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Iver Johnson Truss

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The mud guards were optional on this model. You could leave them on or take them off to give it a more racer look depending on your preference. However, if they are determined to be the correct type then don’t get rid of them! Very nice...
 
Thanks to everyone for the info, comments, and suggestions! I had a few spare minutes to day so I took off the badges and with some paint stripper I took off the paint on the headtube. Sure enough there is plating under there, and in quite good shape. There's a small amount of plating loss, a bit of rust staining, but behind the badge it is still polished! So it sounds like this makes it a racer model? I can also spy a bit of the original black paint.
D65F8AC3-D973-4623-81CA-84C24AFBD424.jpeg
Is the plating only on the head-tube?
Are the triangular black and white pinstripe
darts original?
I'm curious how IJ designed this area to blend.
I'm talking about where the plating begins and
the paint takes over.

My IJ is deep green on the head tube and I stated earlier that the frame was black.
Checking closer, I see traces of a dark "burgandy" on the frame which for the most part now looks black from age.
You have a neat project.
I'm happy to hear that you will try to keep it
as original as possible.
Thanks for sharing!
 
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View attachment 890333
Is the plating only on the head-tube?
Are the triangular black and white pinstripe
darts original?
I'm curious how IJ designed this area to blend.
I'm talking about where the plating begins and
the paint takes over.

My IJ is deep green on the head tube and I stated earlier that the frame was black.
Checking closer, I see traces of a dark "burgandy" on the frame which for the most part now looks black from age.
You have a neat project.
I'm happy to hear that you will try to keep it
as original as possible.
Thanks for sharing!
Those diomands and darts are definitely painted later. With the nickel head tube and fork it definitely didn’t come with those. It could have come with a Burgundy color though may have been optional.
 
View attachment 890333
Is the plating only on the head-tube?
Are the triangular black and white pinstripe
darts original?
I'm curious how IJ designed this area to blend.
I'm talking about where the plating begins and
the paint takes over.

My IJ is deep green on the head tube and I stated earlier that the frame was black.
Checking closer, I see traces of a dark "burgandy" on the frame which for the most part now looks black from age.
You have a neat project.
I'm happy to hear that you will try to keep it
as original as possible.
Thanks for sharing!

The nickel doesn’t blend with the paint it just ends at the head tube. This is not the best pic but I can post another one later if needed. I agree this is a great project!
74E5F4B7-01A3-4D14-B934-E6A29E4ABDDF.jpeg
 
The chrome/nickel plating on the racers was only on the headtube and fork, the frame was painted a solid color. The triangular artwork and "darts"on this bike were added and are not original to the racers. This bike should have a solid color with single hairline pinstriping. Some very early racers had darts but this bike is not from that era. Very late (1940/41) Iver Truse Frame Roadsters also added this paint treatment using triangular artwork. HOWEVER, because Iver Johnson would do just about anything a customer wanted as a "special order".....................it is possible, that a customer ordered a Model 90 racer and wanted the paint treatment to look like the the Iver "Airlites" (see pic) of the day. The careful removal of the repaint will answer that question. Yes, the paint treatment where the chrome on the headtube stops and the paint on the frame begins is a touchy area to duplicate but there was no definite stop/end point, it just blend in as neat and clean as possible. Pete in Fitchburg
1937 #10.jpg
 
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The following is a very old link on the web. http://nbhaa.com/index7.html The article claims the bike is a Model 90 Iver Road Racer. I don't think so, I believe it is an Iver Johnson "Airlite" fitted out to look like a racer. Only my opinion. Catfish was the one who said it best years back....................you put a set of racing bars on any Iver and all of a sudden it's a racer, add a Major Taylor stem and the bike had to be owned or ridden by Major Taylor himself ! Pete in Fitchburg
 
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Wow, that nickel is in great shape! I would definitely see if there's good original paint underneath the rest, then. Even original common black is better than having to repaint it.

I wonder if it's really just the darts that aren't original, then. The bike tubes are jointed by brazed internal lugs, giving the joint a cleaner look than pretty much any other method of joinery with virtually no fillet visible. The black paint just sort of ends right where the painted tube mates to the head tube so that it looks almost as if the tubes were pre-painted and someone assembled the frame for fitting before welding up. I hope that makes sense. When I built my "what if" Major Taylor Centennial Iver Johnson (reworked Specialized Allez), I had trouble figuring out how to replicate this where the paint met the polished aluminum head tube as the joints of the aluminum frame are TIG welded and, therefore, have a fillet with no clear cutoff like the real thing has.

For the bottom bracket tool, I used a thick paint scraper the same width as the crank nut slot, ground off the chiseled edge, and made a notch in the center to clear the bolt. Then I laid the bike down and pushed the tool into the slot to prevent it from slipping and stripping it like a flat head screwdriver while turning it with a vise grip clamped to the side of the blade as close to the nut as I could get it. Wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be and I remember thinking at how clever it was. I can't remember if the crank nut was left- or right-hand thread now and I don't remember how I got the thing apart, but I can say that I didn't need a gear puller like I thought I would. IIRC, the crank is two pieces with the axle joined in the center with a larger diameter finger joint. I think the knurled nut at the BB needed to be unscrewed and it might have been reverse threaded . . . you know, what? Don't go by my memory, there's got to be a legit guide somewhere on how to do it.

I'm interested in hearing what your friend with the horse saddles thinks, though horse saddles are supported and bike saddles stretched, so I'm not sure if they'll have the same solution, but even if you could get it to look good, you could use it for shows. (Not that I get to many shows, but that's what I do with my original Troxel, which is a pan seat, so it isn't supported by the stretched leather. I did ride it a few times, but the leather started to tear at the stitching, so I stopped. Was more comfortable than I thought it would be.)
 
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I know these are poor pics, but hear are some shots of what your pins would look like and also a shot of the nickel meeting paint.
B2E44A11-A39C-4E63-9E79-FE328C09B089.jpeg


51F23E39-BB55-48A0-B0A4-81A18AE910C5.jpeg


81F2460F-37E7-4F83-B5B2-966FDCD19F54.jpeg


D2BBB3E7-8A37-4F4E-BAF1-EB152C9A1EFD.jpeg
 
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