Show your Davis built bicycles

[Flat Tire]

Serial Number Mystery

ejlwheels posted his frame and fork showing a serial # then 9 and 162 and says it has a Pop Bottle badge....
I also have a Dayton with the same fork, pop bottle badge and the numbers 9 and 162
So I was talking to a fellow Ohio Collector about this and he says WOW...he has a Dayton, with the same fork, and pop bottle badge, and the numbers on his are 9 and 162 !!
The only real difference in these 3 bikes is the frame size (by the neck length)
So here ya go....
Three 1919 Dayton bikes
All 3 are stamped 162
All 3 have the same Dayton Truss Forks
All 3 have the Pop Bottle Badge...which is an extra step when making the frame,,, to make the large hole for that Pop Bottle badge....
Hummmmm???...........162......Pop Bottle Badge? Dayton Truss fork???
Now I'm not gonna assume anything.......yet.......but I am very curious now!
and sure would like to find another Dayton with the # 162 !!!!

 

[dave the wave]

more H-D bikes

here ya go.

 

[dave the wave]

and here's more.

 

[dave the wave]

and here's more.

 

[chitown]

Hey Dave,

Those should be posted in the Mead thread. Well, I think we need a new thread for Mead/Davis/Harley.

Every one of those HD's is screaming MEAD built... except the sprocket. Give credit where credit is due. Davis Sewing machine stepped up and made a kick ass sprocket, but I'm saying those frames were built in Chicago.

This one looks like the badge screws would line up perfect for a Mead badge. This curved truss bar was a Mead feature... and a Pierce, and Dayton. It's more indicative of age/period than a tell tale sign of manufacturer.

 

[hoofhearted]

GREAT PICS, DAVE !!! CHRIS (chitown) ... will you please show us some of those Mead frame-
styles that mirror the Davis frames. You may have something here that cries to be revealed.

DAVE ... those pics from the Eady Museum are great !!! ... and you kindly left me one to post ...
another H-D chainring. A note to all of you chainring persuers ... pay careful attention to all the
variations in these original rings that have been laced thru-out this thread. There are reproductions
out there ... the lathe-work may be a bit shallow and the teeth not so stout .. allowing for normal
wear and tear .. of course.

...... patric

 

[chitown]

Patric, I don't know how to tell you this other than straight up, no chaser. Your favorite Davis is a Mead.:eek:

Go back to the dropouts and the forks. George Lewis was designing those forks so as to not need heavy forging equipment. These were die-cut, stamped, pressed (pressed using hot/cold joining like he would later use in making silver kings) This style fork and dropout is used in later 20's Elgins (Sears) those were Westfield made. AFTER Mead liquidated and sold manufacturing equipment to Westfield.

The features you point out as Dayton Only are what I think Davis only did. I like Dayton bikes and think those "Dayton Only" forged fork-crowns are works of art. But I don't believe they were making the style fork I refer to as the Lewis fork.

View attachment 67632

Here's an early Mead with some early fork truss plates. (pic and bike by member bikewhorder)
View attachment 67633

 

[sm2501]

Davis had some patents too, just not ones that were practical:

Here's mine.

 

[chitown]

Beautiful + wild + ultra-rare = one fine Dayton

WOW! That is wild. Here's the fork:

 

[hoofhearted]

CHRIS (chitown) ... Many things are possible .. but not as many things are probable. It is POSSIBLE that
Mead built every ride except the Dayton .. but i don't believe it is PROBABLE. When a person lays their
hands on the actual Davis bicycles .. it is difficult to fathom the probability or certainty that these parts
are Mead spinoffs.

i totally respect your right to believe that Davis bicycles (excluding the Dayton) were built in Chicago by
Mead .. and i will defend your right to say that very thing in this country.

BUT ... others, including myself, believe otherwise. And, that's okay !! The truth that we seek will always
be filtered thru our perceptions ... and conceptions.

ONLY IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS have i accepted that humans actually walked on the Moon. That concept was
forged back in 1969, when this country was very involved in the liberation of Vietnam. My thinking was full of
the kind of thought that produced statements like, "How the heck could we place a person on the Moon ... con-
sidering the cost ... when we are spendin' all kinds of money in 'Nam ?!!"

AND NOW ... i totally believe that our Space Program has placed a rover on the panet, Mars. Perhaps a personal
leap of Faith ... maybe.

ANYHOW... let's look at some illustrations ..........