Iver Johnson - Solid and Stolid; A gathering place for dating IJ bicycles

[bud poe]

Yes, Iver Johnson tires?!? And the white "vitalic clinchers"?!?! Doesn't get much better than that, thanks for posting!
This thread is gaining a lot of momentum and has me motivated to finish my IJ crank rehab and get the Truss Frame back together...I'll be posting pics of the repair process with serial #'s soon...

 

[lobsterboyx]

I have several ivers, they are slowly becoming one of my favorite brands aside from my beloved murray ohio post war sheet metal monsters. Ill get the serial numbers from my bikes later on, but im more than happy to share my bikes.

I have (from earliest to latest)

1904-6 Lovell Diamond - built by iver johnson that im in the midst of restoring
a truss bridge (not too many details yet, about to send payment on it)
Iver streamline
and a mobcycle (just the frame)


lovell

streamline

Im actually looking for more info on streamlines - ive seen a vew photos and videos of them complete, but im mostly looking for the types of wheels / fenders they had.

 

[fat tire trader]

Here are 2 more -

1930's balloon - Serial No. 573478 - Bought from the original owner's family in Rhode Island last week.

1910's(?) Truss Frame - hard to read, but looks like Serial No. 124660 (last number may be an 8?). Has a cool springer fork. The paint and seat are a little rough. I'd appreciate thoughts on the correct age and more eyes on the serial number.

Thanks,
Dean

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The Iver Spring Forks were first produced in 1907, if the first two numbers of your serial number are the year, then your bike could be a 1912 Truss Bridge Roadster.
Chris

 

[IJamEcono]

Why is it that I rarely see regular diamond frame Ivers? I have mine, and I saw one for sale not too long ago in Rhode Island. But I rarely see them. I know they were kind of basic Iver Johnson bikes. I just thought they'd be more common than they are.

I'd love to have any of these other Iver's that are being put on this thread though! Some very nice bikes.

 

[Iverider]

Most of the catalogs I've seen show the diamond frame as an option. I would also suspect that when the scrap metal drives came around a diamond frame may not have seemed like it was worth keeping vs. a Truss frame as the Truss has a certain unique aesthetic. In the VW scene it seems that more early deluxe buses have survived compared to the less extravagant base models. Probably a lot to do with people taking better care of them.

 

[fat tire trader]

Hello,
I just added a 1908 Iver catlog to my archive at http://www.fattiretrading.com/catalogs.html, excerpts from the catalog can be see on my blog http://fattiretrading.blogspot.com/
Thanks,
Chris

 

[Iverider]

Thanks for that Chris! Can you post some scans of the options available for bicycles in the catalog?

 

[RMS37]

The Iver Spring Forks were first produced in 1907, if the first two numbers of your serial number are the year, then your bike could be a 1912 Truss Bridge Roadster.
Chris

Chris,

Some companies did code the year into their serial numbers but Iver does not appear to be one of those companies. Holding to the "first-two-number" pattern would have the straight-bar Iver, 600527, produced in 1960, which cannot be true.

Accepting what Bill Smith has posted on the Wheelmen site, it seems most plausible that the serial numbers are sequential. On that site, Bill posted that the serial number, 134801 is a 1910 production serial number, and that 154801 would hail from 1912. Couple that information with your observation that the spring fork dates to 1907 at the earliest and the spring fork Iver, 124664, would reliably slot in during 1907/1908.

The location of the serial number on the bottom bracket, rather than the more common Iver placement at the top of the seat tube, also agrees with Mr. Smiths posted comments about the placement of the earlier serial numbers.

I still have to sit down and enter my overview post on Iver serial numbers and hopefully I will have a chance to do so this evening.

 

[dfa242]

Thanks to all for informing this ongoing mystery - interesting stuff indeed.
Here are excerpts from a 1910 catalog. As the spring fork on my bike is obviously different from that illustrated, I knew it had to be a different model year but was never sure whether it was newer or older. Chris, I'd be interested to see if the 1908 catalog describes or pictures the available spring fork(s) or if anyone else might be able to share other catalogs showing spring forks from this era.

Thanks again and Cheers,
Dean

Hello,
I just added a 1908 Iver catlog to my archive at http://www.fattiretrading.com/catalogs.html, excerpts from the catalog can be see on my blog http://fattiretrading.blogspot.com/
Thanks,
Chris

 

[dfa242]

Oops, sorry - just checked your second link and saw the last picture now. It does indeed look very much like the sping fork in the 1908 catalog.

Thanks again!
Dean