Dating a track bike

[amnomad]

Hello, I'm new here and hope this is the right forum, not sure if this bike is pre-1933 or not and hoping for some help narrowing down an age. It's a Guarantee Bicycle Co. of St. Louis "Stutz" model track bike. No info on the web on the brand. The bike has E.J. Lobdell wood rims, a 1" pitch crank, Persons saddle, and Torrington Comet 6 pedals. I will attach some pics.

Also, this is my first wooden rim bike and the rims are cracking at the spoke holes, has anyone done a repair using epoxy and spoke washers to reinforce a wooden rim? I haven't taken the tires off yet, the rear is rock hard, so it's possible the cracking is just the paint. I think I will probably buy some replacement Ghisallo wood rims and build a new wheelset for riding and clean up the originals as much as possible for parking in the living room.

Any info would be appreciated.

John

 

[imfastareyou]

can't help with info, but thats a nice looking bike. and those Ghisallo are super sweet. pricey too!

but it looks like it will clean up pretty well.

new departure fixed hub?

you might want to post on the Classic and Vintage forum on bikeforums, better source for racing bikes.

 

[amnomad]

Decisions decisions...

Thank you for the reply, the green paint is coming off the bike pretty well with steelwool and WD40 leaving me conflicted about what to do to the bike.

I'm leaning toward removing all the green paint, soaking any rusted areas in oxalic acid, and just shining it up and waxing it. Also thinking of just buying some modern track wheels, cleaning and putting new tires on the original wheels even though they won't be rideable.

I guess the other option is to powder coat the frame, cut the original hubs out and lace them to some Ghisalo rims and have a somewhat restored rider.

Any thoughts?

John

 

[imfastareyou]

IMHO?

leave the paint, wax it up. build up some wheels for it, original hubs or no. nice nos or solid wood rims come up on ebay a few times a month. put some vittoria 34c cx tires on it and ride it. I wouldn't pain or powdercoat the frame, but I like patina.

 

[sam]

Remove the crank.You will need to clean and grease the barring anyway.and see if it has any ID marking.

 

[amnomad]

Yeah I haven't done any disassembly yet because I wanted to show it to some people this weekend. I've bought a generic track wheelset and a skip tooth master link so next week I will hopefully find time to take off the wheels, chain, and crank, clean the chain and crank and reinstall. Hoping I can find some brands / models on the hubs and crank.

Also got some 1" spoke nips so I'm keeping my eye out for some wooden hoops!

John

 

[pelletman]

someone at the Wheelmen website may be able to help also. The Wheelmen have the most extensive listing of brands
http://www.thewheelmen.org/sections/bicyclebrands/bicyclebrands.asp