Panjiayuan Antique Bicycle Meeting

The Panjiayuan "Dirt" Market is a famous Beijing weekend market where people gather to buy and sell all manner of antiques or "antiques". Whatever you need, they've got it. Qing dynasty alter table? Yep. Reproduction Republic-era porcelain? There's about an acre of it over there. Hilarious cultural revolution collectible figurines? Got that! 2 ton granite Buddah?? Do you want standing, seated or reclining? No matter. They have it all.

However, just outside the Panjiayuan gate are some antiques that are NOT for sale. Antique bicycles. Bicycling is surely a bit past it's prime in China, but a popular story told in the bad old days gives you an idea how important bicycles were and continue to be. The story claims a farmer once traded 10,000 KG of rice, a whole year's harvest, to get a bicycle earlier than was promised. That's a lot of rice for a reservation.

So Chinese bikes were precious. But if you already had a bike before the bamboo curtain fell in 1949, well, you were rich beyond all dreams of avarice! Just don't let the Red Guards find out! Needless to say these antique machines are still highly treasured.

You can see this every Sunday morning between 7 and 9. This is when the antique bike nuts gather outside of Panjiayuan to swap stories and parts. Most men and bikes are well over 60 years old. Of course there are a few parts for sale too, and that is why I am there. It has long been my aspiration to find drum brakes and possibly a 3 speed gear hub for my Flying Pigeon. Most of the old Raleighs at the meet have a 3 speed hub and the Pigeon is not very different.

And then….the Holy Grail! Going through a bag of parts I find a 3 speed gearhub with a drum brake! This is perfect! Almost. It isn’t really working, but I figure I might be able to swap the innards of my “Mystery Hub” with readily available Sturmey Archer parts. After all, Sturmey made lots of 3 speed hubs. And this one looks similar to a Sturmey AB model.

If you want to see more pics of the meet, they are located in the picture gallery on the left.

BTW: I am not kidding about the Buddah.

Comments

[ubrayj02]

I've been wondering what the name of the variety of rod pull brakes on Flying Pigeons is.

Would you happen to know?

I know there are Raleigh type brakes, Phillips type, and Balloon type rod pull brakes.

The Flying Pigeon appears to have some sort of side-mounted system, and I can't find anything online that names that variety.

I'd like to know the name so I can find a replacement set!

[JS]

Although I am not an expert on British bikes, I would say the FP brakes are more similar to the Philips set up, as Raleigh is a center pull, and a bit more complex.

If you are interested in Philips or Raleigh sets they can be had here.

http://www.cyclesofyesteryear.com/cycleshop/sparepart.htm

If you are looking for a genuine FP set, any of the distributors should be able to help. Spare parts are no problem. Check the links in the left column.