bulgie
'Lil Knee Scuffer
More pics here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAKHL6
For sale, the legendary pre-war Excelsior. I was told by a pre-eminent ballooner collector that this is a 1933 vintage. Please correct me if you think that's wrong. As I understand it, that was the first year of the 26 x 2.125" balloon tires, invented by good ol' Ignaz?
Asking price $750, plus shipping, which might be substantial. Pick it up in Seattle if you can.
XL frame size, seat tube 22" to top.
toptube 23"
Standover 34.5"
Best for someone 6' tall, maybe a bit shorter if you're not a stickler for total clearance over the toptube.
Made by Schwinn, who at some point prior to '33 had purchased the Excelsior company. This one is hand fillet-brazed though, none of the arc-welding or resistance-welding you see on later Schwinns. This was a high-end, expensive bike in its day, made for a serious rider. It has real tubular fork blades, which should be nothing worth commenting on, except later Schwinns had horrible solid-steel fork blades that weren't even hollow. Those are both heavier and less rigid, a lose-lose!
Check out the "fastback" seatstay attachment at the seat cluster, with the pinchbolt passing through the stays — like on a Bruce Gordon!
And the fork struts are actually functional, unlike later Schwinns where they apparently forgot how fork struts work, and added purely decorative struts that do nothing but add weight. These struts very effectively remove the bending load from the blades and steerer, making the fork practically indestructible. The struts themselves are hollow tubes, for light weight. They pass through extension in the crown that are forged integral with the crown. Proper engineering to make a bike that lasts, not to get teenage boys to pester their parents into buying one.
Why is it legendary? Well, any ballooner from so long ago has a rabid following, but especially the Excelsior because of how important it was to the Repack riders of Marin County in the '70s, when the precursors of modern mountain bikes were being developed. At first, they used one-speed coaster-brake bikes. They thrashed and bent all sort of fat-tire bikes until they settled on the pre-war Excelsior as the best. (It was also sold under different names, but the Excelsior frame was unmistakable.
Check out what is by far the best book on the subject, the absolute Bible of early MTB scene, Fat Tire Flyer - Repack and the Birth of Mountain Biking, by Charlie Kelly. (You're not a real C&V person unless you own this book!!) Excelsiors are mentioned or pictured on page 26, 36, 41, 42, 49, 54, 58, 60, 62, 73, 75, 79, 83, 88, 89, and 247. Probably a few more I missed.
Sample quote, talking about building klunkers* to meet the Repack demand, circa '75-'77:
"My main problem was frames. Excelsior frames were all anyone wanted, and the supply was not expanding." -CK
Which led Joe Breeze to build the first custom Cr-Mo MTBs. He copied the Excelsior geometry.
*Charlie spells it clunker, but I just find klunker more humorous (and higher Scrabble score) — apologies to CK!
The Morrow coaster brake was also soon the consensus pick for best for Repack, or any severe use. They'd get their coasters so hot that they'd cook all the grease out of them, leaving a trail of smoke behind. And thus have to Repack the hub with fresh grease after each descent. The Morrow is a throwback to when coaster-brake bikes were serious machines, not toys. It is so precisely made, with such properly-hardened cones and other key parts, that it's nearly indestructible. The fact that it's also just more massive than the others no doubt helped.
I'm including one complete spare Morrow hub and lots of spare parts (many NOS), including two other hub shells and inch-pitch sprockets. Since the hub on there will last multiple human lifetimes, you won't be needing these spares, but neither will I.
This bike is rusty but mechanically perfect. It was rusty when I got it, in 1979, but it had clearly been assembled by a good mechanic, because every thread had been greased, and turned without drama. Stem and seatpost came right out.
I rode it as a coaster one-speed for a little while, but soon (still in '79) I converted it to a Marin style klunker. For a while it had alloy rims, TA cranks, derailer 15-speed, Sturmey drum in front and Maxi-Car drum in back. I rode it like that until '81 when I made my own first custom MTB. I even competed in Observed Trials meets organized by Trials guru John Olsen, on my 'derailerified' Excelsior. It was not a good trials bike! But extremely fun. After I built my custom MTB, I put the Excelsior back to pretty much how I found it. The non-original parts that are on it now are listed below. One concession I made for the steep hills in Seattle was a lower gear: I put a slightly larger rear sprocket and a slightly smaller chainring on it. Fun fact, a lower gear ratio also makes the coaster brake more powerful. I offer it with the smaller chainring mounted, but the original "Sweetheart" ring included. Or I can install the original ring for you on request.
I can't be sure but I think the following are original:
- Frame, seatpost pinch-bolt, head badge, dropout adjusters, fork, fork struts.
- Original paint, I think, what little remains. Slight vestige of one decal still visible.
- Handlebars, stem, stem bolts, headset, seatpost.
- Crank and crank bearings, rims.
- Center-stand, fenders, rear dropout adjusting screws.
- Rear Morrow coaster hub. I'll include the original rear hub (also a Morrow), which I didn't re-use when I rebuilt the wheel, due to excessive rust pitting. The hub on the bike is WWII vintage I think, black because nickel for plating was strictly for the war effort.
- Front sprocket, which is Schwinn and inch-pitch ("skip tooth") but newer vintage ('50s?). I'm including the original "sweetheart"ring.
- Chain, Diamond brand, high-quality. Was NOS when I mounted it in about 1980, low miles since then.
- Front drum brake hub, brake lever and cable. I can't quite read the brand marking, Granville maybe? It works well for a drum (i.e. not exceedingly well), but anyway a lot better brake than the normal non-brake front hub it came with originally. I'm a fan of front brakes on bikes.
- Spokes to rebuild both wheels. Wheels built by a pro (me), using small brass washers on each spoke head for best durability.
- Tires and tubes. Front tire is a Schwinn Typhoon, '70s maybe, made in USA. Rear is an Allstate Heavy Duty, also USA-made, loks older, '60s? If NOS brick-red balloon tires are your style, I'll include a pair, or install them for you. They're newer, stored in a cool basement, no cracking.
- Handlebar grips. They're old, maybe pre-war, "Coke bottle" shape.
- Pedals, also old, maybe pre-war. Not in great shape, a little bent I think.
- Saddle, which I think is older than the bike, 1920s vintage maybe? Leather with horsehair padding. It's actually comfortable, and quite strong.
- Rear carrier (rack) and wood 7-Up box, both old, funky, and very functional. I used this bike for grocery shopping. I'll gladly take them off if you don't want them. The box would complicate shipping the bike, doesn't fit in a bike-shipping box.
Come ride it! It rides great, especially downhill as you'd expect for a Repack champion. It plows through soft dirt/gravel at high speed in a very confidence-inspiring way. I used to ride it up outdoor staircases on the college campus, even as a one-speed, by hitting the stairs at ~20 mph, popping a little wheelie and letting my momentum carry me up the stairs. Not with people around of course! A bit scary, but the bike never flinched.
Frame angles like this went out of fashion for a while there, but they're back — they call it "pregressive" geometry now!! The seat tube angle may seem a little shallow, but notice that the seatpost angles forward (like a "7" when viewed from the left), so the saddle is in a position similar to modern bikes. The saddle is currently slid pretty far back, so it can move forward a lot if you want. I have also ridden it with the "7" facing back, like a "layback" post, more stretch-out room between saddle and handlebar. Not historically correct that way, but if you need the room...
If you want to convert this back to a derailer "proto-MTB", let's talk. I have the parts and knowledge to make you one just like CK, Gary, Joe and all that gang used to race and win on Repack.
