The red darts off the headset make me think Iver Johnson, but that pattern was used by lots of other companies, and the headset area doesn't look right for one of those. Pics of the seat lug area and the rear dropouts might help, It's pretty interesting how many different ways of doing those joints there are, and some of them are distinctive.
It looks like there's enough rust that a repaint should be done, and most of the parts for a bike like that aren't impossible to find. I'd save all the original stuff, even once I found replacements. You'll need at least a section of the rims to match up something close.
If it's not a large builder, it could be a long time figuring out who made it. One of mine from about 10 years earlier (And I thought it was 1937) took about a few years to decide whether to do a full restoration, or just to rebuild with close to correct parts. And the builder isn't really known, it's been narrowed down to a very likely builder, but not definite. As it wasn't marked, that's about as well as it can be figured out unless some new information gets found.
I've found that most of my projects are ongoing, even once they're "finished". Sometimes a more appropriate or nicer part comes along after I've installed one I thought was good enough. I take a long time researching and figuring out what to do, and then sometimes a bit longer looking for parts. The actual fixing is pretty quick. Enjoy the process or as some would call it the "journey" I find that I appreciate the bikes I spend more time on a bit better than the ones that come together quickly.
Steve Birmingham Lowell, Massachusetts USA
Message: 12 Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 09:37:47 -0500 From: David Leef <DLeef@itu-at.com> Subject: [CR] Frame Identification? To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Newby post. I have been given a wooden wheel track bike, in only partly awful shape. The wheels are toast, broken and severely warped. Only one tiny, mostly indecipherable mark on one of them. But I love a challenge, so I'm considering a restoration on it. The crank is a Williams, 1936 from the "H" date code, 1" skip link. The frame has a serial number that starts with 37 (followed by 51062), so I believe it is a 1937 frame. The hubs and BB have oil cups and are in nice shape - grunge protected. The rest of the bike is rusty, but seems structurally sound. I can see no other identification on the frame. All the drive parts are stamped Brampton and look original. I find no head badge holes. I believe it has been repainted, but what paint detail is visible is in the two photos, BB and headtube. High resolution - 56K users beware! There is a casting mark near the serial number on the BB. They are 2 small rectangles, like and equals sign (=) which run in the direction of the chain stays.
Is identification possible from this? If I can determine the manufacturer and how the frame should be painted in restoration, then I would probably proceed. Wooden wheels (even if 700s) would be a nice finishing touch, but that is way down the line.
http://www.itu-at.com/
http://www.itu-at.com/
David Leef
Delafield, WI USA