Friend of mine took a picture of this while in Montreal last month. Looks very interesting, anyone know anything about it. It's the only picture he took.
It is a shaft drive bicycle, though they were generally called "chainless" bicycles. Colonel Pope saw them as a possible solution to to the bicycle recession of the very late 1890s and went about acquiring the patent rights. Unfortunately, the elimination the 'troublesome chain" did not bring back the masses. While they ran cleaner, they were less efficient, heavier and more costly than standard chain drive. Most surviving samples tend to be from circa 1898 - 1902, as this was their heyday.
It's tempting to say it is a Columbia which was manufactured by Pope but Pope sold rights to many companies. Given that it is in Canada, there are at least a couple of domestic possibilties. When Massey-Harris diverisfied into bicycle manufacture they set up their factory along Pope principles and purchased Canadian rights to Pope controlled patents. The Fenelon Falls museum also has a Goold Red Bird #1, which was a chainless model.
The curious thing about this model is the steel rims. Typically, I would expect wood rims on a Canadian or American brand of this apparent era. Of course they could be be an export model, as we often see steel rims on CCM product of the era destined for other Commonwealth markets. Alternately, they could also have been rebuilt or the bicycle could be from some other country of orign, like Britain..
Going back this far is really stretching my limits. This is more in Wayne's area and hopefully he will be along shortly to shed some more light and further enlighten both of us.
Submitted by Wayne.Gillies on Tue, 11/03/2015 - 16:01.
Tom is right about it being a Columbia; it's missing the rear gear cover, the crank cover, and ??. The hub has been re-laced to this set of non standard rims as the spokes appear to be L type spokes, not the "ball end" spokes that were used on the Columbia (Jacobs) hubs that were standard on chainless bicycles.
See mine here: http://s917.photobucket.com/user/dobie45/library/1898%20COLUMBIA%20CHAINLESS%20MOD%2051%20LADIES
Columbia chainless bikes were built from the mid 1890s to 1918 or thereabouts. There is a 1917 Columbia chainless catalogue in the Wheelmen library.
Although first patented in Britian, the British chainless bikes did not enjoy the popularity that was seen in North America and France. Col Pope did acquire exclusive patent rights to the British design and bought out Mr Stillman, who manufactured the first chainless bicycles in America beginning in 1891. As Tom said, quite a number of companies produced chainless bicycles.
The most popular drive system was the shaft inside the stay, some were above the stay; most had bevel gears at either end of the shaft, unfortunately the gears could not always be accurately aligned, which led to the demise of the early chainless bikes. Some also used a combination of "spin rollers" and bevel gears. There has been a resurgence of chainless bicycles in recent years, certainly due to the technological advances and materiels available to produce accurate meshing of gears
A couple of interesting facts WRT chainless bicycles..
1. The Hill Climber company sold a 3 speed in which shifting was implemented by 3 sets of bevel gears .
2. The absolute greatest bicycle rider of all time, Major Taylor, set World records on a Columbia shaft drive in the late 1800s (He also won many international races on Canadian built Massey-Harris bicycles) If you are not aware of Major Taylor, the first Black super athlete, take time to google him: a man, who at the pinnacle of his career won a race in Paris with a first place purse of US $5000 (in excess of $140,000 + at 2015 USD). He was a celebrated and wealthy man for a period of time. but died died penniless in early 30s. His International success, in part came about because of racial predjudice and the "Jim Crow" laws of the Southern US which prevented him from racing in the Southern States..so he took his show on the road internationally. He is only recently being acknowledged for his feats. There are many books written about him & there was also a TV series in Australia. Oft spoken about, but not yet produced is a Movie about him..
Here you will find more info on Chainless bicycles and numerous examples of North American and European versions. just click on the make in the header,
Submitted by Dave Brown on Tue, 11/03/2015 - 17:24.
I also think it might be a columbia1898. But the rear hub has me thinking something is not right. The coaster brake looks from what I can see to be maybe british. I have had some columbia chainless bikes and this hub does note look familiar.
Submitted by Ron Miller on Tue, 11/03/2015 - 19:42.
Wayne That is an excelent summation of the subject. Dave I think you are correct. I think this is the British version of the Columbia Chainless.
They did not use wood rims and certainly not those awful US type rims. Their rear rims ar nearly always 40 hole. Can any one count those spokes. I just tried and got 39 so I think it is probably 40. The valve looks like a British Woods valve.
It looks like they just married the Columbia bevel gear to a British coaster hub. Looks like an Eadie.
Submitted by simonkarl on Tue, 11/03/2015 - 20:54.
It's mind boggleing to think that you guys can tell exactly what it is from a half ass picture. I feel like I'm at a kindergarten level and you guys are university masters graduates when it comes too bikes.
