# crescent sweden bike



## twowheelfan (Apr 8, 2011)

picked this up today. its amazing how it looks so much like the turn of century  bikes!
very littleinformation on internet about this part of the crescent line. how old do you think? what year did europe start with the white on the fender? 1961? 
also check out the decal! skydde marke ! great!


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## OldRider (Apr 8, 2011)

I don't know about Europe but here in Canada white on the fender became mandatory in 1936.


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## twowheelfan (Apr 8, 2011)

thanks for the info! i wonder how old this bike is? i thought it had some age, but i really have no idea.


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## OldRider (Apr 8, 2011)

I don't think thats a repro.........its beautiful and I see patina. And if you think about it there have not been many (if any) repros of girls bikes. I would venture to say its late 30s early 40s.


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## OldRider (Apr 8, 2011)

Here is a picture of a 1941 Canadian bike I own, Canadian and European bikes were very similar in my amateur opinion.


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## IJamEcono (Apr 8, 2011)

love that front fender ornament.


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## twowheelfan (Apr 9, 2011)

OldRider, i'm with you, i would think that canadian and euro bikes would be similiar. i'm not that familiar with them so. this one is mysterious to me. it smacks of turn of the century, but.... since its european and not american i'm not sure how new it is. it has serial numbers and some writing on the rear hub, but i haven't found any information on line to compare. found one web picture of a mens bike from Sweden ca.  1915 with the same fender mascot. but even the swedish race/tour bikes in the seventies had the original american 1900's headbadge. i love it, just wish i could put a date to it.


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## andybee75 (Jul 25, 2011)

*swedish Crescent bike*

Hi, I am a swedish bicycle collector, and let me first congratulate you to a very nice and rare bike! I collect mainly Swedish bicycle´s from the period 1900-1940. I especially like the bicycles made in the 30´s because of their suberb design and quality. (I also got an American bike, a Columbus from Ohio, made around 1896-1899)

Let me first tell you about the Swedish bicycle brand: A company imported American Crescents starting ca 1896. The business was good, so they kept on importing the bicycles until the end of the making of the American Crescent (does anyone know which year they disappeared?) Around 1908 the started their on making of bicycles, the bought the right to use the name, the Crescent brand had a good reputation, so they kept the name. The importer Lindblads, kept on until the early 30´s, then they sold the factory to Nymans, the largest Swedish bicycle maker at the time. But Nymans made the bicycle according to Lindblads specificaions, and Lindblads acted as a retailer.

The nice fender ornament was a trend in the mid 30´s to 1940, although some makers kept on with them to the late 40´s. Both small and larger makers had their own ornaments, but some smaller bought neutral ones from a emblem maker. 

Crescent made theirs in 1935 to 1940, then they started with a chromeplated diecast trime placed upon the fender top.  But on childrens bicycles they still had the lady in a crescent moon during the 40´s, maybe the had a surplus of them, so the mounted them on the childs bikes instead of throwing them away. 

Your bicycle are probably from the late 40´s, the toolbox on the luggage carrier and the deflector on the back fender tells me this. The Nyman factory only used german Torpedo hubs, which where stamped with to numbers on the hubshell that indicates the year the hub was made. However, during the time after the war it became hard to get Torpedo hubs since the factory was bombed, so Nymans started to make their on hubs via license from the Torpedo-factory Fichtel & Sachs.  They were probably not always stamped with a year.

I can see that the frame number is located at the left side of the frame just below the saddle post, during the 30´s and earlier Nymans stamped the frame number under the frame holding the crank. I can´t read the number, but if you can read it it may be possible to estimate a production year if the hub is not stamped. In 1937, they reached 1000000 manufactured bikes.

Regarding the bike that “twowheelfan” refers to, on the “budget bicycle center” site (budgetbicyclectr.com/budgetbicycle...bike...crescent-bicycle/.../c-1915-american-crescent-bicycle) the appearance of colour, saddle and fenders point to that the bike were made 1938-1939, but not later, maybe a year earlier. 

On this site, you can read more about the Swedish Crescent. See also www.cykelhistoriska.se there you can see pictures of my 1936 Crescent men´s bike that i recently bought. (click “nytt” or “updates”and then “crescent 1936”)

My guess, is that you bike is from around the mid 40´s. It appears to be in original condition, with the exception of the saddle, which i believe is not the original one. The decal with the text “skyddsmärke” means something like “trade mark” in English. The green wings and the black arrows where always used on Crescent´s from the late 20´s to the late 40´s. The knob in the front of the frame is a lock which locks the front wheel in a straight position in order to avoid damage to the fender if the wheels turned then the bike is parked. 

