What is this bike?

[Thommango]

Hello all,

I'm a complete newbie here. I've considered restoring a bike for a while now, and today, I picked up the bike shown. Unfortunately, I have no idea how old it is or, really, anything else about it. In addition to the photos, here are a few things I can see:

• The frame says "made in england" on one of the stems.
• The seat was made by Leatheries Ltd in Burmingham, Eng and is stamped with #711
• The hub is a "Tornado", as is the coaster break metal thingy.
• The seat tube seems to have the word or letters "KAY" and below that, I think it says Canada.
• The frame was highly decorated with flares at the tube joins and pin stripes along the length. The fenders also have pin stripes.

If there's anyone that can tell me anything about this bike's pedigree, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,

Thom

 

[OldRider]

That looks so much like a ladies loopframe CCM, but then it would say made in Canada, not England. I can say for certain though that those are Philips pedals, if you look on the end caps you will see the name. I also know I have a Canadian made CCM with that exact chainring. Another thing I can tell you is that in around 1934 it became law in Canada that all bicycles sold had to have the lower portion of the rear fender painted white for visibility concerns. Nice bike but sadly not too terribly valuable.

 

[Thommango]

Thanks

Thanks for your insights. I'm not a collector, so value is not important to me. I just want the restoration project. I will give the bike away when I'm done.

I now believe that the bike was assembled by a shop called Kay, or perhaps Southam and Kay, as pictured here in Toronto. (I bought the bike in Toronto, btw.)

I notice that the bike has what seems to be a plastic rear reflector on the rear fender, and I wonder whether that would be original and whether that might suggest something about the age of the bike. Elsewhere, I read that the seat manufacturer (Leatheries Ltd model 711) was only in business until sometime in the mid-thirties. Were there plastic reflectors at that time?

 

[Thommango]

Behold!

Here's the same bike. Powercoated, new bearings, spokes, rubber and a seat from Brooks that looks very similar to the original from Leatheries Inc. I gave it to my daughter for christmas and now she's eagerly waiting for the ice to clear so she can ride it around the univeristy.