Nice catch. Any detail on the hub? Is that a collet stem? Finding a Victor frame in restorable condition is awesome. I was just headed to bed but I will look for you real quick to see if I can date it by that wicked bottom bracket. I have one similar to crank that that was only a one year company. Stempelbremse and all that is a lot of bicycle hang on
Hard to tell until I pick it up, but believe its very late 1890's probably. From what Ive read, Overman had a fire in 1898 and was sold in 1900. This may be one of the last years they made this bike. Believe its an Overman Victory "Flyer".When you say prewar about that one you mean pre WWI and closer to T.O.C or turn of the century. I just remembered I archived my facebook account and i don't want to sign in to look up those photos but this one works View attachment 139614
Good luck with itIts not in my possession yet, so no further details. I believe it is a collet seatpost but not sure about the stem. Brake is definitely mounted wrong but no big deal.
just a heads up, if those are clad pnuematics don't ride it no matter how tempting it is. I tore the stems out of a set of 125 year old tires one night. I felt like a moron later. One more thing that looks like carmine red or "jobber" red. That over spray could also be 100 years old. They called the lower tiers jobbers back then and the only difference was the headbadge
View attachment 139626
Log in and look at that hammer price. They have a "free trial" and yeah it's totally worth for starters man. I dip cyclocross tires in natural rubber so I can ride the old ones. Totally worth it. I actually leased this one to "The Son" on AMC and they rode the ship out of it on set. They legit wore through my coats of "nude?" rubber. Let me explain it this way; the studio payed me $1600 to rent it because they wanted to have a scene in Austin with bicycles in the background then i sold it for a grand with the saddle taped together and two flat fake tires. I am just sayin and this Reading Standard is a 1906 so yeah, the market is there and I deliberately "unrestored" "re antiqued it so it would look like it had been seeing a hard life in Texas on request. All after I rode the heck out of it.Wheels are "steel wrapped wooden wheels" and the seat is "stuffed with horse hair". Tires look much more modern. I believe I can read Kenda on them in one pic. Pedals also look to be newer. As for the paint, its definitely not original. You can see that someone repainted over that head badge and also the headset. Not ideal and certainly lowers its value. I'm hoping in its current condition its worth close to $1000 and if restored could fetch triple or more. Maybe im dreaming though : )
Is that a block chain bike? If so, easier to find 1" pitch may or may not fit. Modern 1/2" definitely won't. Good luck.
Enter your email address to join: