Kindly critique this Merkel.

[barracuda]

Just for my edification, please.

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5335809022&icep_item=111432846793

I love it when you guys talk Miami.

 

[Freqman1]

Obviously been repainted and not sure it started life as a Merkel but I'm no expert in these matters--the SOTFM need to weigh in. V/r Shawn

 

[Freqman1]

Patric are you out there??? I thought surely someone would chime in. V/r Shawn

 

[bricycle]

Patric are you out there??? I thought surely someone would chime in. V/r Shawn

he only responds if you ask pretty please, or utilize the Tarzan whooping call.....

 

[fordsnake]

I just noticed it was posted on ebay...let me retract my first comment. It's a complete Miami bike, could be a Racycle?

 

[hoofhearted]

Patric are you out there??? V/r Shawn

Hey, Shawn ....... look all .. I have my opinions .. but am reluctant to express them
during the auction. Don't have anything negative to say .. but will remind the reader of
that ages-old cautionary line, ''Let The Buyer Beware''.

This typer has not seen the machine up close ... or sensed the nature of the beast, eye to eye.

I will say that the seller has a very-refined description of the machine. The buyer will be
receiving a very-unusual Miami-Built frame that has much pitting, and noted (by seller),
welds (weld) and some body-filler application to the frame. I personally dig the split bottom
bracket and the "short coupling" feature in the frame.

The frame is not recorded in any FM catalog that I know of. So what ?!!

That does not mean the frame is not a factory issue. We all know how the company preferred
to be inventive with frame design / geometry ... as well as chainring design .. tooth-count and
cushioned forks.

The cushioned-fork .. as you know, is made of ''unobtainium'' ... where you gonna get one ?

Say, has the reader ever heard of the ''Let The Buyer Beware'' concept ?

Back to the frame ... if this is a 1916 FM .. well ... there is no motorbike shown, at all, in the
1916 FM catalog. However .. the 1916 FM catalog does show a beautifully-designed chainring
... very, very much like the 26-T specimen shown in the auction bicycle.

DOES ALL THIS THOUGHT / OBSERVATION MEAN MUCH ? Not to me.

1916 must / may have been an unusual year for the company ... and not necessarily fruitful.

The offerings in 1916 are very sparse.

But ... think this thru ... a fellow from Middletown, Ohio just has to have a heavy-duty bicycle
for his occupation or his recreation.

He enters the factory with said request ... and what do you think the company may tell him (?)
.... Sorry, Mr. Citizen ... the only rides we can sell you are the ones listed in the 1916 FM catalogue.

C'mon, now ... Miami Cycle wasn't just a distributor ... they manufactured bicycles.

Was this manufacturer gonna let that happen IF THEY HAD LEFTOVER FRAMES ... from a previous year ?

How the hell should I know ... do you think I was there at the time ?

Things may have happened in one way ... or .. things might have happened another way. Am pretty
far removed from getting into 'Miss Cleo' territory. There will always be some things we do know ...
and some things that are yet to be revealed.

For all I know ... that frame may have been built out of a girl's ride from the time after Westfield
purchased Miami Cycle & Manuf. Co. in '23 or '24.

Let's look at things another way. The seller isn't necessarily selling a bicycle. The seller is offering an
opportunity to a potential buyer, to own a chunk of technology in bicycle-form, that follows the very-
nature of the machines designed and produced by Miami Cycle --- during the production-years of the
Flying Merkel Motorcycle.

One more thing ... Let The Buyer .......................


................... patric cafaro

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[fordsnake]

It's reminiscent and has the same characteristics as the 1913 FM.

 

[barracuda]

Thank you, gentlemen.

 

[barracuda]

Looks like the seller parted out the fork, frame only for sale now:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Prewar-Anti...311?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c44d6ae57