# Real Bike Co. Philadelphia, PA



## stratto (Nov 13, 2010)

Looking for info on a bike I picked up badged Real. Underneath says Real Bike Co., Philadelphia PA. Haven't had a chance to clean it up yet, any info on this company would be helpful. Other bike I got were a 60's Columbia Thunderbolt - missing dual headlight and rear rack, and a large green one with decals worn off, seat says mesinger on back. Any Thoughts?


----------



## OLDGUY (Aug 18, 2011)

*Real bicycle reply*

Hi,  i have been a collector of everything since i was in first grade.   I am now 58yrs old.  I have a real co.  Boys bike that i bought 20yrs ago.  It is from the 1950s and was mint when i bought it.  I was told that they were a little mom + pop company on 3rd street in phila.  They used schwinn parts to ake their bikes.  I use upper case letters because i can not type and it is much easier.  This is my first time on a forum and i am having trouble getting my response out.  This is my third try.  Please let me know if you get it, oldguy


----------



## Zark (Feb 2, 2013)

OLDGUY said:


> Hi,  i have been a collector of everything since i was in first grade.   I am now 58yrs old.  I have a real co.  Boys bike that i bought 20yrs ago.  It is from the 1950s and was mint when i bought it.  I was told that they were a little mom + pop company on 3rd street in phila.  They used schwinn parts to ake their bikes.  I use upper case letters because i can not type and it is much easier.  This is my first time on a forum and i am having trouble getting my response out.  This is my third try.  Please let me know if you get it, oldguy




 I know this is an old thread, I just came across it today. The bicycle company you speak of was the Real Cycle Co. Located at 807 N. Third st. in Philadelphia's Northern Liberties section. I know because I used to work there part time after school in the late 1960s. Shame they have since shut down operations. The family that ran the business is still around.


----------



## Zark (Feb 4, 2013)

Zark said:


> I know this is an old thread, I just came across it today. The bicycle company you speak of was the Real Cycle Co. Located at 807 N. Third st. in Philadelphia's Northern Liberties section. I know because I used to work there part time after school in the late 1960s. Shame they have since shut down operations. The family that ran the business is still around.



   Additional Information On the Real Cycle Co. is that it started out as N.T. Cycle by the founder Nicholas Toconita, as seen on this old Bicycle head badge

 and later became the Real Cycle Co. as seen on this bicycle Head badge, in the 1960's the head badges were made with a silvered paper and glued on, with the REAL spelled out verticaly with wings to either side, still trying to find a photo of one. 

 Here is the building years after the bicycle company closed. 

 and this 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 Shame trying to find photos of these bikes is like trying to find hens teeth.


----------



## Barnegatbicycles (Feb 25, 2013)

*Pictures of my Real!!!!!!!!!!!*

I just picked this up I've been questing after it for over a year now and finally got it.  Ive done a lot of searching and have not yet found one picture of a bike from this company.  So here they are.  (Hopefully this works ive never uploaded pictures to this website before.)  Hopefully i will be posting more pictures of my collection soon.


----------



## babyjesus (Feb 26, 2013)

*Wow!*

That is cool and extremely unusual in a number of ways. What a great find  - I guess it goes without saying that what you got there is rare.


----------



## Zark (Feb 26, 2013)

Barnegatbicycles said:


> I just picked this up I've been questing after it for over a year now and finally got it.  Ive done a lot of searching and have not yet found one picture of a bike from this company.  So here they are.  (Hopefully this works ive never uploaded pictures to this website before.)  Hopefully i will be posting more pictures of my collection soon.




  Barnegatbicycle what you have got is just plain incredible. Not only is it an authentic Real Cycle bike but also it is the early version. You can tell by the location of the rear wheel support tabs (later one had the tabs at the curve of the of the rear frame) also by the old style skip tooth sprocket and chain and then of course the old style head badge. Thanks for the photos, this older style bike was rare even when I was working part time at the Real Cycle Co. back in the late 1960's.  Question. Do you plan to restore it? That would be awesome.


----------



## rockabillyjay (Feb 26, 2013)

I'm pretty sure I have a few of those NT headbadges lurking around somwhere


----------



## Barnegatbicycles (Feb 26, 2013)

*Plans for the Real*

Thank you all for your comments.  I liked the bike from the moment i saw it.  I loved it for the frame.  The paint is original and ive already started to clean a small portion of it and it came out great, painting it would be a sin.  So as for the restoration yes.  I plan on taking it apart and cleaning it up the front wheel and bars were wrong which is why they were removed. If anybody knows what the stem bars look like i would like to know.  Im going to lace up a set of drop center rims that have matching patina to the rest of the bike with the matching ND front hub.  The only change I am making is in installing a ND 3 speed to it that ive been saving for a project such as this. I was going to use it on my whizzer build but i decided not to for fear of breaking it. I will however need a few pieces such as a cable with pulley and the shift lever.  I haven't been able to find a lever yet.  I do have the chain for the shifter. I am also going to try to find a matching tire for the front.  This is definitely a bike that deserves to be left in its original form.  If anybody can help me out that would be great. 

 I am also looking for some other parts for my other projects.  Mostly G&j rims, G&j 1901 rambler fork and a lobdel champange with red stripe 1" wide racing rim. The rims can be bent and out of true because ive had good luck pulling them back with a technique ive been using. Ill try to get up some pictures of those projects too.

