1890's Canadian Frame Maybe?

Submitted by oldy57 on Sat, 02/08/2014 - 12:08

I found this 1890's frame at a 2 day auction last fall. I was there on Saturday and bought some stuff but couldn't be there Sunday. The frame was up on Sunday so a friend bought it for me. I picked it up on Wed this week. I have no clue as to what it is. The frame has unique dropouts, 2 3/4 aparts as does the fork ends have same measurements. The frame also has a nut on top rear stay for what, maybe to tighten the seat post as it does not have a tightening bolt. The bars are octogonal shape and same as the stem, both are 1 piece from what I can tell. No bolt to tighten it. Crank is also unknown. Both crank and fork are not seized, fork is missing bearings.The frame has some dents and lots of rust, pinholes also.

It was found in western Manitoba at a private museum auction that had a lot of turn of the century stuff that was mostly rough. Could this be a Canadian bike frame.

Here is a link to pictures.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/105975074@N02/sets/72157640613798213/

3 Comments

Submitted by william rudolph on Sun, 02/09/2014 - 19:59.

nut on top of rear stay can be adjusted after loosing nut on bottom of crank housing to increase or decrease head angle . bike by the style of chain ring may  be american made  try the cabe or wheelmen sites hope this helps     william rudolph

Submitted by Dave Brown on Sun, 02/09/2014 - 21:16.

The rear chain ajusters show up in a 1901 T.W. Boyd & Sons  Montreal  Catalogue I have. Called Milwaukee Eccentric Rear Fork end and chain adjuster. That is not the make of bike just parts. Williams is correct in what he says about the rear stay nut. At least in my book.

Submitted by oldy57 on Sun, 02/09/2014 - 21:58.

Thanks guys for the info. I also have some info on The Cabe site. The chain adjusters could be Rathbun Eccentric also from Milwaukee. The crank is pattented in 1898 by Charles S Dikeman. The bars look like Schinneer bars but the pic from the catalogue shows a round stem where as the bike I have has 8 sided tube where the bars go through. This frame is rough and maybe so bad it could be a wall hanger. Lots of rust through the seat tube. The chainring also has a few bad areas. The bike may be an Eagle as the headbadge holes match the Eagle badge. The frame doesn't look like anything they show, they used this chainring and rear fork ends on a race bike.