Hi!
From a German ebay-auction I have bought a very old uni with a very interesting seat construction. Take a look at the photo. The tire is a 26" X 1 1/2. There is the number 1609 cut into the fork (surely not the year of manufacturing…). Can anybody out there give an estimation about the age of this uni?
And yes, it is still ridable, quite funny because of the seat. Now I´m wondering who has ridden this one before and when.
Unifrank
fascinating!
by the way this seems to answer a question:
on a uni does the seat and the seatpost
have to be on the same axis?
apparently the answer is no! (I like that idea!)
bear
i wonder if thats a Leper saddle?
Could be, it looks sort of like a Brooks, but not quite.
Mojoe
Re: antique uni
I would say that they are on the same axis as much as any other unicycle.
I think they are just trying to make a bicycle seat function like a unicycle
seat. Since a bike seat is similar to half of a unicycle seat, it makes
sense to have the front of the bike seat right above the seat post.
Alex
“wobbling bear” <wobbling.bear.pwaid@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in
message news:wobbling.bear.pwaid@timelimit.unicyclist.com…
>
> fascinating!
> by the way this seems to answer a question:
> on a uni does the seat and the seatpost
> have to be on the same axis?
>
> apparently the answer is no! (I like that idea!)
>
> bear
>
>
> –
> wobbling bear - GranPa goes-a-wobblin’
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> wobbling bear’s Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3716
> View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/26450
>
Re: antique uni
What a find!
As to the age, maybe there is some lettering on the tyre that provides
a clue? I mean like a manufacturer who can identify the tyre type and
when it was made? Of course it is possible that it is not the original
tyre.
BTW excellent photos!
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say may end up in someone’s sig line and used against you.
Re: antique uni
On Tue, 01 Jul 2003 21:30:27 GMT,
klaasbil_remove_the_spamkiller_@xs4all.nl (Klaas Bil) wrote:
>What a find!
:))
>As to the age, maybe there is some lettering on the tyre that provides
>a clue? I mean like a manufacturer who can identify the tyre type and
>when it was made? Of course it is possible that it is not the original
>tyre.
The tyre is worn and the rubber is so hard that it peels off the tyre
(white spots on the photo). Especially where the lettering is located
due to having been stored with flat tyre for years or decades…
It wasn´t readable but I will take a look if I can get some fragments.
Does anybody have photos or webpages of other very old unis?
unifrank
Re: Re: antique uni
Hi Klaas!
After 10 minutes of trying to read the letter fragments it could be something like “PETERS UNION EXTRA PRIMA” the EXTRA PRIMA is quite sure as the 26 X 1 1/2 but the “PETERS” also could be something like “Pliers” as only the lower parts of the letters have survived.
Any tyre experts out there?
unifrank
Hmmm. I have a 1959 uni which shares many of those features.
I notice steel cottered cranks These were still popular in cheap bicycles until the late 1970s/early 1980s.
I notice traditional rubber block pedals with chrome domes at the ends. I think these were popular from before the second world war until the 1970s, and they’re still available from a certain type of bike shop.
It looks like the rim doesn;t have a braking surface suitable for calliper brakes. If so, does it have a biconcaver rim shaped to work with stirrup brakes? These died out in the 1960s (approx.).
The seat is a fairly traditional design, and similar ones are still available.
The spokes look similar to modern ones. The wheel is imperial sized. The frame looks well made, except that the way that the bearings are attached looks weird.
Now, what sort of person would have ridden a unicycle in the ‘olden days’? Assuming it wasn’t made for a stage or circus performer, then it was made as a leisure item. It would have been a massive investment for a working man before WW2; I doubt that the upper classes would have got involved in unicycling before WW2, as they were still into obvious status (big cars etc.) and snobbery rather than ‘inverted snobbery’. So prewar looks unlikely.
After WW2, people’s social and financial horizons were rather different. Lots of young men had been out and about in the world, seen things, learned things, and got some new ideas. I know my 1959 one was owned by a soldier, and that there was quite a fashion for unicycling on some army bases around that time (as recounted to me by the chap who sold it to me).