Hopefully I gave you some more info, check the hub and frame no, and I will try to pinpoint the year of the bike is far as I can. I wonder how it turned up in the U.S? THATS`a big mystery!!

With best regards, Andreas Bengtsson, vice president of the Cycle Historic Club of Sweden


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## Zephyr (Jul 25, 2011)

Very nice bike! Where did you found it?
Andreas, thanks for the info on the Crescent. It was very informative and interesting.


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## andybee75 (Jul 28, 2011)

Here´s a more extensive article wrote by a member of the Cycle Historic Club of Sweden concerning the history of the swedish Crescent bicycle. After 1960, the company was later bought by Salvatore Grimaldi and today it´s part of a larger cycle company called Cycleeurope. But the name Crescent still lives on today, although the bikes are welded in China.....

It may surprise you that Rambler also continued to be made in Sweden, this brand was also bought by the Nymans company and disapperared in the late 50´s as a brand name. I got a couple of ramblers from the 30´s and 40´s.


See this link for text and pics:
http://www.cykelhistoriska.se/crescenteng.htm


- 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



A beautiful ladies model from the first shipment 1897  

. 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.	


Henrik Morén with a Rambler using a sleeveless raincoat.

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

Pictures of Crescent: http://www.cykelhistoriska.se/cyklarc1.htm, http://www.cykelhistoriska.se/crescentamerika.htm


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## Beachside (Jul 28, 2011)

Din cykel ar jatte fin!
I ride a Cresent every summer when I go to Malmö Sweden (My wife's home town).  It's from the 1960's and rides great.
I have wanted to bring back a Swedish Military bicycle, but shipping costs so much!
Eric


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## twowheelfan (Jul 30, 2011)

*thanks for the wonderful info!*



andybee75 said:


> Hi, I am a swedish bicycle collector, and let me first congratulate you to a very nice and rare bike! I collect mainly Swedish bicycle´s from the period 1900-1940. I especially like the bicycles made in the 30´s because of their suberb design and quality. (I also got an American bike, a Columbus from Ohio, made around 1896-1899)
> 
> Let me first tell you about the Swedish bicycle brand: A company imported American Crescents starting ca 1896. The business was good, so they kept on importing the bicycles until the end of the making of the American Crescent (does anyone know which year they disappeared?) Around 1908 the started their on making of bicycles, the bought the right to use the name, the Crescent brand had a good reputation, so they kept the name. The importer Lindblads, kept on until the early 30´s, then they sold the factory to Nymans, the largest Swedish bicycle maker at the time. But Nymans made the bicycle according to Lindblads specificaions, and Lindblads acted as a retailer.
> 
> ...




the frame number is 1744460 and the torpedo hub says: 50Millionen(?) 1904-1940
then a logo of sorts , below that a script "torpedo" below that in script: Lyceton sachs(?) 
and below that D.R.P. bracketed with triangles. no firm date, but a commerative version maybe? i bought it from a guy locally that got it from a basement clearout here in NYC somewhere. someone loved it, it has modern Schwalbe marathon tires(Tyres). does this help with dating it further? 
my email is twowheelfan@yahoo.com how rare is this bike? here or abroad?  Thanks again for the response. its been a while since i checked up on this thread. i'm sorry if it looked like i was un interested. i am! i have now subscribed to this link, so when someone responds i will be notified.


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## twowheelfan (Jul 30, 2011)

*its amazing what turns up in NYC!*



Zephyr said:


> Very nice bike! Where did you found it?
> Andreas, thanks for the info on the Crescent. It was very informative and interesting.




I found this bike a half block from my apt on the lower east side of NYC chained up with a phone number on it for sale. literally 100 ft from my apt.


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## andybee75 (Aug 1, 2011)

The bike is pretty rare, especially in this condition. This due to low sales of childrens bike´s and of course very few preserved, you know how kids handle things.. Regarding the frame no, there´s is no register preserved unfortunately, but several enthusiast including myself reads the no, compare it with the no of the hub and then looks in catalogues and get a pretty good idea when it´s made. The frame no suggest around 1944. I have only catalogues from 1940, 41, and 43, and that type of tool box it not in any of those. So maybe 1944-45 may be accurate. The hub with the inscription is a jubilee type, saying 50 million torpedo hubs made, this text was first stamped 1941, continued to 1943, and then from 1945 and a couple of years further. The script says"  Fichtel & sachs". DRP means "german patent", deutsches reichspatent. Look again besides the "eagle"  logo of the hub, often to the left besides the logo, im sure that the year in two numbers is stamped there.


