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majestic bicycle
Does anyone have any info on what this possibly might be? Bought it last week with some poor pictures thinking it might be a CCM with one of those odd ball chainrings. Turns out it is a Majestic and also has an odd chainring. I was already there and the price was right so it came home with me. It's been repainted, and it is probably older than I thought. It has some interesting features that may help identify it.
Serial number is 58961 and is located on the rear dropout.
The cups for the headset are integrated into the lugs.
Lugs have interesting design.
Letter "M" on chainring.
Bayliss-Wiley front hub.
Oil port on bottom bracket.
Here are a couple pictures with some of the details. I think the seat, handgrips, and rear wheel/ hub (Shimano) have been changed. But everything else looks original. Could not find a lot of info on these things. If anyone had any that would be great.
Thanks
Erik
Majestic was the house brand of the Majestic Bicycle & Supply Co, Ltd. of Montreal. The company dates back to at least 1933 based on extant catalogues and the Majestic bicycle brand survived until at least 1967. Until now, the handful of survivors that have surfaced used the six number serial format typical of frames manufactured by the Sunshine-Waterloo Company but this one does not appear to be Sunshine.
This one appears to be post WWII based on features such as the mattress saddle (if OEM) and screened head badge and should be no newer than 1960s, as Baylis-Wiley disappeared circa 1969. The overall impression is British. Certainly, the lug style, pump pegs and integrated headset were British features. While it could have been manufactured in Canada using British parts and fittings, the post war period was also one of significant import from British companies. I'm currently leaning towards British, 1950s-1960s.
I just noticed something interesting. The bottom bracket appeared to be installed backwards. What appears to be the fixed cup is installed on the non-drive side. The drive side appears to have the adjustable cup and lockring. English threaded cups cannot be installed on the wrong side due to the two cups having opposite threads, however French and Italian cups can be interchanged because both the fixed and adjustable cups are right hand threads. This would rule out both Canadian and British manufacture and typically would push the era into the late 1960s or ealry 1970s when these countries were being used to source lightweight, derailleur equipped bicycles.
I have this Majestic literature from 1970.
Here's a close up of the model most like your bike.
Thxs, Doug. I've been doing some more digging and found that they were still around in at least 1971. It's interesting that all the bicycles on your sheet appear to be children's bicycles. I don't see any adult, derailleur equipped bicycles which were starting to become very popular at the time. Is there any indication on the letter whether this is their full range or just the children's line? We have seen adult models with standard (28") wheels, so I'm wondering if they were specializing by 1970. TIA.
Just thought, if it is a Baylis-Wiley bottom bracket, it could be put in backwards! That's definitely a possibility, given the Baylis-Wiley hub. So, it could still be of British origin.
The letter indicates this was there full line up of bikes for 1970.
The two in the bottom left are the only defined as adult bikes and are 3 speed S/A driven.
The top of the line high-riser model is the only one with a derailier system. (5 speed)
None of the bikes show cranks with the "M" design like the member's bike.
Are sure that the headsets cups are integral or have they just been painted over, like the bottom bracket cups?
Thanks for the replies everyone. Nice to see the picture of the catalog too. I forgot to mention that the wheels on this one are 26x 1 3/8 if that helps. The matress saddle looks like a replacement. The lady mentioned all the work was done 15-20 years ago. I would imagine the seat was changed then and it has been hanging in the garage ever since. The tires still have the nipples on them.
I tore the headset apart to make sure it just was not painted over. For some reason I could not bring myself to poke and pry at the paint, even if it is not original. I grabbed a shot of it apart (after picking up about a dozen loose ball bearings) and it is prett neat. There is a bearing race that is tapered on the one side to sit in the frame. I guess it would be like a "floating" bearing that would move around if things were not totally straight.
Good eye on the bottom bracket. I probably would of never noticed that until it came time to work on it. With the paint over it it's hard to say if it was re assembled incorrectly, or if it just came like that. One of the many mysteries of these old bikes! I did see a manufacturers mark of some sort on the inside of the crank arms. Both have a letter "N" on them. Other than that I could not see much else.
Erik