Werlich Bicycles - Models and Serial Numbers

Look at that beauty. Nice find!!! Love the chainring. The condition is great, nice patina too. I bet you are located in Ontario.

nice bike, have fun riding it.

Here's another Werlich picked up recently by Ron in Winchester. Does anyone know how many years Werlich produced bicycles? I heard it wasn't for very long. The chain guard was added and the handle bars replaced on this one.

John

Werlich His and Hers: I spent 90 minutes typing a post and then accidentally deleted it (insert scream). I will post the photos and retype it tomorrow.

The Werlichs in the above photos came out of a shed behind a general store in rural Quebec, north of Wakefield. The owner must have used a thin oil when lubricating bearings because there was oil/grease all over the place. I removed it using paint thinner and a toothbrush, which I washed off quickly before it could harm the paint. The chrome on the hubs and mens chainwheel are like new. The faded red paint gives them the appearance of being painted with primer, which is unfortunate, but after installing new tubes they ride very well.

Everything was original on these bikes. The inner tubes on the mens were original and the front had been patched on 6 seperate occasions! It's always an education to see how people in those days pinched pennies to keep an old machine running. I also like finding barn finds like this because you can see them as they came from the factory. It presents the age old dilema about restoration though. To fullfill their function as rideable machines they need replacement parts, like seats and rust-free handlebars, but as soon as you do that, they are no longer 100% original Werlichs (Does anyone have old Lycette saddles lying around?) They desperately need new paint (unless you love the ratrod look) but then of course you'd lose the pinstriping, which is pretty cool on these bikes (see photo).

This is an old thread from 2012 but I posted this here because the mens bike is exactly the same as the image in the 1956 catalogue above. I wonder if they are from an earlier year though, as the catalogue states chrome rims for '56. Maybe the reused an old image to save printing costs. The Ladies bike is blue in the catalogue. The serial numbers are mens: 9B5819, and ladies: 9D4072. I read in another thread on this sight that from information from the City of Cambridge Archives, Werlich introduced adult bikes in 1949. Does anyone here know anything about Werlich serial numbers? If the letters are the key, then maybe B is from 1950 and D is from 1952? Or, maybe since they both start with a 9, they are both from 1949? Does anyone know the last year Werlich made adult bikes? I read somewhere that a fire at the factory put an end to production but have been unable to verify that or find the year.

They're not in the best shape, but they're fun. My wife and I enjoyed a ride through the park last night.

The tube from the mens front tire:

Brian R,

Ironically I have managed over the years to pick up a similar pair (at different times though).

Curious to see how much knowledge is out there relative to Werlich bicycles.

The original post is from me when I acquired the men's bicycle.

Later I was able to get a hold of a similar lady's bicycle.

Not sure how far you are from Amhertburg (close to Windsor),  this weekend (Sunday,  August 28) my wife and I will be hosting the 4th annual Southern Ontario Vintage Bicycle Open House as seen on the main page of vintageccm.com

Thanks for the post.

Mark M

that would be Amherstburg

Hi Mark. Thanks for your original post, especially that catalogue. Are the chrome rims on your mens bike original? It would be interesting to compare serial numbers - could you post the numbers from both your bikes (half way down seat tube)? Did you get any information on the age of your bikes when you bought them?

I wish I could make to your open house this weekend, but sadly it's difficult to make it out your way. I will try to make it next year though!

Brian, sorry took me a while, recovering from my bike show, haha.

Lady's bicycle  9E1870, men's 9B5717.

Not sure of the years, wish I knew. The chrome rims on the men's bike are not original. I suspect they were originally painted like the lady's bicycle. 

Hope to see you next year at the Open House.

Mark M

Thanks Mark. That's interesting. To recap, here are the four serial numbers:

Men's: 9B5717 and 9B5819.  The Ladies': 9D4072 and 9E1870

Is it a coincidence that each starts with a 9? I wonder if it could mean the 9 is for 1949 and each time they made 9,999 bikes they went to the next letter in the alphabet. This theory means they had to make over 40,000 bikes in one year, which seems high. It's not that important, but for me the detective work is part of the fun of this hobby.

