Show your Davis built bicycles

[hoofhearted]

CHRIS ... almost forgot ... the Davis, pin-spanner nut has been observed ONLY on the 1918
H-D bicycle ... and it has a different thread pitch and outer diameter than those produced by
other companies, like Fauber, or Mead.

.......patric

 

[sm2501]

Someone mentioned earlier maybe we need a Mead thread, I think we do. Why? Well, how much do we actually know about the Mead company except they were a huge mail order outfit that marketed bicycles very well. But were they a manufacturer? Or were they an assembler? My thoughts they were assemblers. We know through the 30's and beyond they were buying bikes from Schwinn, Columbia and Manton Smith, and used their own color and labled them as Meads.

Isn't it more probable Davis sold Mead frames, forks and other sundries and Mead painted and assembled to make their own bikes. I have always heard that Mead bought manufacturers overstock and assembled them to be Meads. Maybe a old wives tale, but then again maybe not.

Let us learn...Mead experts speak up, I know I need the education.

 

[chitown]

Patric,
Being part Danish has made it easier for me to embrace a good Viking flick now and then. My "liking" of Mead has more to do with my initial research on George Lewis who founded the Monark Silver King co. What I like more than a particular company like Mead or Monark Silver King or Schwinn's for that matter is finding out the history. I think it is easy to jump to the conclusion that Davis made the HD bike. But if it weren't for the sprocket, there is nothing Davis built about them.

If Davis built all these bikes for Sears, why did they (Davis) go out of business? Sears continued to sell bikes. Who got those contracts after Davis? Why would Davis join the American Bicycle Association in 1918 and go against the "Mail Order" side of the bike business? Why would Davis offer 1/2" pitch chains to Sears and yet offer a skip-tooth on their house brand Dayton bikes?

As to your point about the 1918 Mead "Repair Fork" not showing the detail you need to prove it's a Harley fork, please remember that that drawing is no bigger than my thumb. You will also notice that the threads are drawn as straight lines and not oval as it "should" appear. And the point about the top plate having a greater amount of angled portion to the bottom 2 plates, they are the same plates as each others, just flip the middle one and you've got the magic HD fork. My scribbles are not done to exact scale or proportions, only used to visualize how that fork was made.

 

[Flat Tire]

Well they sure do look similar, I wonder if HD had a hand in the design and construction of the HD bike ? Since they had already been building motorcycles for 15 years. Its easy to conclude DSM made the HD bicycles ......according to Harley Davidsons own archives there was a signed contract with DSM to produce, sell and deliver the main components to Milwaukee. I'm sure they must have visited the Davis factory before entering into such a deal, and if DSM contracted with Mead to help fill orders they surely would have had to have approval from HD. And maybe they did, but theres no mention of it anywhere.

But the main reason that I believe the HDs were Davis made is because Davis Sewing Machine had its own Baseball Team, and if you gots yer own ball team, you dont need no help building bikes....

 

[Flat Tire]

Heres a good pic of the HD fork, now check out that front fender hanger, or what ever it is...doesnt look homemade but I've never seen one. I had pics from the side but cant find em....those brackets bend around and go under each side of the fender...

 

[bike]

Wow

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
,,,,

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

WOW! LYNN let you put that in the Living Room?????????????????!@!@$VFKJ_)-90340-00!

 

[hoofhearted]

C'mon, Now !!!

BIKE ... no WOW necessary ... that H-D is not in MY living room ... it's in Flat Tire's living room
or the pic of it is. Who's on First ?

...... patric

 

[okozzy]

++++++++++++????+++++

---------------=================----------------------

Someone mentioned earlier maybe we need a Mead thread, I think we do.

 

[hoofhearted]

EnlargeDayton badges ... Thank you to sm2501 ............ page 8 ... entry line #72

THANK YOU, sm2501, for enlarging those Dayton badges for me ...page 8 of this thread .. entry #72 !!!

.............. patric

More pics .......

 

[hoofhearted]

Last entry submitted itself ... believe it or not.

HOLY CRAP ... that last memo was anxious to get posted .... forgot to mention that
in these recent pics ... that Yale bicycle is a Shelby-Built YALE.