The Flying Pigeon Project

Guest Roadster: Steyr Waffenrad

Mein sehr guter Freund, Mario forwarded me some pictures of his Austrian Steyr "Damenfahrrad"  with which he rides around Munich.

 
"I like it because it is such an unusual machine these days, and of course, being Austrian, it makes a statement about me, as I am Austrian too. I estimate it is probably from the 1950s"

Steyr, or  more precisely, the Steyr-Daimler-Puch conglomerate was the predecessor of a multitude of now divested "Steyr" companies including Mannlicher Steyr, the weapons manufacturer. Steyr started as a weapons maker, first producing guns in 1864 and then bikes 30 years later in 1894. In history, there are many weapons manufacturers (BSA, FN, Husquvarna, etc) who have crossed over into bicycle, motorcycle and even car manufacture. The common technologies are drawing tubes and boring barrels both engine piston barrels and cannon barrels!..and of course precision.

That precision is on display here with fine lugs and pinstriping, which make a statement about the bike's high quality. Quality that they built into every bike coming out of the Graz factory. That's right. Graz. The same Styrian town that produced Arnold Schwarzeneggar.

You can see here this bike is a bit unusual with only one downward brake rod. That's for the front brake and is typical among Germanic bikes of the 1950's and earlier.

Solar Power Part 2

A few weeks ago I recounted encountering a very old, but very expensive American "Solar" brand carbide headlamp.

It would seem that it has found a new home on an old British roadster. Not sure what the final price was, but if I had to guess, I would say probably several times the value of the bike.

American light, British bike, Chinese owner. Welcome to the new world of old bike ownership.

 

Insanity: The Gazelle in the Attic

There are more antique things in Beijing than just old bicycles. One of those things is furniture. In fact Beijing is one of the major bases for the antique (and not so antique) furniture trade in China. One day while exploring the attic of a warehouse specializing in Shanghai Art Deco furniture, something metallic caught my eye. BICYCLE!

 

Singapore Flyer

In this case the Singapore Flyer in question is not the famous landmark and Ferris Wheel, but rather a bicycle.

Ah Chow (Thomas Chow) of Singapore collects bikes. But what would any bike collection be with out a Roadster?  This is no problem for Thomas who rides an excellent 1950's, bright red and black Raleigh Sports, AKA "The Singapore Flyer".

"I source most of my bikes at old bike shops in Malaysia or Indonesia which is where I found this bike" says Thomas. 

Guest Roadster: Phillips

Yes, there are British bikes in China. Some of them are old and used and some of them are nicely restored. I would have to say that this particular Phillips has been OVER restored...but nicely so.

First off, Let's check out the details. We can see that it has what seems to be a Bosch headlamp with a pass through in the lamp mounting for the brake rods. It could also be Lucas. I think it is mounted upside down, but I'm not going to ding the owner for that. Bosch stuff is hard to come by in China.