Best shot redux - bike photos - faber's cyclery

[island schwinn]

Sad news.had a few trips there in the 80's/90's and one thing for sure,them boys loved their liquor.

 

[sccruiser]

There is a cat in Santa Cruz that bought out most of the leftover inventory. He was selling some stuff at local flea market about 6 months ago. He had killer paper Stingray banners and n.o.s Krate atom brakes and chrome springers still in sealed Schwinn bags.
l He had some really Nice Stingray spedometers still in box too. Super chill guy but you could tell he was just testing the waters to see what people would pay or just check out. Claims to have a lot of heavy hitter bikes and parts in storage but not ready to bust em out just yet.

 

[barneyguey]

I wanted to start a new thread under the previous one of "Take your best shot" with some photos I think you will all appreciate. The first are photos of the oldest, longest running bicycle shop on the west coast, Faber's Cyclery in San Jose, California.

The building started out as a saloon/speakeasy in 1884 with a brothel on the top floor, and by 1912 became a bicycle shop. It stayed a bicycle shop until April of 2013 when it very sadly burned down. I went to visit Faber's only months before it ceased to exist and shot the following photos. It is believed the black and white sign on the north side of the building is the original from 1912, but I was not able to confirm. The owner, Alex La Riviere was extremely nice to me and was quite knowledgeable about bicycles. He was excited to hear what vintage bikes I had, and eager to show me the underbelly of the place. I got the feeling he didn't give in depth tours too often but knew I was in love with vintage bicycles so he took pride in showing me the place.

One of the first things I noticed was the old wiring around the top of the walls at the ceiling. This was earlier than knob & tube wiring from the 20s, this was the very first wiring used when electricity came into use... bare, energized strung wire! There were also many old signs and the tool/parts drawers dated back to the teens. Also notice in some of the shots the original wall paper!

Outside were huge racks of frames, rims, and parts of all sorts, and inside were several vintage bicycles from the teens through the 50s, almost all in as found condition that had been in the shop since new, or nearly new.

I bought a set of Higgins rims, and a prewar seat from Alex and spent the day absorbing the vibes of a bicycle shop like no other. It makes my heart ache that it's gone now, but I'm grateful to have met Alex and seen Faber's in person with my own eyes before it disappeared forever. Please enjoy the photos.

Ballonatic O-O

Thanks for the very interesting history on Fabers. Barry Gray

 

[SJ_BIKER]

 

[cyclingday]

I want the giant Racycle crankset!

There was a thread on here a couple of weeks ago, about a photo album that had been unearthed, and one of the pictures showed a bike shop that had a giant Racycle crankset.
I don’t remember if the bike shop was in California, but it definitely was not Fabers.
I just wonder, if that one in Fabers could’ve been the same crankset?
How many of those beasts could’ve been made?
Interesting thought to ponder though.

 

[cyclingday]

It was here in California,
It looks like it might have been in two locations, around 1910.
One in Sacramento, and one in Stockton.
Here is the thread on the photo album.

I’d be willing to bet, that the crankset in Fabers was one of these, or, this one, if only one was ever made.

Pretty fricken cool!

Where is it now?

 

[barracuda]

I’d be willing to bet, that the crankset in Fabers was one of these, or, this one, if only one was ever made.

Looking at the photos, it's seems clear that we're seeing three separate wooden display cranks, a different one in each picture.

The display crank at Faber's (first pic) was quite large, over six feet in diameter, and you can see the hole pattern near the center was different than the much smaller version in the middle pic. The last pic is a four-hole model, completely different than the other two. This suggests there may have been many of these made for Racycle shops all over the US.

 

[cyclingday]

Agreed.
Interesting that these were all in north/central California bike shops.
Any around the rest of the country?

 

[barracuda]

Agreed.
Interesting that these were all in north/central California bike shops.
Any around the rest of the country?

Here's an even different one ^^^

 

[cyclingday]

Ok,
Now this is getting interesting.
The quest for the giant crank collection.
It seems that each one was unique, which seems odd.
The logical thing to do, would have been to make a pattern, and replicate them for your dealerships.
So far, each one found has been a slightly different size and pattern.
I’m sure it wasn’t an easy thing to keep around all these years, and being made of wood, and easy thing to get rid of.
So, how many still exist?
I’ve heard, the one from Fabers was saved from the fire, and is now safely residing in a private collection.
So, that’s at least one.
Anymore?