Western Flyer Made in England

[Oilit]

There was a hub maker named "Resilion" that was part of the British Cycle Company (Corporation?). There's a picture of one in this thread, and you can see the name stamping was very light. Does yours look like this one? (Post #15)

Build date for this Hawthorne Hercules | General Discussion About Old Bicycles

I can't find any information on Hawthorne Serial numbers. Can someone, please, point me in the right direction?

thecabe.com

 

[TimD]

Yes it does, exactly. Thank you

 

[TimD]

Nice red under all the grime was covered in a light film of oil. Original owner said it was in his basement for 40 years. Thinking oil furnace.

 

[Oilit]

Nice red under all the grime was covered in a light film of oil. Original owner said it was in his basement for 40 years. Thinking oil furnace.

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I've seen a lot of red bikes from the '50's where the paint has faded, but that one really pops! Keeping them in the basement must be the ticket!

 

[AndyA]

Nice! If an American middleweight bike and an English lightweight bike had a baby....

 

[Oilit]

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the President marque shown in the link by @Oilit above is one belonging to the Bert Scheuer company of New York

they launched in 1931 and had cycles contract manufactured in Britain, Germany, Holland & Japan

another badge they owned is that of Executive

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Raynal -

launched in 1914 as a manufacturer of motorcycles

merged in 1937 with Dunford & Elliot (DUNELT)

Raynal Manufacturing Co. located at 125 Pritchett Street, Birmingham & 41-43 Fleet Street, Birmingham

purchased in 1947 by an entity termed British Plaster Board

cessation of production recorded in 1950

perhaps name revived by DUNELT to produce the bicycles discussed

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Edit:

found a statement that BCC had relit the Raynal lamp about 1955-1956

the prominent "fin" on the chainguard places the cycle in that era when automobiles were styled with "fins"

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I remembered that @sam had posted a list of the companies that made up the B.C.C. and it confirms that you are correct, Raynal is listed with the rest. I knew I had seen it, but it took a while to find it! (Post #3)

Pair of 1955 Royal Crowns | Vintage Lightweight Bicycles

I picked these up a while back and I finally got some decent pictures. The story was that two brothers bought these new at the local Firestone tire store. They're certainly English, and they look more like a Hercules (Birmingham) than a Raleigh (Nottingham), but I don't know enough to be certain...

thecabe.com

 

[Oilit]

Here's another of these bikes, this one branded "President", so Bert Scheuer Co. must have imported several Raynal models. This one's missing most of the original sheet metal but I'm guessing parts for other BCC bikes will work to get it a rider. The hub date on this one is Jan. 1962 which is later than I expected, the BCC introduced a whole group of "American" styled frames in the late '50's and some of them continued in production after the merger with Raleigh (and show up with Raleigh style construction details), but everything on this one points to a bike built before the merger.

 

[TimD]

Great information.

 

[juvela]

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there is that distinctive shell again with the gusset connecting the sockets for the seat tube and for the down tube

note how chainstay sockets appear parallel rather than vee pattern

this pattern chosen when wishbone chainstays are to be employed

frame really lines right up with that of subject cycle

one thing forgot to ask about on these is blade shape

from what can be seen in photos they appear they may be d-section; be that correct or are they oval?

wonderful job by @Oilit


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[Oilit]

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View attachment 2001736

there is that distinctive shell again with the gusset connecting the sockets for the seat tube and for the down tube

note how chainstay sockets appear parallel rather than vee pattern

this pattern chosen when wishbone chainstays are to be employed

frame really lines right up with that of subject cycle

one thing forgot to ask about on these is blade shape

from what can be seen in photos they appear they may be d-section; be that correct or are they oval?

wonderful job by @Oilit


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Here's a couple more shots, you can see the fork blades are D shaped, flat on the inside and rounded outside. There's also one showing the "wishbone" chainstays, but there's nothing cast on the bottom bracket except maybe part of a number.