I bought a Lewis Cycles Chicago Ordinary?

[Brian R.]

I was looking at buying a Boneshaker brand reproduction Ordinary, but found this one which has a backbone that follows the curve of the wheel nicely. The backbone is also tapered slightly as the original ones were back in the day. The previous owner thought it was made around 1950. From the hole in the backbone near the neck it looks like it had a leaf spring or bracket for mounting the seat originally. The seat on it now looks like it could be moved forward some. The wheel measures 48 inches.

From what I've read on this site, George Strong Lewis designed the first Silver Kings, was the Vice President and Manager at Mead Cycle Co for a number of years, and patented "several inventions and designs that were important to the bicycle industry." I also found a nice photo of him in his youth with his cycle club posing with their Ordinaries, and learned that he made lightweight bicycles in the 1930s. Beyond that, there's nothing available online, and definitely nothing about this reproduction Ordinary.

There are several people named Lewis connected with cycling. Am I correct that it was George Strong Lewis who was behind Lewis Cycles Ltd Chicago?

Does anyone know anything about this reproduction Ordinary, especially the year(s) it was made? I'd love to be able to put a year to this machine.
Thanks.

 

[Jesse McCauley]

I would reach out to one of the existing highwheel reproducers like Greg Barron , I think they have been a pretty tight knit group for a long while.


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