Yesssss... and this is exactly how a lot of the "dangling tanks" as I described them right here in this thread looked. DANGLING TANKS. People who bought these frames from me wanted them anyway. Nobody, but nobody was arguing about it back then. There are– as we speak... about 18 of the frames I had in the 1970s out there somewhere. People who bought most of these begged for the tanks and got them. I know of two who installed metal panels with them. Fact.
Had you been around and involved with these bicycles in the 1970s, then you would already know these facts. All of which is why the supposed lists of WHO owns the rare SIlver Kings, etc.etc. don't have mine on them, do they?
This tank thing is not MY doing. Yes, they are a lousy fit and not aesthetically pleasing (certainly not to anyone with a designer eye). I didn't make the tanks. I just had a bunch of them. And I never said they were for any Silver King. And I was never-ever–ever into modifying any of my personal keeper bicycles. This was decades before "rat-rod" stuff existed.
But a lot of people bought them and put them together that way. There were also two sold with NOS aftermarket chrome pressed metal rear carriers that kinda-sorta "fit"... People wanted those too. Some people THOUGHT 26-X was supposed to have a rear carrier... and they DID argue about that too. I probably have photos of these somewhere too. But that would just be yet another argument. TWO of these went to Chicago. Where they all are today is anybody's guess.
This may come as a surprise to people in 2022, but in the 1970s, there were no people walking around with cell phones with built-in digital cameras. All of the photos I showed you were taken at least 30-40 years ago. Back before there were camera phones and internet and people arguing online about how many 26-X bicycles there were and who owned them and what went on them. The only reason you can see the photos I posted here was because I had the foresight to take them with my 35mm film Nikon camera. Before a lot of people today were alive. And before there were any Silver King "experts." Some people today may remember these film camera devices. Now there will be somebody who will be ready to argue about when digital cameras and etc.etc.etc. happened and how.
In the final analysis, what I said still stands: there was no factory-made, factory-installed tank for aluminum Silver Kings. End of the real story. All the arguing and attempts to one-up me will not change these facts.
Merry Christmas.
