Well I did my usual garage sale tour this weekend and as usual asked everyone if they had any old bikes. On average I can ask this question 100 times and get only one positive response. Of that, one if five may interest me but got lucky this weekend. Went to this garage sale and saw 2 bikes displayed. One was a Huffy (sorry for the profanity) and the other a Free Spirit (sorry again). I then scanned the rest of the g sale to see if anything interested me. I looked into the dark crowded garage and saw a bike hanging there. I asked if anything in the garage was for sale. I was immediatly told no. I looked harder and could see what appeared to be a BSA chainring. I told them that I was interested in old bikes and just saw the one in the garage. The woman who was running the sale asked me if I knew anything about bikes and I told her yes. She said it was her grandfathers bike and would like to know what I could tell her about it. I asked if I could take it down and give a closer inspection. I took it down and noticed it was very light and a track bike. It has one inch pitch but a lot of things were changed out. There was the BSA chainring and the BSA hubs were laced to the more modern tubular alloy rims. The seat was a piece of plastic junk and the stem was a more modern PIVO. The frame was also painted red with white pinstripe tape to simulate the box design on some bikes along with the owners name. I asked if he raced and she said no but he hung around a lot of racers and one of them gave him that bike. It has some real interesting lugs and the head tube lug in particular has a long widows peak from the top and bottom. The handlebars and integrated headset appear to be original. I gave her an estimate what I felt it would be worth not believing I would have a chance at it. She then told me that she has no use for it and if I would offer that amount she would accept. Well you can guess the rest. Once I got it home I immediately took off that offending plastic seat and threw it away harshly. It also has newer MKS pedals that will have to go. But I have some period parts that I will use to make it presentable. I have taken some photos and will post them soon and ask if anyone knows what model this might be to help me ID the bike. My guess is that it is either a BSA or PoP Brennan bike but not sure and I have no good reference for it either. Once I ID the bike then I will begin the slow process of restoration. I just wish it were my size. One other funny note, the woman told me that something was wrong with the bike. Evidently her Grandfather tried to get her to ride it as a child and she said she almost killed herself. She told me to be careful because it has no brakes and rides funny. I then explained a track bike to her and she was amazed that they made bikes intentionally that way. She also told me her GrandFather was a nut and would ride it everywhere but never really raced it. My photos will be in the as received state.
Ray Homiski
Elizabeth, NJ