1955 to 1965 Bicycle Styles

Video Transcript

"These are middle weight bicycles. Generally middle weights were made from around say 1955 to 1965 in general. Different manufacturers did all these bikes a little before and a little after these dates, but generally speaking, that's the era. They have a thinner front tire than the balloon tire bikes. The round dimension on this is 1.75 versus 2.125 inches on a balloon tire bike. The fender is narrower. The whole headlight arrangement has changed. They still have an elaborate headlight system, but now they've integrated it up here with the tank. This would have some clear glass lenses and they are very difficult to find. I don't know of anyone who is making those. The tank is slimmer. There's a switch here for the headlights to come on in the tank and the batteries would be stored in here. Here's another middle weight bike. This one is more of a stripped down version, and actually it's not that old. The first bike that I just showed you was probably from '61 or '62 and this one is probably from - this might even be from 1970. And this has got to do with looking at bikes and determining if they truly are vintage. This one was made after the era of the middle weight bicycles and at the time it was probably very inexpensive and very undesirable. Now as time has gone on, this thing from the 70s is becoming vintage. And certainly it looks different than the bikes that you'd find today if you went into a bike shop."