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Leon, Love the "My Early Life in Wichita" book. I scored a copy a few years back and wow, what a fantastic read and actually it's what inspired me to make the video I'm working on. Thanks for sharing the info. Chris

Interesting bike. I have a girls lightweight but it used compression brazing on BSA lugs. This looks more like a Schwinn with the rounded lug joining. George Lewis. A man who saw it all happen. From racing High wheels in his college years (1885) to managing Mead Cycle Co during its peak...

Looks like Reading Standard also had that style frame:

The sprocket is a Mead/Premier. Stamped M for Mead? Catalog pics from 1913 Premier line.

The bonus of having your own shop!

Amazing machine! When I saw the autocycle, I instantly thought of the Thomas Kempland Glass Plate collection & Mr Eike with his Columbia, though he had a Smith Motor Wheel.

http://www.so-calleddollar.com/for-sale/1894-midwinter-firth-wheel-blumenfield-scd/

I made some T-shirts a few years ago with that badge. Lovely bike! Congrats.

Looks like a Miami machine. Here are some from 1915/16 showing similar gearing.

Nice Gull!

Lots of tips & tricks here on the Cabe to remove old overpaint, from oven cleaner to citrus based paint removers, lots of options. I prefer the citrus gel paint removers and 0000 steel wool.

I agree with @Archie Sturmer 1915-17 Great Western built. I don't recall any arch frames earlier than '15 and as mentioned 1918 pat date found on most chain rings from 1918-1930's. It's in great condition & mostly complete. Overpaint should come off easily. Congrats on a sweet ride!

Looks like a teens Schwinn with built in stand tabs in rear. Serial # on bottom bracket would help date. She's a beaut!

HP Snyder looking chainring. Fork may be a replacement as most motobikes had truss rods.

Get ready for the next hit?

I'm drawing up papers to have you kicked out of the Lay Low Club!

Anything offering a Lester would most likely be Davis built, and that chainring seals the deal in my mind. I believe that style chainring was also on some Excelsior models but not until the late teens.

Rare Antique Fractal Vise [Restoration] I had know idea such a thing existed & now I must have one! Anybody got one of these bad boys?

Those bikes are quiet the mystery. I have some clues but might need a whole thread on them as it's a deep rabbit hole of Mead, AD Meiselbach & GS Lewis.. but I agree and am also not convinced those are Schwinn built.

They were available in 1913. But these were imported from England. I'd imagine they switched to US made fenders as the war made imports harder to get here if not impossible so I'd say you got the right ones for your 1915.

+1 All that bike needs is a thorough, gentle deep-clean. Some light soaking in mild acid solution will do wonders to that nickel. I'll bet most of the rust is from pin-point tiny-spots that will all but disappear when cleaned. I actually prefer soaking my rusty parts in lime juice I buy at the...

Beautiful Machine there! Those tires are valuable as is. Anymore pictures to share? Premier is a short lived offshoot of Mead Cycle. Yours is a perfect match for this 1913 catalog image. Imported 1/2" chain dates it to teens, not '05.

Pot metal.

The Schwinn ones are the "X" badges. Michigan City Excelsiors have a large "E" on the badge script... except for one year. So the worthpoint/Daves Vintage bike you posted is a Schwinn, but the olive drab with gold text one is a different bike, Michigan City Excelsior.

http://www.nostalgic.net/bicycle871/picture3362 Dave's sight has a shot of the same teens schwinn showing faint script. I'd say silver is a good choice.

1914 Consolidated Mfg MOCYCLE

So this JW Grady "New England" would be a shelby as well? https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/new-england-wood-wheel-motobike.14194/ & this? https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/for-sale-1920s-new-england-mens-bike.202132/#post-1375529

Good point, this image was from a program for the 1913 Motorcycle show in Chicago. Most likely a preview for next years line.

I have some lit showing 1913 is when the motobike 1st came out, without trussrods on fork. Have to dig it up. Pretty rare machine. Here is the 1914 model showing with the trussrods.

From 1913:

Nice steel. I'm gonna lean towards a Snyder built "Vim" 1918-1920's. Nothing solid, just lots of crumbs leading to a guess. Vim was a jobber by the teens and being from NY, I'd think Snyder would make sense to order frames from as it would be less freight costs than say ordering from Schwinn.

Congratulations on owning a 1919 Schwinn/Hawthorne De Luxe Stream Line Motobike! Serial # fits with 1919 time frame of about 100,000 bikes made a year after the 1,000,000th bike in 1917. Total match to the 1919 catalog pic too.

Great catalog as it looks like some transition from manufactures. The Red Wing is what I believe a HP Snyder built whereas the "new 1923 model" looks like a Schwinn sprocket & fork. The forks look different as the deluxe has a tiny rounding of the top edge of the fork vs the Red Wing looks like...

1927 Synder in Smithsonian Museum Take a trip to the Smithsonian to see an original 1927 Snyder and compare frame construction.

I remember when I was a young whippersnapper here on the cabe & members were excited to get Paul on the site & with good reason. He was not only a wealth of information, he was kind & patient (until he wasn't) & most of all honest. Very sorry for the loss of your friend & the hobbies friend...

Can't rule out Snyder. Later Snyder/Rollfasts have a similar triple crown fork. The sprocket looks early Snyder for sure.

They were 100% English built, just the Mead name used. Lewis did build lightweights in US for export to England but this was in late 1930's. Meads in England bikes were in the teens. My holy grail bike is a Lewis road bike.

James L Mead went into business with fellow son of a Wichita founder George Lewis when he moved to Chicago. Lewis's dad was a banker in Wichita. Lewis is pictured lower left corner from this photo of the Wichita Bicycle Club (dated 1885-9 era). Lewis went on to found & design the Monark Silver...

Looks like early thirties, but yes the crank arm will have date to confirm. https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/hello-is-this-schwinn-the-world-pre-33.87831/post-552426

I think there might have been some stock fraud, sicilian mob style going on. One of those two stocks listed by HW Dubiske & Co did well while the other not so much. Huffman family got out just in time.