Vintage Bicycle Styles

Series Summary

Riding a bicycle is a great recreational sport, provides a fun work out, and is a viable form of transportation in many areas where urban traffic is difficult and annoying. Bikes have become increasingly popular throughout the world because they are relatively inexpensive, easy to use, and have very little impact on the global environment. For many young children, a bicycle represents that first taste of freedom, and is the primary manner in which a child will experience the world, until they are old enough to drive. Many people continue to ride their bikes into adulthood though, for the enjoyment of it and for the exercise, but whatever your reasons, biking is a great activity alone or with friends. Bicycles were introduced in the nineteenth century, and since then, they number more than a billion worldwide. As technology has progressed, the bicycle has seen many changes. Recently, though, there are many individuals that want to get back to the classics. Vintage bicycles are increasing in popularity among all age groups. Whether one is looking for a balloon tire bicycle, a 1950s bicycle, or a sting-ray bicycle, these simple machines never go out of style. However, searching for a vintage bicycle can be tricky to identify. In this free video series, learn how to identify a vintage bicycle. Our expert, , has been collecting vintage bicycles since 1960. He gives tips for identifying a vintage bicycle through serial numbers, hubs, tires, frames, and more! So, before buying a vintage bicycle, take the time to make sure it's the real deal!

Video Transcript

"We're going to talk about general styles of vintage bicycles. If you come across one of these bicycles, you might be able to get a fair idea of what style it is and that would help you have an idea of the age of the bike. This is a balloon tire bike. It's a male frame. It's got a big tank, big fenders, big wide tires, big chain guard. Everything is big and heavy. Again this is a balloon style. Down here, this is what's called a middle weight. It still has a tank, but the tank is more narrow. The tires and the fenders aren't as fat. The seat's trimmed down. It's got a space age - more of a space age look to it. You'll know you have a middle weight when you have something like that. The next is the muscle bike or stingray style bike. It's got the smaller wheels. You can see these wheels are 20 inch and these are 26. The wheels are smaller. It has the classic banana seat and the monkey handlebars. This bike over here is an English bike. These are the most common bikes you're going to find at a flea market, yard sale, whatever. You can see it's got the diamond shaped frame. It does have fenders, they're more narrow than the others. It will have a thumb shifter up here indicating it's a three speed and it can be shifted while stopped. And this is the English style."