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## twowheelfan (Aug 3, 2011)

andybee75 said:


> The bike is pretty rare, especially in this condition. This due to low sales of childrens bike´s and of course very few preserved, you know how kids handle things.. Regarding the frame no, there´s is no register preserved unfortunately, but several enthusiast including myself reads the no, compare it with the no of the hub and then looks in catalogues and get a pretty good idea when it´s made. The frame no suggest around 1944. I have only catalogues from 1940, 41, and 43, and that type of tool box it not in any of those. So maybe 1944-45 may be accurate. The hub with the inscription is a jubilee type, saying 50 million torpedo hubs made, this text was first stamped 1941, continued to 1943, and then from 1945 and a couple of years further. The script says"  Fichtel & sachs". DRP means "german patent", deutsches reichspatent. Look again besides the "eagle"  logo of the hub, often to the left besides the logo, im sure that the year in two numbers is stamped there.



 thanks for the clearup on the fichtel& sachs script. and the eagle logo has: dash "-4" (lower left outside logo) and: "M" (lower right outside logo) 1944? 
also, you mention child's bike. the wheels are 26" i know that most euro bikes are 28" but is 26" wheels considered child size? currently we are using it as a rider. am i destroying it? i mean does the bike have great value? am i making an $800 dollar bike into a $50 bike? anyone?


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## andybee75 (Aug 4, 2011)

First of all, i was wrong about the stamping words, it does not say "Fichtel & sachs" but "system Sachs"! Fichtel & sachs is however the manufacturers name of the brand Torpedo hub. Regarding the year, did you not find TWO no to the left of the logo? 

Nobody knows for sure that the different letters stamped in to the right of the logo means, a theory is the month of the year, but that dont seem to add upp since then it would end att "L" as in december... Oh well, nevermind...

The value is very hard to say, first of all the price of old bikes in sweden is very low, due to low interest. I believe a girls bike is less valuable then an ordinary eadult bike despite its more scarce. In sweden i would say a collector might pay around 300-500 $, maybe more. However, the prices is going up as the interest for old bike is increasing. It maybe so that i´s more valuable in the US, because it´s so rare over there.

You may differ out a girls bike by the height of the frame, not the wheels size. It became more common during the 30´s with 26" baloon tires on adult bikes. I would not use this bike, but rather consider it as an art object ( yes, many of my bikes i only own because they are so beautyful, not because their so fun to ride....!) I can guarantee you that very few is preserved in this condition, maybe less then 10 in the whole world, but who knows whats hidden in basements and garages..


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## twowheelfan (Aug 4, 2011)

*thanks for the advice!*



andybee75 said:


> First of all, i was wrong about the stamping words, it does not say "Fichtel & sachs" but "system Sachs"! Fichtel & sachs is however the manufacturers name of the brand Torpedo hub. Regarding the year, did you not find TWO no to the left of the logo?
> 
> Nobody knows for sure that the different letters stamped in to the right of the logo means, a theory is the month of the year, but that dont seem to add upp since then it would end att "L" as in december... Oh well, nevermind...
> 
> ...




here is a close up of the letters below the logo on the hub. its a dash before the number 4 pretty sure. i can take careful images of any part if you are interested! thanks


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## andybee75 (Aug 5, 2011)

To me, this looks like a badly stamped "4" and then another "4", so to me this is "44". The bike is then probably made in 1944 or 1945. Mystery solved!
P.S if i find a catalogue from this year, i will check what kind of toolbox the bikes have. And i also will check the chaincover which i am not sure not be the right one, and the saddle too.


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## twowheelfan (Aug 5, 2011)

*that would be great!*

the chainguard is aluminum, just not so fancy. it would be super if i could find the fancy aluminum one that is supposed to be on this bike as the one thats on is broken and repaired.
looking forward to your response!
Tim.
again, like i said, i would be happy to take better pictures of any details you would like. i know how much i like to see pictures when i cant actually see the bike in person.