If anyone reading this down the road has a Werlich, please post the serial number.

Two more Werlich serial numbers:

With white head tube: 9E0802
With green head tube: 9D0926

It is curious that they all start with 9. It looks like the letter is not a model code so is likely a year code. So why would they all start with 9?

Possible year codes??:

A = 1949
B = 1950
C = 1951
D = 1952
E = 1953

Just like Sunshine Waterloo, once they had their production started they didn't make any design changes. The 1956 catalogue at the top shows the same bikes with painted rims.

From a Werlich 1953 catalogue.

The Werlich assembly and manufacturing plants, Preston, Ontario.

Thanks for the posts Mark. I'm always on the lookout for Werlich bikes. I wonder if a blue one will ever turn up like the one in the '56 catalogue.

Werlich Bicycles

Brian Reynolds and I are trying to further investigate the history of  Werlich bicycles.

We have gathered info on a few, charting details such as serial number, model, etc.

We believe production started in 1949. 

If you have a Werlich bicycle and you wish, please provide serial number, model, colour and photos (would be great). You can also email me at:  mark.mcguire64@gmail.com .

Hopefully the more info and data we gather the more we will learn about these Preston, Ontario Canadian built bicycles.

Any information is appreciated.

Mark

Brian and I are making some progress.

With the charting of bicycle serial numbers from actual bicycles and sales ledgers from a bicycle shop in Windsor, we have accumulated serial numbers in the series of:

9Axxxx, 9Bxxxx, 9Cxxxx, 9Dxxxx, 9Exxxx, 9Fxxxx, 9Hxxxx, 9Jxxxx

We are making the following assumptions and speculations:

1) that the first year of production was 1950

2) that they (Werlich) may have not used 'I' or 'G' in their serial number system

(similar to CCM because of the similarity to 1 and 6)

We are also looking for Werlich catalogues with bicycle info in it. We have access to catalogue #36 (1952), #37(1953), #40(1956) all of which have bicycles.

#46 (1962) as we suspect has no bicycles in it.

Therefore we are in search of Werlich catalogues to help with our research, specifically catalogues #41(1957), #42(1958), #43(1959), #44(1960).

If you have any of these please contact me:

mark.mcguire64@gmail.com

Thanks,

Mark

I want to explain why Mark and I believe that 1950 is the first production year of full-size Werlich bikes and therefore match up with the "A" code serial numbers. There are three sources of infomation (so far) that point to the first year of bike production at Werlich:

A short history of the company was published for the 1949 Preston Homecoming, which states "...in 1949 high grade bicycles were introduced" (see vintageccm thread "Werlich history".) Then, on June 6, 1950, an ad appeared in the Toronto Star showing a teenage newspaper boy with his new Werlich bike as a contest prize. The Report on The Bicycle Manufacturing Industry for 1951, by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, lists Werlich as a bicycle manufacturer, whereas the same report for 1950 makes no mention of Werlich.

Although none of these sources are definitive - we feel that the image of a Werlich men's Model 800 in the Toronto Star Newspaper in early June, 1950 is strong evidence that 1950 was the first year of production. It's likely that 1949 was the year that the bike's design and the plant equipment were prepared, and if production was underway in the fall of 1949 they would be considered 1950 models. If "A" code bikes were for 1949, then likely the statiscal report on the industry for 1950 would have listed Werlich as a manufacturer when it does not. Finally, I'm willing to bet that the contest to give away 21 or more Werlich bike(s) to newspaper boys in the spring of 1950 was a publicity campaign coinciding with the introduction of Werlich brand bikes in that year.

I did a search in the Toronto Library's digital archives of Toronto Star and Globe and Mail papers, and unfortunately there is nothing more to find there about Werlich bicycles.

I will try to attach the 1950 ad again here.

-Brian R.