Hi All,
As some of you may have seen in the Wanted thread, due to some generous help from a CABE member, I now have a correct crank and chainwheel (and some other parts) in good condition. These have been serviced and fitted to the frame and forks (see below), which are really the only serviceable parts of the original bicycle. The chainwheel is an important step forward, both mechanically and cosmetically as a very noticeable part of the original bike.
Dismantling the bike to change the crank showed how badly corroded the ball bearings and races of the crank had been, although the BB is in very good condition.
It also showed that a long time ago both the original crank and chainwheel had been damaged, but someone had gone to a lot of trouble to blacksmith and rivet part of an arm, find a skiptooth chainwheel (not very common in Europe), and modify it to a DD type, and retap the crank for European size pedals.
US Crank, one arm bent, one broken and spliced.
Detail of the spliced arm repair
Modified Chainwheel. Anyone recognise the original maker?
And so the search moves on to handlebars and seat, and their respective stems as illustrated on, and Photo Credits to - The Online Bicycle Museum (thank you for publishing this, it's been very helpful to me).
http://www.oldbike.eu/museum/world-war-one/1918-ww1-columbia-military-model/
For the handlebars, I have been offered WW2 G519 military bars in green paint by a CABE member, but these are not appropriate since I would prefer reasonably good nickle plating to try to complement the chainwheel. I think the shape of the WW2 bars is very similar to the WW1 bars, perhaps this was a requirement carried over by the army? There appears to have been two types of handlebar stems used, I would like the one with a vertical bolt if possible, such as the one illustrated below.
The saddle illustrated on the Online Bicycle Museum site is correct and exceptional, being marked USA. I doubt there are any more in existence. I am looking for a similar long spring saddle in rideable condition, and the 7 stem that goes with it.
There is also the perennial question as to what is the right colour for a military vehicle (Motorbikes, jeeps, tanks, you name it. On military sites it can lead to very heated discussions!). Below is a comparison of original paint found on my bike, illustrating the problem. The vertical tube is the best preserved part of the paint on the exposed frame, and is very mustard. The upper tube is the steer tube from the top of the forks of the same bicycle. This is hidden inside the head tube of the bike and sees no light exposure (The interior of the BB was a similar colour, but difficult to photograph). It can be seen this is a lot darker green, yet painted at the same time as the frame. There is, of course, no guarantee that there has not been a colour change over the last 100 years even so. For comparison, the lower tube is a pair of unissued 1943 handlebars showing WW2 colour. The WW1 steer tube green is surprisingly close to this.
Colour Comparison
Best Regards,
Adrian