when I saw who was on this thread ...*


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## vincev (Oct 24, 2017)

cyclonecoaster.com said:


> View attachment 697138



HEY ! I OBJECT YOUR HONOR !A finer bike cant be found !Very rare and almost desirable.


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## bairdco (Oct 25, 2017)

There's a GMC Denali road bike at Wal-Mart with twist shifters placed near the stem, but the brake levers are are further away on the bars. 

Puts your hands in awkward, potentially dangerous positions to downshift and brake.

But, it is walmart...


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## rustystone2112 (Oct 25, 2017)

The decision to start making them in Taiwan, bad bicycle idea = bad bicycle


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## Boris (Oct 25, 2017)

Sure why not. I'll take this opportunity to bash the Bowden again (or as some may prefer to call it, "beat a dead horse"). I posted these comments in another thread a while back, and I still haven't changed my mind on the subject.

"Opinions are always going to be subjective. But to me, that front fender is absolutely grotesque. And the way that stupid little seat just pokes up out of the whole blob, YUCK! Form certainly doesn't follow function in this failed design experiment. Fiberglass???????? The best visual design element in this bike to me is the space in the center of the bike, where there is no bike at all. Just my opinion."


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## Shawn Michael (Oct 25, 2017)

Boris said:


> Sure why not. I'll take this opportunity to bash the Bowden again (or as some may prefer to call it, "beat a dead horse"). I posted these comments in another thread a while back, and I still haven't changed my mind on the subject.
> 
> "Opinions are always going to be subjective. But to me, that front fender is absolutely grotesque. And the way that stupid little seat just pokes up out of the whole blob, YUCK! Form certainly doesn't follow function in this failed design experiment. Fiberglass???????? The best visual design element in this bike to me is the space in the center of the bike, where there is no bike at all. Just my opinion."
> 
> View attachment 697629



I agree, that is one ugly bike.


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## vincev (Oct 25, 2017)

Boris said:


> Sure why not. I'll take this opportunity to bash the Bowden again (or as some may prefer to call it, "beat a dead horse"). I posted these comments in another thread a while back, and I still haven't changed my mind on the subject.
> 
> "Opinions are always going to be subjective. But to me, that front fender is absolutely grotesque. And the way that stupid little seat just pokes up out of the whole blob, YUCK! Form certainly doesn't follow function in this failed design experiment. Fiberglass???????? The best visual design element in this bike to me is the space in the center of the bike, where there is no bike at all. Just my opinion."
> 
> View attachment 697629



It is pleasing to the eye,as is the cheeto bike.You have no taste.


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## Boris (Oct 25, 2017)

vincev said:


> It is pleasing to the eye,as is the cheeto bike.




If you said, "It's as pleasing to the eye as the Cheetos bike.", I'd wholeheartedly agree.


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## dnc1 (Oct 25, 2017)

cyclonecoaster.com said:


> View attachment 697138






Boris said:


> Sure why not. I'll take this opportunity to bash the Bowden again (or as some may prefer to call it, "beat a dead horse"). I posted these comments in another thread a while back, and I still haven't changed my mind on the subject.
> 
> "Opinions are always going to be subjective. But to me, that front fender is absolutely grotesque. And the way that stupid little seat just pokes up out of the whole blob, YUCK! Form certainly doesn't follow function in this failed design experiment. Fiberglass???????? The best visual design element in this bike to me is the space in the center of the bike, where there is no bike at all. Just my opinion."
> 
> View attachment 697629




They both have a certain charm, just not quite certain what that might be!?!?


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## mrg (Oct 25, 2017)

Schwinn S7 rims!


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## 2jakes (Oct 25, 2017)

Boris said:


> Sure why not. I'll take this opportunity to bash the Bowden again (or as some may prefer to call it, "beat a dead horse"). I posted these comments in another thread a while back, and I still haven't changed my mind on the subject.
> 
> "Opinions are always going to be subjective. But to me, that front fender is absolutely grotesque. And the way that stupid little seat just pokes up out of the whole blob, YUCK! Form certainly doesn't follow function in this failed design experiment. Fiberglass???????? The best visual design element in this bike to me is the space in the center of the bike, where there is no bike at all. Just my opinion."
> 
> View attachment 697629



 Perhaps if the Bowden came equipped with a helmet, it would not be as grotesque.


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## bricycle (Oct 25, 2017)

2jakes said:


> Perhaps if the Bowden came equipped with a helmet, it would not be as grotesque.
> View attachment 697767
> 
> View attachment 697764



how much for that kool helmet?


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## wrongway (Oct 25, 2017)

Boris said:


> Sure why not. I'll take this opportunity to bash the Bowden again (or as some may prefer to call it, "beat a dead horse"). I posted these comments in another thread a while back, and I still haven't changed my mind on the subject.
> 
> "Opinions are always going to be subjective. But to me, that front fender is absolutely grotesque. And the way that stupid little seat just pokes up out of the whole blob, YUCK! Form certainly doesn't follow function in this failed design experiment. Fiberglass???????? The best visual design element in this bike to me is the space in the center of the bike, where there is no bike at all. Just my opinion."
> 
> View attachment 697629



Maybe a bit off topic, but.....I just got to wondering, what does the frame look like underneath? A normal frame? I don't know that I've ever seen one dissembled.


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## 2jakes (Oct 25, 2017)

wrongway said:


> Maybe a bit off topic, but.....I just got to wondering, what does the frame look like underneath? A normal frame? I don't know that I've ever seen one dissembled.




The fiberglass structure “is” the frame!

From American Bicyclist June 1960:


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## 2jakes (Oct 25, 2017)

“Tequilla Sunrise” by Jason Battersby:


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## MarkKBike (Oct 25, 2017)

2jakes said:


> “Tequilla Sunrise” by Jason Battersby:
> View attachment 697871]




It looks more stylish than most the recumbent bikes I see.


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## Jay81 (Oct 25, 2017)

Boris said:


> Sure why not. I'll take this opportunity to bash the Bowden again (or as some may prefer to call it, "beat a dead horse"). I posted these comments in another thread a while back, and I still haven't changed my mind on the subject.
> 
> "Opinions are always going to be subjective. But to me, that front fender is absolutely grotesque. And the way that stupid little seat just pokes up out of the whole blob, YUCK! Form certainly doesn't follow function in this failed design experiment. Fiberglass???????? The best visual design element in this bike to me is the space in the center of the bike, where there is no bike at all. Just my opinion."
> 
> View attachment 697629




I kinda like the overall look of the Bowden, however to me the bars, stem, seat and rack don't look right. They built a streamlined, space age looking bike and choose those parts? They look ridiculous on there.
Which brings me to the Batwing headlight used on the JC Higgins Colorflow. I get it, they're rare and people go nuts for them. It's a big deal to have one, especially on a nice original bike. But to me they just look big and bulky. I like everything else about the Colorflow, just can't stand that light.


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## GTs58 (Oct 25, 2017)




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## wrongway (Oct 26, 2017)

2jakes said:


> The fiberglass structure “is” the frame!
> 
> From American Bicyclist June 1960:
> View attachment 697868



Wow! Wonder how sturdy that was?


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## 2jakes (Oct 26, 2017)

wrongway said:


> Wow! Wonder how sturdy that was?




Probably the bikes were mostly for kids. I would think that it would be sturdy enough for them.
I’m 6’3’’,weigh 205. I have to raise the seat post to the max and check the tire pressure.


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