Thank you all and ill keep posting pics once i get further into my resto.


----------



## Barnegatbicycles (Feb 26, 2013)

*Oops forgot one thing.*

It has dropouts to put a drop stand on but it doesnt look like it had fenders for it to hook onto when up. Im probably going to put a drop stand on it though. Just wondering if anybody knew anything about the original "stationary support structure". lol


----------



## Zark (Apr 16, 2013)

*Real Cycle bike*



Barnegatbicycles said:


> Thank you all for your comments.  I liked the bike from the moment i saw it.  I loved it for the frame.  The paint is original and ive already started to clean a small portion of it and it came out great, painting it would be a sin.  So as for the restoration yes.  I plan on taking it apart and cleaning it up the front wheel and bars were wrong which is why they were removed. If anybody knows what the stem bars look like i would like to know.  Im going to lace up a set of drop center rims that have matching patina to the rest of the bike with the matching ND front hub.  The only change I am making is in installing a ND 3 speed to it that ive been saving for a project such as this. I was going to use it on my whizzer build but i decided not to for fear of breaking it. I will however need a few pieces such as a cable with pulley and the shift lever.  I haven't been able to find a lever yet.  I do have the chain for the shifter. I am also going to try to find a matching tire for the front.  This is definitely a bike that deserves to be left in its original form.  If anybody can help me out that would be great.
> 
> I am also looking for some other parts for my other projects.  Mostly G&j rims, G&j 1901 rambler fork and a lobdel champange with red stripe 1" wide racing rim. The rims can be bent and out of true because ive had good luck pulling them back with a technique ive been using. Ill try to get up some pictures of those projects too.
> 
> Thank you all and ill keep posting pics once i get further into my resto.



    Barnigatbicycles,  just wondering if you have gotten anywhere with restoring the Real Cycle bike?


----------



## Barnegatbicycles (May 6, 2013)

*Progress.*

I have not made much progress on the bike yet.  I just today got out of school for summer break so i will have more time now for my project.  I have nicer wheels for it but i still need the new departure triple speed shifter.  I hit up copake, had somebody looking for me at trexlertown, and i asked around at the bike show the shop i work at does; but nothing. The other down side to going to shows is i bought more projects.  Finally got a colorflow that ive been wanting for forever, and a bunch of other stuff.  I did however clean up the frame and its looking great.  So many projects so little time.  I just finished up a ladies 5 star maybe ill start another post with some pics of my projects.  Thank you for asking and ill try to get moving on it.


----------



## Zark (Aug 15, 2013)

*Real Cycle bikes.*

Just to add I came across this old thread the first three photos are of a Real Cycle bike, only the later version that I am more familiar with, also it would be a middle weight and not a balloon tire bike. http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showth...ication-on-auction-finds&highlight=Real+Cycle


----------



## Barnegatbicycles (Aug 25, 2013)

*Resto complete!*

I had nothing better to do today so i started working on the real.  I figured out that the triple speed wont work without some spacers so i decided to leave it off for now until i get the parts.  It rides great and i think it came out "real" nice. Also for the front hub i used a schwinn marked hub because i thought it went well with the bike.


----------



## Zark (Dec 6, 2013)

Great job on the Real Cycle restore job, really looks great! Also found out that Steve Maxamo who ran the Real Cycle Company, had died recently. Was hoping to see one more time but it's too late now. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/ph...n-j-maximo&pid=166907990#sthash.1j8DZHRY.gbpl.......http://www.fletchernasevich.com/


----------



## Jim Milsted (Mar 2, 2021)

https://www.facebook.com/linda.w.co...z7HmfqEh_jthW4qRcEwXZedH0Kg6ew&[B]tn[/B]=R]-R
Many year ago I was at an auction in Philly of an old time bicycle co "The Real Bicycle Co."...I bought all the dies and jigs for making balloon tire bicycles...Also a machine for making rubber tires on wagons....Took two trips to get this stuff home....Tried for years to sell the dies & jigs in Hemmings Motor News, Tradin Times and other ad's...This was way before internet sales...Ended up scraping the stuff....Now when I talk to bicycle nuts they are so mad that I didn't keep it all....Wish I did, but it certainly was some very heavy iron....I still remember the auctioneers name, Barry Slosberg from Philly...I was at one of his auctions a couple of years ago and he remembered that bicycle auction....If I took that stuff to Fall Hershey Swap Meet today I could get thousands of $$$ for it all....Hindsight ! LOL


----------



## Barnegatbicycles (Mar 3, 2021)

I heard rumors that some of it ended up at the old bike shop in my town of Barnegat.


----------



## semcgrory1018 (Aug 14, 2022)

Zark said:


> Additional Information On the Real Cycle Co. is that it started out as N.T. Cycle by the founder Nicholas Toconita, as seen on this old Bicycle head badgeView attachment 534785 and later became the Real Cycle Co. as seen on this bicycle Head badge, in the 1960's the head badges were made with a silvered paper and glued on, with the REAL spelled out verticaly with wings to either side, still trying to find a photo of one. View attachment 534786 Here is the building years after the bicycle company closed. View attachment 534787 and this
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I bought this bike on FB marketplace and I'm getting it restored...it has the vertical badge you mentioned


----------