I know what you mean simonkarl.There are folks on here who have been involved with bikes,as a hobby or as a business, for many, many years. Their knowledge is absolutely incredible. My only fear is that it will be lost.
Here is the picture.
It is a shaft drive bicycle, though they were generally called "chainless" bicycles. Colonel Pope saw them as a possible solution to to the bicycle recession of the very late 1890s and went about acquiring the patent rights. Unfortunately, the elimination the 'troublesome chain" did not bring back the masses. While they ran cleaner, they were less efficient, heavier and more costly than standard chain drive. Most surviving samples tend to be from circa 1898 - 1902, as this was their heyday.
It's tempting to say it is a Columbia which was manufactured by Pope but Pope sold rights to many companies. Given that it is in Canada, there are at least a couple of domestic possibilties. When Massey-Harris diverisfied into bicycle manufacture they set up their factory along Pope principles and purchased Canadian rights to Pope controlled patents. The Fenelon Falls museum also has a Goold Red Bird #1, which was a chainless model.
The curious thing about this model is the steel rims. Typically, I would expect wood rims on a Canadian or American brand of this apparent era. Of course they could be be an export model, as we often see steel rims on CCM product of the era destined for other Commonwealth markets. Alternately, they could also have been rebuilt or the bicycle could be from some other country of orign, like Britain..
Going back this far is really stretching my limits. This is more in Wayne's area and hopefully he will be along shortly to shed some more light and further enlighten both of us.
Wow that's amazing, I love learning about this stuff:)
Tom is right about it being a Columbia; it's missing the rear gear cover, the crank cover, and ??. The hub has been re-laced to this set of non standard rims as the spokes appear to be L type spokes, not the "ball end" spokes that were used on the Columbia (Jacobs) hubs that were standard on chainless bicycles.
See mine here: http://s917.photobucket.com/user/dobie45/library/1898%20COLUMBIA%20CHAINLESS%20MOD%2051%20LADIES
Columbia chainless bikes were built from the mid 1890s to 1918 or thereabouts. There is a 1917 Columbia chainless catalogue in the Wheelmen library.
Although first patented in Britian, the British chainless bikes did not enjoy the popularity that was seen in North America and France. Col Pope did acquire exclusive patent rights to the British design and bought out Mr Stillman, who manufactured the first chainless bicycles in America beginning in 1891. As Tom said, quite a number of companies produced chainless bicycles.
The most popular drive system was the shaft inside the stay, some were above the stay; most had bevel gears at either end of the shaft, unfortunately the gears could not always be accurately aligned, which led to the demise of the early chainless bikes. Some also used a combination of "spin rollers" and bevel gears. There has been a resurgence of chainless bicycles in recent years, certainly due to the technological advances and materiels available to produce accurate meshing of gears
1. The Hill Climber company sold a 3 speed in which shifting was implemented by 3 sets of bevel gears .
2. The absolute greatest bicycle rider of all time, Major Taylor, set World records on a Columbia shaft drive in the late 1800s (He also won many international races on Canadian built Massey-Harris bicycles) If you are not aware of Major Taylor, the first Black super athlete, take time to google him: a man, who at the pinnacle of his career won a race in Paris with a first place purse of US $5000 (in excess of $140,000 + at 2015 USD). He was a celebrated and wealthy man for a period of time. but died died penniless in early 30s. His International success, in part came about because of racial predjudice and the "Jim Crow" laws of the Southern US which prevented him from racing in the Southern States..so he took his show on the road internationally. He is only recently being acknowledged for his feats. There are many books written about him & there was also a TV series in Australia. Oft spoken about, but not yet produced is a Movie about him..
Here you will find more info on Chainless bicycles and numerous examples of North American and European versions. just click on the make in the header,
http://www.oldbike.eu/chainless/?page_id=96
Dave, have I missed anything?
I also think it might be a columbia1898. But the rear hub has me thinking something is not right. The coaster brake looks from what I can see to be maybe british. I have had some columbia chainless bikes and this hub does note look familiar.
Wayne That is an excelent summation of the subject. Dave I think you are correct. I think this is the British version of the Columbia Chainless.
They did not use wood rims and certainly not those awful US type rims. Their rear rims ar nearly always 40 hole. Can any one count those spokes. I just tried and got 39 so I think it is probably 40. The valve looks like a British Woods valve.
It looks like they just married the Columbia bevel gear to a British coaster hub. Looks like an Eadie.
Also the remaining pedal is not a Columbia pedal.
Ron
It's mind boggleing to think that you guys can tell exactly what it is from a half ass picture. I feel like I'm at a kindergarten level and you guys are university masters graduates when it comes too bikes.
I know what you mean simonkarl.There are folks on here who have been involved with bikes,as a hobby or as a business, for many, many years. Their knowledge is absolutely incredible. My only fear is that it will be lost.
John
Maybe a bicycle bible should me written/ made.