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Old Mail Order Bicycle Catalogs

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Dbubbleguy

'Lil Knee Scuffer
I'd like to start this off with a salute to my favorite old Bicycle Mail Order Catalog, of which I have 3 different ones...

Back in the early days of the bike boom (late 1960s-1970s) most bicycle shops were of the mom and pop run style businesses, mostly Schwinn dealers selling kid’s bikes. Then the moribund League of American Wheelmen had been reborn and there was an interest in “adult” bicycles. New fangled 10-speed bicycles with European parts for touring and racing were becoming the rage. In this pre-internet time period, the go to source for these bikes and parts were… Mail Order Catalogs. One of the premier purveyors of these goodies was Gene Portuesi’s CYCLO-PEDIA, which sold touring, sports, racing & camping bicycle equipment. Not only could you purchase real European style touring bikes (Louison-Bobets) but also Campagnolo, Huret, Mafac, Weinmann, Lyotard, Simplex, Stronglight, T.A., Mavic, Fiamme, Karrimor, Unica, T.T.T., Silca, components and tools. Plus there were how-to articles on bicycle camping, wheel building & truing, choosing a bike, and other useful tips. Last but not least, there was a Cadence Chart and a Gear Ratio Chart (somehow that was important back then…?). Those were heady days when we all wanted to emulate Eddy “the Cannibal” Merckx” (winner of 5 Tour de France races and 5 Tour of Spains). Below find a Cyclo-Pedia catalog cover and the all important Gear Chart.

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Great resource. I have originals of all the catalogs he sent out.
His nephew brought in lots of stuff from his estate.
As previously posted here I have Gene's Personal 'Rochet' track bike that is in exquisite shape.
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Hi guys - I just joined this group after doing a Google search looking for this particular bike. I bought a series of Cyclopedia editions on eBay from Gene Portuesi's nephew Dave back in 2011. He mentioned that he still had Gene's personal Rochet track bike. I had saved some photos of it, but that was three computers ago so was not able to locate the jpgs, so I was glad to see who wound up owning such an important bike - very cool!
You mention that the nephew brought in other elements from the estate. I would be interested to know what other items he might have passed on to you. Anything related to Cycle Sport Shop, his brick and mortar store in Detroit. Also anything related to Wolverine Sports Club - or the rival Spartan Bike Club would be of interest. Thanks for the post! [BTW I have a bunch of old French bikes that I can share about at some point].
 
Remember the Johnson-Smith catalogs? These had toys, magic tricks, and all kinds of goodies of particular interest to kids. While not a bicycle catalog per se, they did have pages of bicycle accessories. Looking at all these neato-keen bike necessities, I'm going to jump into my DeLorean to scoop up all these got to have items...
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Man, I remember wolf whistles & racoon tails but a genuine fox head saddle cover with red reflector eyes:dizzy:, half lamb half wolf, what year is that catalog?, anyone got a picture of one of these?
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Man, I remember wolf whistles & racoon tails but a genuine fox head saddle cover with red reflector eyes:dizzy:, half lamb half wolf, what year is that catalog?, anyone got a picture of one of these?View attachment 1330257
Unfortunately the catalog is in very poor shape, missing over a hundred pages and the rear cover. I couldn't find a date for the catalog but looking over the merchandise I would say it's from the late 1940s to the mid 1950s. It doesn't list any transistor radios (only a 1 tube portable radio) which would put it before the late 1950s. Wanna buy a "baby alligator" or "Atomic Bomb Ores"?

Additional info on Johnson Smith Company-
The Johnson Smith Company (Johnson Smith & Co.) was a mail-order company established in 1914 by Alfred Johnson Smith in Chicago, Illinois, USA that sold novelty and gag gift items such as x-ray goggles, whoopee cushions, fake vomit, and joy buzzers. The company moved from Chicago to Racine, Wisconsin in 1926, to Detroit in the 1930s, and from the Detroit area to Bradenton, Florida in 1986.

The company would put ads in magazines devoted to children and young adults such as Boys' Life, Popular Mechanics and Science Digest. Their ads appeared on the back cover of many historically significant comic books, including Action Comics #1, June 1938[2] (first appearance of the character Superman) and Detective Comics #27, May 1939 (first appearance of character Batman).

In 2014, the company marked its 100th anniversary. On December 31, 2019, the company's website announced that they had ceased operations and closed. Johnson Smith was acquired by Collections Etc in 2020.
 
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