My GUESS is that it’s post war, and allowing for a bit of time for people to adjust, and for materials to become available, probably 1950s. This could be completely wrong, but it makes sense. There is nothing obvious (from the pictures) to make it earlier, and the components look generally pre-1960s.
Interesting device.
Cool old unicycle!
Some people commented on axis of seat vs. frame. I’m afraid all of that is irrelevant. When you sit on the unicycle, your body is going to be more or less above the wheel, regardless of frame angle. Handling will be relatively unaffected, unless the frame is real heavy. But the design of the seat & post looks like it may help put the rider in a more comfortable position considering the seat type. In other words, the seat will be angled upward a little.
On identifying the cycle, beware of using changeable parts as a reference. Though the seat looks pretty original, tires and pedals could be replacements. The hub/axle may have been handmade, but you can start there, seeing if there are any identifying marks. Rim is a clue to age, though the cycle may have been built from old parts laying around.
I have a German Langenberg unicycle from the early 80s. It came with a shiny new “Ideale” leather racing bike saddle. Ouch. I sold the saddle to someone who wanted a proper leather bike saddle, making my Langenberg something less than original now.
Mikefeule’s theories about origins sound pretty good. But allowing for the “junk parts” nature of the cycle’s possible origin, it could easily be prewar as well.
The attachment of the frame to the bearing holders is funny in that it’s similar to my junky old Troxel. But in the case of your cycle, the two parts cannot rotate around the single bolt, so the design is sound, at least enough for “typical” riding.
Re: antique uni
On Wed, 2 Jul 2003 11:49:16 -0500, UniFrank
<UniFrank.py7yb@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>After 10 minutes of trying to read the letter fragments it could be
>something like “PETERS UNION EXTRA PRIMA” the EXTRA PRIMA is quite sure
>as the 26 X 1 1/2 but the “PETERS” also could be something like “Pliers”
>as only the lower parts of the letters have survived.
Union is (or was?) a Dutch bicycle manufacturer. They may have been
into tyres too, or else the tyre was made for Union with their brand
name on it.
And “Pliers”, isn’t that a word used in some language(s) to indicate
layers of a tyre? Like in 3 pliers meaning 3 layers of rubber with
reinforcing threads in different directions? Is it possible that there
is/was a number in front of that word?
If so, I’d try to find Union if I were you.
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say may end up in someone’s sig line and be used against you.
Re: antique uni
In article <3f03484a.2155462@newszilla.xs4all.nl>,
Klaas Bil <klaasbil_remove_the_spamkiller_@xs4all.nl> wrote:
)On Wed, 2 Jul 2003 11:49:16 -0500, UniFrank
)<UniFrank.py7yb@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
)
)>After 10 minutes of trying to read the letter fragments it could be
)>something like “PETERS UNION EXTRA PRIMA” the EXTRA PRIMA is quite sure
)>as the 26 X 1 1/2 but the “PETERS” also could be something like “Pliers”
)>as only the lower parts of the letters have survived.
)
)Union is (or was?) a Dutch bicycle manufacturer. They may have been
)into tyres too, or else the tyre was made for Union with their brand
)name on it.
)
)And “Pliers”, isn’t that a word used in some language(s) to indicate
)layers of a tyre? Like in 3 pliers meaning 3 layers of rubber with
)reinforcing threads in different directions? Is it possible that there
)is/was a number in front of that word?
In English it would be “Plies”, not “Pliers”.
-Tom
Re: antique uni
On Wed, 02 Jul 2003 23:49:59 GMT, doosh@inl.org (Tom Holub) wrote:
>In English it would be “Plies”, not “Pliers”.
> -Tom
It is definitely a 6 letter word ending with “RS”. I have tried to
make a photo of the tyre lettering but on the photo you can´t see
anything.
BTW: thanks for your interesting postings!
Frank
Have you tried doing a “rubbing” of the tire? I don’t know the technical term, but it’s where you lay a piece of paper over the tire and rub a crayon back and forth over top to bring out the pattern underneath.