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## andybee75 (Aug 6, 2011)

I am not sure how the original chainguard looks like, i do think it´s not the same model as earlier ordinary 30´s bikes, but it´s probably the kind that only covers the chain to the half, similar to the type that´s  mounted there now. When i find out i well tell you, i going to meet a lot of collectors this weekend, maybe a can straighten it out.


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## twowheelfan (Aug 6, 2011)

*meeting with collectors*

if the are bikes present take and post pics! Would love to see them! Have fun.


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## andybee75 (Aug 7, 2011)

I´m sorry, i couldn´t go there today as i planned... Damn... see if i can see them in next years meeting.. In the meantime, i attach some pics of some of the bikes i own

They are all unrestored and all made in sweden. The first one, the gentlemens bike, is a Vega made about 1910-15. Note the Fauber crank. It also has a New Departure model A hub, which, along with the Fauber crank, was very common during this time on swedish bikes.

The green one is a 1937 Crescent with an extraordinary factory mounted option: All the shiny parts except hubs and chainwheels are made in 304 stainless steel! There are over 190 parts made of stainless steel. This option was available from 1934 around to the 40´s. It became popular in the mid 30´s but then it descended, probably due to high cost. Sometimes it´s stamped with a laying "8" symbol (eternity) to mark that it is corrosion free. It is rather rare to find this bikes, and i´m very happy for the ones i own.

The final ladies bike is a Vesta made around 1915. Notice the heavy cast aluminium chaincover, probably the first one with the name of the bicycle enscripted. The saddle and tool leather box is also stamped with the name Vega.

I can send more ics of other bikes if you want!


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## OldRider (Aug 7, 2011)

Maaaaaaaaaaaaan you gotta love those chainguards, thats great detailed work!


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## twowheelfan (Aug 17, 2011)

*beautiful bikes!*



> I can send more pics of other bikes if you want!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## andybee75 (Aug 18, 2011)

Hi Twowheelfan, nice to hear you liked the pics! I will try to upload pics in the future, i haven´t taken so many pics of my bikes yet...... In the meantime, if you haven´t done it yet, check the website: www.cykelhistoriska.se choose english, and then gallery, under "c" you find more pics of both swedish and american Crescent bicycles (and rambler also)

If it´s OK by you it may be possible to load up pics of your bike, normally it´s only for members, but i can check with the web-guy to see if this is OK. It would be very good to have some pics of a girls bike, since it´s quite rare.
Still thinking how this bike turned up in the US........


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## andybee75 (Aug 18, 2011)

*Tire size*

By the way, i forgot to mention the tire sizes: the Vega gent´s bike is a 28" 622 mm, the Crescent is a 28" 635 mm ( very common size during the 20´to the 70´s), the Vesta is 28" 622 mm.


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## swed'h cheef! (Sep 29, 2011)

hello everybody!

my grandpa gave this bike to me, and i brought it to sthlm to have something to ride on. it was a dusty piece of poop, so i started to clean the dirt off and discovered this stamp on the torpedo hub. as an amateur historian, it's kinda cool to see that the bike was probably built during WWII... yeah, i got a Torpedo hub, saying "50 Millionen, 43 (year stamp) and a mark of a hawk, System Sachs, and DRP (i couldn't understand what that meant, but someone here wrote that it stands for Deutsche Reichpatent, which makes sense! )

Thank you for clearing up the story behind my bike, i have to ask my grandpa where/when he bought it.

The bike was equipped with an ASEA front lamp. I still haven't find a stamp or s/n on the frame...

next time, i ll bring a picture of it!


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## moonm (Sep 9, 2012)

*Cresent track frame*

I have this vintage track frame, the person I aquired it from advised me that it is a Cresent frame.
The holes in the headtube look like they may match a Cresent wrap around badge.
I would like to establish that this is a Cresent frame and refinish it complete with the correct head badge and decals (transfers).
Any information on where the decals and head badge can be sourced will be greatly appreciated.


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## mre straightbar (Sep 10, 2012)

*can you show a good pic*

of fender ornament


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## silvercreek (Sep 10, 2012)

These guys might have some information. http://www.bikeforums.net/showthrea...rescent-3-spd?highlight=Crescent+Swedish+Bike


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## locomotion (Nov 27, 2016)

I was doing a little research on Google about the American Crescent brand and in the search results, ads for Crescent from Sweden came up
is it just me or the ads are a little over the top??
they look like good bicycles, especially their last ad for their 3 speeds bike (I modified the picture to make it more family friendly!!!)


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