At 2:29 PM +0000 2/5/09, alex m wrote:
>So I assumed the AS was the same. Are other identical bikes known of that w
>ould prove bikes of this type were actaully sold by Singer?
>
>Jan knows Czuka and has inside information, so I'm sure he knows best what
>was really going on in the shop at the time.
I don't know about this particular bike, but there have been bikes that were made elsewhere and labeled Alex Singer from time to time. So it is conceivable that this bike was sold as is at the Singer shop. It also is conceivable that it is a repaint for a customer, which then was labeled Alex Singer. However, I have seen repaints labeled Singer only on bikes that were considered worthy. Usually, these were made by other high-end constructeurs, like Herse, Maury, etc.
However, there are many exceptions and mysteries. I once saw a nice little mixte labeled A. Singer. It had two lug styles - one clearly a 1940s one, the other a typical Singer lug of more recent vintage (at the top tube/seat tube junction). We finally figured out that Singer had modified the bike from a men's frame to a mixte for a favorite customer's wife, so the Singer lug was an addition... It was a job well done, and the result was a beautiful bike. When prompted, Ernest Csuka remembered the story, but could not recall who made the frame originally.
Do you accept that bike as a Singer? Or is it a bike by the original constructeur? It doesn't matter, does it? It's a nice bike with an interesting history.
As to the "budget" Singers bought in from outside, to those interested in craftsmanship and performance, they may be "Singers" or not, but they certainly don't hold a candle to the best bikes made in the shop at rue Victor Hugo.
Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
140 Lakeside Ave #C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com