Okay, it's not a classic, but it certainly is vintage - was it Steyr-Puch that built the lugged frames with the flat Pletscher brake bridge? Has a hole for the brake center bolt, then two holes higher up to mate to the Pletscher rack - and says Pletscher, for that matter.
I currently have a Sears 5-speed, lugged frame, with such a brake bridge; chrome cap over the fork crown; in general reminds me much of the J.C. Higgins/Steyr bikes. The tie-in for me - my first bike was marked "Brownie," a generic bike-boom 10-speed very similar to a Peugeot A0-8, but with an interesting mix of parts including steel three-piece hubs. The Brownie had an identical brake bridge, and I've only seen it on Sears/Steyr-Puchs and that one long-gone bike.
Did anyone else use that bridge? We may be on the trail of answering a question I've had since 1973 - who really built my first 10-speed?
Curious,
Russ Fitzgerald
Greenwood SC
rfitzger@emeraldis.com