MrColumbia
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
That looks to be the chain ring.
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Please help identify my bike
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If you put that chain ring on a 1970 varsity frame, and took a bad picture it would also look almost exactly like these two bikes.
The chain ring pattern is a good clue but a lot of manufacturers purchased crank parts from third party manufacturers. Other than the chain ring I would say that your bike and the Mead Sentinel have little in common. The Mead is probably 20 years earlier than your frame.
Since you want to know what your bike is/was you need to compare the frame specifics such as the exact shape of the stay tubing with a micrometer and little details like the way the tubes ends are attached and finished inside the head tube and bottom bracket. Obviously this is almost impossible without having the two frames physically next to each other. Bad photos in which you can’t even make out the fork crown will be of little real help.
You also need to find bikes that are more contemporary to yours for comparison. While diamond frames have been built for over 100 years you need to primarily compare your bike with twenties frames if you hope to find a reliable badged match.
Again, I am not saying this to discourage you from searching for the identity of your frame and finding a bike with what appears to be the same pattern chain ring is helpful but as I said before your bike was obviously originally sold and specifically badged in one way so there is only one correct answer to the question of that was. My analogy is that if you found a Mustang with aftermarket wheels and didn’t know what it was; a picture of a Camaro with the same aftermarket wheels would not provide enough information to accurately restore your car (An arguable exaggeration, but you get the point.)
I have several frames of unknown manufacture from this period and I always keep my eyes open to find information that might pin down who made them and how they were badges. After 20 plus years I am still looking so patience (or windfall good luck as noted earlier) is required. I have one teens racing frame that I purchased in the late 1980’s that had some very unique features but no badge. I considered selling it many times because with no badge the project was essentially a dead end. Last year a teens racing Indian appeared on eBay with exactly the same frame. I am glad I didn’t let my frame go before the Indian came along. The catch is that Indian bought their frames from a third party and while my frame is undeniably identical, the badge holes are not for an Indian badge. So, I still don’t know what I have, I probably never will, and even if another identical frame turns up with a badge that matches the holes in my frame it will not be proof that my frame was badged identically. I don’t believe it is historically ethical to give up and badge a bike incorrectly but I have considered at times producing some ornate badges in the shape of a question mark with “Manufacturer Unknown” engraved on the face and using them for license to rebuild a forlorn, unbadged old frame to taste.
Good luck with your frame and keep chasing the truth.
The chain ring pattern is a good clue but a lot of manufacturers purchased crank parts from third party manufacturers. Other than the chain ring I would say that your bike and the Mead Sentinel have little in common. The Mead is probably 20 years earlier than your frame.
Since you want to know what your bike is/was you need to compare the frame specifics such as the exact shape of the stay tubing with a micrometer and little details like the way the tubes ends are attached and finished inside the head tube and bottom bracket. Obviously this is almost impossible without having the two frames physically next to each other. Bad photos in which you can’t even make out the fork crown will be of little real help.
You also need to find bikes that are more contemporary to yours for comparison. While diamond frames have been built for over 100 years you need to primarily compare your bike with twenties frames if you hope to find a reliable badged match.
Again, I am not saying this to discourage you from searching for the identity of your frame and finding a bike with what appears to be the same pattern chain ring is helpful but as I said before your bike was obviously originally sold and specifically badged in one way so there is only one correct answer to the question of that was. My analogy is that if you found a Mustang with aftermarket wheels and didn’t know what it was; a picture of a Camaro with the same aftermarket wheels would not provide enough information to accurately restore your car (An arguable exaggeration, but you get the point.)
I have several frames of unknown manufacture from this period and I always keep my eyes open to find information that might pin down who made them and how they were badges. After 20 plus years I am still looking so patience (or windfall good luck as noted earlier) is required. I have one teens racing frame that I purchased in the late 1980’s that had some very unique features but no badge. I considered selling it many times because with no badge the project was essentially a dead end. Last year a teens racing Indian appeared on eBay with exactly the same frame. I am glad I didn’t let my frame go before the Indian came along. The catch is that Indian bought their frames from a third party and while my frame is undeniably identical, the badge holes are not for an Indian badge. So, I still don’t know what I have, I probably never will, and even if another identical frame turns up with a badge that matches the holes in my frame it will not be proof that my frame was badged identically. I don’t believe it is historically ethical to give up and badge a bike incorrectly but I have considered at times producing some ornate badges in the shape of a question mark with “Manufacturer Unknown” engraved on the face and using them for license to rebuild a forlorn, unbadged old frame to taste.
Good luck with your frame and keep chasing the truth.
redline1968
Riding a '38 Autocycle Deluxe
your fork has been repaired. someone welded a nut to it.
K
Kakeeater
Guest
Here are some more pictures, does anybody know what that hub says?
http://neverthemachineforever.com/wheels.JPG
http://neverthemachineforever.com/hub.JPG
http://neverthemachineforever.com/wheels.JPG
http://neverthemachineforever.com/hub.JPG
