marc garcia wrote:
I know there hasn't been a definate answer as to who exactly made these Sears Ted Williams bicycles but perhaps I can add some evidence. I began tearing down my Teddy special this evening and when I started unwrapping the bars I noticed that bar plugs were badged PUCH. I know this is merely circumstantial but I thought I'd offer it to the group. It appears all of the parts are original, but if so than it is truly a mish mash of parts. The top cable guides are simplex, the bottom cable guide is shimano, the calipers are weinmann but the levers are dia-compe. It would seem possible that with the other mix of parts on it, these combinations are possible. Thanks to Harvey Sachs who sent me a copy of his Williams owners manual I was able to compare my bike which is nearly identical to that one with a slightly different decal scheme.
++++++++++++++++++ I don't go around yanking seat posts out of every bike I see, and correlation is not causation, but there is one really good clue, I think: the trapezoidal punch used to build an airway between the top tube and the seat tube. I have seen this mark, about 1 cm high, narrow end up, on every Sears Ted Williams, Puch, and Austro-Daimler I have checked (about half a dozen) and never on bikes that were not suspected of being part of that Steyr-A-D complex, for which Puch was a slightly lower line.
As far as the mix of parts on Marc's bike is concerned, one of my calipers was Weinmann and the other DiaCompe, they looked identical and original owner said he had not replaced either. Fork ends for and aft on the 531 model were Shimano, and thankfully the threading was English.
but, your mileage may vary.
harvey sachs
mcLean va