The Carolina Rambler
Finally riding a big boys bike
Hello everyone, how are you this evening? Are you enjoying the snow? I just wanted to share my latest project I'm starting (many irons in the fire but none red hot quite yet), and some of you may have seen it on Ebay about a month ago. It is not so common that a truly antique bicycle comes up for sale here in this part of the country, so when I saw this one available locally, and for a reasonable price of $600, I couldn't resist. Plus it was local pickup only, so that limited my competition. This is believed to be a 1909 Gendron Reliance Model 74 or 77, double bar roadster. The fellow who owned it previously, said it was restored 30 years ago, and it belonged to his father who had squired it at some point and had it restored from up in Ohio. It is believed to have been this maroon color originally, as was seen inside the bottom bracket. As you can see, it has quite a few things incorrect on it, but does retain all of the hard to find original parts, and I purchased it with the understanding that this is an "incomplete" restoration and is still very much a project. It is serendipity however, and shows the importance of keeping a few extra parts lying around, and sometimes buying parts here or there even if you don't know what you will use them for at the time. It just so happens, upon going through my parts stash, that I have right near everything I need to make it complete and correct again, parts that I just saved from other times.
I plan to rebuild and straighten the original wheels, and replace the 1940s ND hubs, with correct first generation New Departure model A hub that I happened to have- it's eventhat earliest version with the curved arm instead of the straight arm. I will replace the 1920s style coke bottle grips with leather bulldog grips, pinstripe and embellish the frame with gilt decorations, install inflatable tubular tires, maybe some green Michelins, rat trap pedals, replace the 40s seat with a deluxe 1910 seat (that needs everything done to it), and to top it all off, I even have a set of correct fenders like it would have originally had.
Several years ago, a guy was parting out a junkyard bike he found- and all of the "good parts" had been posted and sold off, except for the frame and fenders. I knew how hard to find these early, shallow profile rain gutter fenders are, and being concerned that they might get scrapped with the rest of the bike, I contacted him and he was pleased to sell them- some fellow on ebay. I didn't know what I was going to do with them at the time, only that there was a good chance I might need them some day, and it looks like that day has come
If you have any additional information you could share about the Gendron bicycles, or have one yourself, please free to post that, and I am excited to learn more about them, because there not a whole lot of them out there, and even less information about them too it seems. Thanks for reading, and I will be sure to update this post once she's finished and road ready! (I am of the belief that all bicycles, like ships and cars, are female, just that some are designed for women instead of men).
Original stem and handlebars- appear to have been re-chromed instead of nickel plated, but they really look good
25 tooth sprocket, 1 inch pitch, as opposed to the later standard of 26 tooth for full-sized bicycles
Early 2-piece crank, that might be of a design exclusive to the Gendron bicycles
Badge, which would have originally had a red celluloid backing-insert
Catalog image that had been posted on the CABE previously
New parts to install
Correct, early style, rain gutter fenders, the shallow type with out dropped-down sides
I plan to rebuild and straighten the original wheels, and replace the 1940s ND hubs, with correct first generation New Departure model A hub that I happened to have- it's eventhat earliest version with the curved arm instead of the straight arm. I will replace the 1920s style coke bottle grips with leather bulldog grips, pinstripe and embellish the frame with gilt decorations, install inflatable tubular tires, maybe some green Michelins, rat trap pedals, replace the 40s seat with a deluxe 1910 seat (that needs everything done to it), and to top it all off, I even have a set of correct fenders like it would have originally had.
Several years ago, a guy was parting out a junkyard bike he found- and all of the "good parts" had been posted and sold off, except for the frame and fenders. I knew how hard to find these early, shallow profile rain gutter fenders are, and being concerned that they might get scrapped with the rest of the bike, I contacted him and he was pleased to sell them- some fellow on ebay. I didn't know what I was going to do with them at the time, only that there was a good chance I might need them some day, and it looks like that day has come
If you have any additional information you could share about the Gendron bicycles, or have one yourself, please free to post that, and I am excited to learn more about them, because there not a whole lot of them out there, and even less information about them too it seems. Thanks for reading, and I will be sure to update this post once she's finished and road ready! (I am of the belief that all bicycles, like ships and cars, are female, just that some are designed for women instead of men).
Original stem and handlebars- appear to have been re-chromed instead of nickel plated, but they really look good
25 tooth sprocket, 1 inch pitch, as opposed to the later standard of 26 tooth for full-sized bicycles
Early 2-piece crank, that might be of a design exclusive to the Gendron bicycles
Badge, which would have originally had a red celluloid backing-insert
Catalog image that had been posted on the CABE previously
New parts to install
Correct, early style, rain gutter fenders, the shallow type with out dropped-down sides
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