doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Slightly OT but rather amusing

https://cyclehistory.wordpress.com/2015/...e-19th-century/

This was sent to me on another gun forum after asking for info on Carryer & Co, an old gun supplier from the UK.

several American gun companies also made bicycles or bike parts
Iver Johnson and Fulton Arms (LC Smith) among them
in the 1890's (LeFever's letterhead said maker of hammerless shotguns and high grade bicycle chains

Annie Londonderry was the first woman to ride a bike around the world. As she set off from Boston the newspaper reported, She carried with her only a change of clothes. A pearl-handled pistol and a lot of chutzpa.

and don't think its an unusual accessory still today

I think Drew had a damascus bike but he never rode it for fear the frame was so old it would crack....

Dec. 21, 1895 Sporting Life
http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/SportingLife/1895/VOL_26_NO_13/SL2613013.pdf
Among the interested spectators was Thomas Hunter, manager of the Hunter Arms Company, of Fulton, N. Y., manufacturers of the celebrated L. C. Smith gun. Mr. Hunter was satisfied with the fine array of Smith guns on the grounds, and found that he was in a crowd of Smith gun cranks.
Mr. Hunter was explaining some of the good points of the new Hunter bicycle, which that company are now making, and the words that caught the boys most forcibly were: �Hunter wheels are made like the Smith guns.�

These pinbacks begin appearing about 1896





1897 Sporting Life ad and Remington is mentioned under Trade News
http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/SportingLife/1897/VOL_30_NO_01/SL3001018.pdf

1897 Price List



The frames were crOwn steel jOe



No idea as to the source of the steel. Crown steel was offered on doubles with the first run of Pigeon Guns in 1893, No. A 1 (SN 1130) in 1894, and the No. 3 about 1895.

�Crown�, however, was the brand name of the Crown and Cumberland Steel Co., Allegany County, Maryland which was established in 1872. Related to the Panic of 1893, Crown and Cumberland Steel was sold at a trustee sale in 1894, and then reorganized as Cumberland Steel and Tinplate Co. In 1900, the company became part of Crucible Steel.

BTW: it's as hard to trace the maker of all the tradename bikes as the tradename shotguns
http://www.thewheelmen.org/sections/bicyclebrands/bicycle-brands-companies.php

If it to be believed, the Hunter bike was incredibly light. Good on them. A fully fitted steel framed bike today would have a hard time matching it, and the tubing on a modern (steel) frame is about as thin as a thumbnail. Though some weight may have been saved with the wood rims, it would have certainly been gained back with the large tires and tubes of the day.

A very famous bicycle of about a century ago was the Davis. This bike was built in Dayton OH by the Davis Sewing Machine Co. With a secondary interest in antique sewing machines I have discovered there are many connections between them & firearms companies.

Haha, fair play jOe, that was quick.
No offense to Drew intended but that one made me chuckle.

I've had a few BSA bicycles in the past, I think most big towns had a bicycle maker over here at one time .
Lots of gunmakers did other jobs too.
I was in a local gunmakers premises a couple of years back and a guy came in to pick up a set of door lock springs he'd made for his 1920s Rolls Royce.
He is a Stocker by trade and I believe he also made some lovely domestic furniture.
I suppose it all goes towards paying the bills.

I once owned a Rudge Whitworth bicycle made in England in the late 30's I believe.

It was supposedly owned by an executive of Rochester (NY) Gas and Electric. Originally black with gold trim but painted over.

I never had a bike as a kid but had this one as an adult.