1896 Overman Victor Flyer

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Hey everyone,
Any ballpark value on this bike? Needs a chain and a little bit of work but want to understand what I have here. Seems pretty rare.

thanks!

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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
 
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/11374252_269x-1890-s-victor-bicycle-overman-wheel-company-woothis is a really old auction but i have seen them sell for knock your socks off prices. Do you have a live auctioneers or a worthpoint account you can look up hammer prices on those. Yours has the same seatpost arangement as this on, my 1899 had a collet hang on. Yeah dude nice bicycle. Keep in mind i have seen a, you have to log in to see hammer prices. this i just a good example of yours and yours is actually more complete
 
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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
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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

Its 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.
 
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
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".

I just hope I can fit on this thing. Frame looks really big!
 
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

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 : )
 
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 : )
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.
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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.

Finding a chain is one of the things I worry about. I don’t know much about skip tooth chains. Which to get and how to figure out how many links? heck, I’d need to figure out how to install them. I’m sure the master link is quite different.
 
Hang on I'll grab two chainwheels and some inch pitch to show you the difference. I think I have a block chain here. That one has the pyramid teeth so inch pitch should fit. That red one I posted has the older teeth and a new inch pitch chain. The master link is really simple.

Also the Wheelman have a list of manufacturer dates the company was open on the club page.
 
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