SKPC
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
It is unfortunate that NE shebfrmbuilders bike lost it's original wheels. 2nd bike not so sure. Nice badge Nate...The early Ideal bikes from the earliest company using the word Shelby.
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1920's-Pre-1933 Shelby Bicycle Thread
- Thread starter New Mexico Brant
- Start date
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RPower
Finally riding a big boys bike
Hello. I am getting ready to send out the parts for the Shelby at the beginning of this thread (Shelby Valu with Meiselbach fork) and wanted your opinion on whether this bike is pre 1927 (chrome). The threads on Shelby serial numbers has it as 27-28 but the forks are older than that. Anyway, since the dating affects both the hub (ND A v C), it also affects plating. Your opinion is greatly appreciated. Thanks, --RalphRemember to ask for nickel and not chrome:
DeTray Plating Works Inc. - Plating and Metal Finishing - Nickle, Zinc
DeTray Plating Works Inc. has been in Kansas City since 1923 providing its customers with quality metal finishing. Military, Ammunition and Aerospace.detray-plating.com
Billythekid
I live for the CABE
Can anyone tell me about this Shelby I believe these are blackout parts
I haven’t seen it in person
I haven’t seen it in person
SKPC
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
Cool middleweight Rex Shelby. Thinking 41-3ish or wartime with that ring. If you don't mind, post a picture of the serial number and frame/fork on the link below..thanks!
thecabe.com
Shelby-badged Serial Numbers-Prewar | Classic Balloon Tire Bicycles 1933-1965
Do the cranks look bent? I believe that the seller is not referring to the bicycle, when describing the $2k bicycle that “Schwinn burnt in 1940” — although that might explain the missing rubber grips and replacement pedal blocks; but then, why didn’t the wooden seat also burn? Seller is saying...
thecabe.com
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SKPC
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
This is a 23-25 Shelby Cycle Frame Builders moto I recently refurbed. I enjoy the motobikes quite a bit and fancied this one sitting unloved in Canada. It seems to be mostly original except for the crankset and bars/stem that came with it. Paint I believe is original as well but of horrible quality, losing alot of it when I was removing the overpaint. Unfortunately someone earlier started to strip off most of the Orange paint on the top tube. I have no plans to touch up the paint. Most of these old teens/20's bikes were ridden so hard and long that you never really know what has been replaced over time, which means most survivors are re-pieced together, but this bike seems pretty honest sporting the original paint frame/fork, wheels, fenders and possibly the seat. Bars, stem, crankset and guard are probably replaced in the last 100yrs. @New Mexico Brant supplied the early but more appropriate crankset for it. The wheels spin relatively true after fitting a few old replacement spokes/nips. If it had some new single tube tires stuck on it, it would run down the road pretty well as it has very clean bearing and cone surfaces. Below is how it started. Hope you enjoy it!
It still needs a repaired front fender brace, rear axle nut, a stand and the original headset cup I forgot to put back in. I obviously am looking for the missing Lacks Hardware badge through the Chicago Cycle Supply Co who either purchased the built machine and/or was involved in the building of it. The badge outline is very specific and only two or three different ones of that shape exist.
It still needs a repaired front fender brace, rear axle nut, a stand and the original headset cup I forgot to put back in. I obviously am looking for the missing Lacks Hardware badge through the Chicago Cycle Supply Co who either purchased the built machine and/or was involved in the building of it. The badge outline is very specific and only two or three different ones of that shape exist.
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Late To The Party
Look Ma, No Hands!
This popped up on Marketplace in Alabama and sold quickly at $100 asking price. These were all the pics, just two.
SKPC
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
Bump..
1924-25 superintendent Leon A Smith and 18 others, most likely skilled workers, stepped in to keep it running after the shareholders abandoned the original Shelby Cycle Frame Builders Co. Around 1925, local businessman Joseph Seltzer invested in the plant and the company transitioned from just making bicycle frames to manufacturing whole bicycles and became the Shelby Cycle Company.
The Republican Industrial Edition
Joseph Seltzer & Harrison Steele at the time of their early partnership.
The following is abstracted from an article in the Republican
Industrial Edition - 1897 - H. E. Sheets, Editor.
