The fork blades were only welded to the bottom plate so the forks could tear lose from the upper plate and cause a complete failure. Notice the complete lack of welding through this area. Likewise, this museum section is meant to be interesting and entertaining, and we would never let the facts get in the way of a good story.What you'll notice is the two fork blades enter into the three crown plates from below, and the steer tube enters into these plates from above. Plenty of brand new bikes roll out the doors of modern bike shops sporting saddles or bottle cages that were new during the Clinton administration. To the serious bike collectors out there: We don’t care if the saddle on our 1972 Colnago isn’t “period correct.” Enjoy looking at the collection or don’t. In other words, if you’re really concerned about manufacturing dates and serial numbers, good for you. In 50 years it would be really nice if folks just went out for a bike ride and didn’t bicker over the exact vintage of their classic bike. It could be exactly the same as a 2019 model, and may not get sold until 2024. A bike built today could be labeled a 2022 or 2023 model. While we like to be accurate in our descriptions, we don’t really care if a particular bike was made in 1952 or if it was 1953. This website is not intended to be a research archive. We display them in this space to share their beauty and showcase the skill and creativity that went into making them. The bikes featured in this museum section are privately owned by Paul Johnson and Jeff Groman, as well as other employees and friends of Classic Cycle. Jeanne Omelenchuk won 16 national speed skating titles, five cycling national champion titles (the first women to win the national championship in two major sports), and competed on three Olympic teams. Together with coach Mike Walden and the Wolverine Sports Club in Detroit, the “Michigan Mafia” took home countless national victories in cycling (and speed skating). The Omelenchuks had quite an influence on athletics in the midwest. From handlebar stems to hubs to pedals, the Omelenchuk shop made their own equipment, and they made it well. The spokes, having been soldered at the rim, are adjusted with little turnbuckles halfway down their length. Built with a specially extruded rod rim, with a tubeless tire casing glued directly to the aluminum. Up front we have a custom front hub and fork, built as wide as the rear end of the bike, a design that must have been quite a bit more rigid laterally when ridden on banked velodromes. Looks like the rider is headed for the beach, not snow… Now I have to admit that neither of these bikes were even close to being the first fat bikes.Ĭheck out this photo that Jeff unearthed from the 1940’s. Surly and some QBP employees must have come to the same conclusion too, as Surly was pretty blatant in copying many of Erik’s design elements for the first Surly Pugsley. That Peacock Groove bike was a hoot to ride around through the Minneapolis autumn leaves, and I understood what a game changer a bike like that would be for a cyclist who had to endure a midwest winter. I had the chance to ride the first snow bike that Erik ever made. It felt slow to me, but on top of hard-packed snow it just cruised.Įrik Noren, the gifted artisan behind Peacock Groove custom bicycles once worked at QBP (the bicycle wholesaler behind Surly bikes) in Minneapolis. My friend Mike Madden raced the Iditabike a number of times, and he had a Fat Chance mountain bike fitted with double rims (two regular mountain bike rims, welded together so that a 26 x 2” tire would spread out and provide a bigger footprint in the snow). I thought that I had seen, and maybe even ridden, two of the very first bikes designed for riding on snow (that are now referred to as “Fat Bikes”. I also have a couple of friends that used to do the Alaskan Iditarod bike event back in the early 1990’s. I’m a Minnesotan and have competed in winter bike races.
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