3 April 2007
Cool Old Bike
Posted by Brad Hefta-Gaub under: Cycle; Fitness; exercise; fixed gear; fixie; single-speed; travel.
Last month when we took our trip to Victoria BC we stopped by the BC Museum of Natural History. They have an exhibit there that is a replica of 19th Century Western Canada/British Columbia. As we strolled through the mock streets looking in shop windows and touring “houses”, “livery stables”, “restaurants”, “theaters” and the like, we happened upon this cool old bike.
Needless to say I had to snap a bunch of photos…
The drive train… becoming the fixie nut that I am I had to take a bunch of pictures of the drive train. The teeth on this looked really big with wide gaps. I didn’t count them, but I estimate there are around 44 teeth but the size of the chain ring is more like the size of a 52T or higher by today’s standards.
The handle bars were awesome! These are definitley the inspiration behind the name “handle bar mustache”… look at how these sweep slowly down to the sides. Cool! Can you imagine riding around town with these?
And finally the seat… When I first saw the label I was like “Cool! A Wright Brothers Bicycle”… Duh, no, this is made by the Wright Bicycle Co. of England. Still… it’s a cool bike.
One Comment so far...
Bill Says:
Ahhh. The old leather seats. Comfortable as hell once you got one broken in, but getting to that point literally was a PITA! 
And no, I’m not old enough to have had one on my bicycle. But I pulled one out of my Grandmother’s shed one summer. Turned out it was my uncle’s old 3-speed. A few days of slathering the seat with Bag Balm and letting it sit in the sun really softened it. The rest of the summer was spent breaking it in.
And riding it down to Greg Lemond’s victory parade after winning his first Tour de France.