"The hardware firm of Seltzer & Steele, the subject of this half tone engraving (above) herewith presented, is one of which the city of Shelby may well feel proud, not only from the fact that their business blocks on West Main Street (68-70 West Main St.) add much to the beauty of the city but from the fact that their store is one that is creditable to any city. Its appearance does much toward giving the city a commercial standing with other towns, and its business relations. It has already done much for the community in giving to our people a complete stock of hardware, stoves, tinware, paints, oils, varnishes, bicycles, robes and horse blankets. They are agents for the famous Ideal bicycles manufactured in Shelby and last season sold over one hundred of this special make. They also have a tin shop in connection, doing all kinds of repair work, roofing and spouting, and make a specialty of slate roofing on either town or country property. The store is always a model of system and neatness, showing at various seasons those articles which climatic conditions necessitate, or allow as luxuries, such as stoves, bicycles, etc. With such men as these at its head, the institution has earned the reputation which it now enjoys in the community. From a business of $30,000 per year at its inception, it has grown to be one of over $100, 000 per year with a steady increase. They are the owners of four store fronts on Main Street (1897) and various warehouses and are interested in thirty-five residences which are now occupied by working-men. They make a specialty of McCormick machinery, and claim the honor of having delivered more of these machines in one day than any other agent in the United States. In one day in 1893 they delivered one hundred and eighty-six McCormick machines, making a parade over one and one-half miles in length, and of such a display as has never been shown elsewhere. The firm has demonstrated its belief in the future of Shelby both in the excellence of its store and also in the other investments it has made, and many a large town will not show a more thriving institution in business, stock, or methods of transaction. In every detail does it fill the bill, not only for today, but for years to come."
Seltzer & Steele - West Main Street, Shelby - c. 1890 (Shelby Museum Photo)
Joseph Seltzer (left), Harrison Steele (middle)
Both were involved in many of the growing businesses of early
Shelby and neither "retired" until they had pursued many business
interests. "Uncle Joe" as he was known in his later years, was
associated with the Ohio Seamless Tube Co., and the Shelby Cycle
Company. He was at one time a bank director, farmer, as well as
serving the community as a councilman for several terms. He gifted
the city the land for Seltzer Park in memory of his son Howard.
Joseph Seltzer died February 18, 1929, 3 weeks after an automobile
accident in Cleveland, Ohio. His wife Mary Elizabeth died a year later
on January 6, 1930. Both are buried in Oakland Cemetery.
1924-25 superintendent Leon A Smith and 18 others, most likely skilled workers, stepped in to keep it running after the shareholders abandoned the original Shelby Cycle Frame Builders Co. Around 1925, local businessman Joseph Seltzer invested in the plant and the company transitioned from just making bicycle frames to manufacturing whole bicycles and became the Shelby Cycle Company.
The Republican Industrial Edition
Joseph Seltzer & Harrison Steele at the time of their early partnership.
The following is abstracted from an article in the Republican
Industrial Edition - 1897 - H. E. Sheets, Editor.
"The hardware firm of Seltzer & Steele, the subject of this half tone engraving (above) herewith presented, is one of which the city of Shelby may well feel proud, not only from the fact that their business blocks on West Main Street (68-70 West Main St.) add much to the beauty of the city but from the fact that their store is one that is creditable to any city. Its appearance does much toward giving the city a commercial standing with other towns, and its business relations. It has already done much for the community in giving to our people a complete stock of hardware, stoves, tinware, paints, oils, varnishes, bicycles, robes and horse blankets. They are agents for the famous Ideal bicycles manufactured in Shelby and last season sold over one hundred of this special make. They also have a tin shop in connection, doing all kinds of repair work, roofing and spouting, and make a specialty of slate roofing on either town or country property. The store is always a model of system and neatness, showing at various seasons those articles which climatic conditions necessitate, or allow as luxuries, such as stoves, bicycles, etc. With such men as these at its head, the institution has earned the reputation which it now enjoys in the community. From a business of $30,000 per year at its inception, it has grown to be one of over $100, 000 per year with a steady increase. They are the owners of four store fronts on Main Street (1897) and various warehouses and are interested in thirty-five residences which are now occupied by working-men. They make a specialty of McCormick machinery, and claim the honor of having delivered more of these machines in one day than any other agent in the United States. In one day in 1893 they delivered one hundred and eighty-six McCormick machines, making a parade over one and one-half miles in length, and of such a display as has never been shown elsewhere. The firm has demonstrated its belief in the future of Shelby both in the excellence of its store and also in the other investments it has made, and many a large town will not show a more thriving institution in business, stock, or methods of transaction. In every detail does it fill the bill, not only for today, but for years to come."
Seltzer & Steele - West Main Street, Shelby - c. 1890 (Shelby Museum Photo)
Joseph Seltzer (left), Harrison Steele (middle)
Both were involved in many of the growing businesses of early
Shelby and neither "retired" until they had pursued many business
interests. "Uncle Joe" as he was known in his later years, was
associated with the Ohio Seamless Tube Co., and the Shelby Cycle
Company. He was at one time a bank director, farmer, as well as
serving the community as a councilman for several terms. He gifted
the city the land for Seltzer Park in memory of his son Howard.
Joseph Seltzer died February 18, 1929, 3 weeks after an automobile
accident in Cleveland, Ohio. His wife Mary Elizabeth died a year later
on January 6, 1930. Both are buried in Oakland Cemetery.
brwstrmgmt
Finally riding a big boys bike
Here are a couple of a 1927 Whippet
