Bicycles
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Bicycles
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Antique Mead Mens Pathfinder BicycleThis is an all original 1921 mead pathfinder from a barn ni central connecticut. It retains most of tis factory paint and pinstriping.
It is fully ridable and as of last may the single tube tires held air when the bike was ridden in a local memorial day parade and they still do today. My intention was to complete a full restoration on the bike and at that time to convert it to ranger model. To that end i searched for over two years for the mead ranger signiture tall tank shown seperately in the picture which has a few minor dings and some surface rust but with minimum effort can be restored to as new condition. The picture also shows additional items that go with the sale a pair of very good painted metal clad rims ( the ones on the bike in the pictures are fairly rusty, and while they are servicable and ridable, the painted rims are more suitable the 1st class restoration i had intended). Also included are a freshly nickel plated set of ranger handle bars, a ranger signiture package carrier ( i forgot to include it in the picture but it is deffinitely included), a nos ranger headbadge, a set of three ranger water slide decals for both sides of the tank and for the down tube, as well as a 1921 mead pamphlet. The headlamp is a rare model with an amber upper lens shield and will be fully functional with the addition of a battery can or, even better, wired directly to a battery installed in the tank. The troxel saddle is not the original however it is an exact duplicate of the deteriorated troxel that was no the bike when i purchased it and it is in excellent condition with all its stitching in tact and no rips or missing leather material around the edges.
Additionally there are a number of original type-written pages from the mead company on their letterhead along with 3 self address envelopes (to send payments to mead for the time payments they would expect from teenagers who signed up for their newspaper delivery boy program). A bit of a scam but i'm sure it sold more thana few bikes for them. Most mead advertisements from this era centered around their bicycles being central to a teenagers first business venture and the method by which they could afford such a wonderful bicycle.
This is a really nice bike and is absolutely complete. Everything is there to transition the bike into a ranger model the only real differences between the two models beside the badge and decals are the tank and the carrier but with these added the bike takes on an entirely different look and value. During the 2000 trexeltown show an exhibitor had on display ( but not for sale) a perfectly and beautifully restored version of this exact bike done in brown and cream with wonderful striping and gleaming nickel. I immediately fell in love with it and knew i had to have one of my own. It took over six years and over $1,100.00 to acquire all the components i'd need to to put one together. If parted out separately, the saddle ( $125.00), the tank ($250.00), the freshly nickel plated handlebars ($135.00) the package carrier ( $85.00 ), the head lamp ( $65.00), the extra rims ($75.00) the nos headbadge $20.00, the decals ( $15.00), and the pamphlets and historic papers ($20.00) and of course the fully ridable bike itself which i paid $385.00 for, you'll understand that my low starting price and reserve are way below the value of the package. Now that it's all there i find myslef with virtually no time to devote to the restoration. I hpoe that whomever wins the auction realizes what he's (or she's) got and takes the time and effort to turn back the clock on this beautiful machine. Properly done this would easily be a $4,000.00 bike. |
