An old friend of mine picked up a 1959 Schwinn Tiger three speed at a yard sale for a $25. He decided to share his good fortune and donate the well-preserved beauty to the Iowa City Bike Library. Wherever this thing was kept, the humidity was low and the UV exposure was minimal. In fact, we opened the battery powered headlamp and found a couple of incredibly well preserved Eveready “D” cell batteries. The price (20 cents) is on the battery. There is also a guarantee printed on the battery that says Everready will replace your flashlight if it is damaged by leakage. It gives an address where you should mail your damaged flashlight. A simpler time, for sure.
Speaking of bike lighting, I had the Peugeot Nouveau Style out yesterday and tested the bottle dynamo. I’ve always been a fan of the lighting systems on vintage French bicycles. The French took painstaking measures to conceal unsightly wiring inside frame tubes and along the crimped edges of fenders. This was a tidy aesthetic that never caught on with the British. The Brits were not troubled by dangling wiring. I prefer the clean look. Today, with hub dynamos, LEDs and capacitors, I’m thinking bike manufacturers ought to set up city bikes and commuters with internally wired, fender mounted lighting systems.
Speaking of bike lighting, I had the Peugeot Nouveau Style out yesterday and tested the bottle dynamo. I’ve always been a fan of the lighting systems on vintage French bicycles. The French took painstaking measures to conceal unsightly wiring inside frame tubes and along the crimped edges of fenders. This was a tidy aesthetic that never caught on with the British. The Brits were not troubled by dangling wiring. I prefer the clean look. Today, with hub dynamos, LEDs and capacitors, I’m thinking bike manufacturers ought to set up city bikes and commuters with internally wired, fender mounted lighting systems.
1959 Schwinn Tiger with an Austrian built (Steyr-Daimler-Puch) three speed hub
Eveready batteries from the Tiger
Early 70s Peugeot Nouveau Style 40 with internally wired dynamo lighting system
Gratuitous pic of same Peugeot Nouveau Style with Ironweed bags
RSS Feed
