Regarding so-called "Shelby Hiawathas"... There is no such thing as a "Shelby Hiawatha." It is either a Shelby... or a Hiawatha. Can't be both. This is a bicycle collector's myth. Just like there is no such thing as an "Edsel Mercury" automobile.
Hiawatha was its own brand and was not part of the Shelby line. Nor was it part of the Shelby Cycle Company. Nor did Shelby make all Hiawathas. Some, yes for certain years and certain models. All? No way.
Biggest mistake made by people attempting to do DIY history on Hiawathas is to look for Shelby stuff (like old ads) and then expect/assume one to be exactly like the other. Using "if this, therefore that" logic. It just does not work that way.
Also it is a mistake to think that Hiawatha bicycles were sold only by "Gambles Department Stores"... they weren't. They were sold by lots and lots of stores, coast to coast.
Finally Hiawatha bicycles were made by numerous bicycle companies. "Hiawatha" was not Shelby Cycle Company, nor was it any particular bicycle company. Nor was it a model name. "Hiawatha" was a brand name... in itself. SOME– not all– were sold in Gambles stores. Many were not.
Adult analysis of these bicycles and attempts to rationalize their performance and gearing into what makes sense to an adult in 2023 will always prove to be frustrating. These bicycles were not made for touring or adult style riding. They were primarily made for kids. And most kids in the era when these bicycles were made tended to live in cities. And tended NOT to ride in streets or nicely paved roads. A bicycle might have been used for a paper route (as mine was) or to ride to school or the local park (as mine was). Otherwise, these bicycles cruised the sidewalks on the block where one lived. Things were very different back then.
National Bicycle History Archive of America has extensive files on Hiawatha bicycles. My friend, the late Brooks Stevens, designed many of the Hiawathas. And yours truly began collecting Hiawatha bicycle literature in the 1950s. So we know these bicycles.
Leon Dixon
National Bicycle History Archive of America
(NBHAA.com)