Vintage Bicycle Item Quiz

This particular board needs this thread in my Opinion. There are some old timers here
and it would be nice to have them post photos of old stuff if they would and pose the
question What is this ?

I'll go first with this expample. I've thought about these some in the past as I've scavenged
for old bicycle parts and accessories. Haven't came acorss one though and this is the first
photo I've even seen of one.

So, how many here know what it is. (I know) Check out the photo below.

LOL, no not a generator but does kinda look like one.

What about this item on the handlebar next to the headlight ?

(and I'm not sure whether I know or not)

Right about the Siren

They began to disappear in the late 1950's as municipalities outlawed them. They were
legal to sell in some localities but not install and use. An Uncle of mine showed me the one
he still had and we turned the bike upside down and turned the pedals as hard as we could
while he held the drive to the tire. Wow, was it loud.

The second, and I'm not positive, is a wind driven speedometer where the impeller drives
the needle which points to the numbers in 5 mph increments. The one shown is about a 1928
model. I once saw one made of plastic which worked similar.

Anyone else got any old stuff to post that may be out of the usual ?

Here's another with the name blocked out. Anyone know what it is ?

How about this ? They may be quite difficult to find today.

Would you know what this is if you ran onto one at a swap meet. They were common
at one time.

Yep, those are chain tensioners. More common on a lot of motorcycles of the sixties and
seventies. I've only seen a few bike frames which were designed to use them. I've also seen
the frames which had an adjuster screw which screwed down at a 45 degree angle against the
axle to position it back in order to align the rear wheel and adjust the slack out of the chain.

That dynamo is a Sturmey Archer circa 1928 I believe. It cranked out 8 volts. Earlier SA
Head lights sit to one side with a drive which rubbed the tire and the shaft turned the generator
in the back of the head lamp. Those were late teens and early 1920's.

It's fun looking for this stuff and then figuring how it could be replicated to use for vintage
eye candy. Cause even if I found it I doubt I could afford it. LOL

I have a question for some of those who may know about vintage seats. They are showing a
commercial on TV now where this girl looks at her bicycle and tells it she'll be riding it again after
neglecting it. Ya know the one ??? The seat looks like it has three coil springs under it. One in the front and two in the back. Anyone know what it is ?

Tom, that's quite a logical conjecture and it would make an interesting speedo, but
Oscylly wins the CIGAR on this one.

It is actually a "Grade-ometer" or as we would today call it an inclinometer. It's from
the mid to late 1920's when multi speed rear hubs were beginning to be affordable
for the public. Strumey-Archer had offered 3,4, and as many as 8 speed hubs in those
days. I believe their gears were contained within the hub.

The Grade-ometer" allowed a less experienced rider to have better command of his
gear hub while learning to use it to compensate for the road grade he or she was traveling.

Below is an old 3 speed Strumey-Archer from 1902. And a later 1913 advertisement "On The
Level" explaining the merits of owning a bicycle so equiped for dealing with grades on a ride.
It was common for boys and men to have to walk thier bicycles over a hill in those times.

Strumey-Archer provided different gears in that time so a bicycle could be "set up" by the local
bicycle shop to custom fit the bicycle to the rider and the countryside around him. Thus this
enabled an owner to enjoy faster travel, greater efficiency with his or her effort, and a more
productive work life as motors for bicycles were still beyond the reach of the masses when so many
didn't have public transportation or automobiles and had to rely on a bicycle. Remember in this
time America was just entering it's Industrial Revolution.

We are now in what is called the Third Industrial Revolution with the information age.
Ironically many of us are enjoying motorized Vintage Replication bicycles to ride to work
during this third revolution !

In another thread here at MB some of us were talking about the saddle that's on the
bike in the HayFever commercial presently showing on TV. Where the young woman
talks to her bicycle promising to ride it again soon......

Well, here it is below. Who makes it and what's it called ? (I found a source for them)