A quick follow-up to my posting "A Question of Value". I contacted the seller of the 1950s 60s English bike (which Paul Raley informs me is more likely to have been a 1930s bike) offering to buy it from him. His response was:
<<I am selling the two speed shifter and rear wheel seperate, Yes this would have been a hard project. Also shipping to Canada with something this heavy would have cost more than the bike. I don't know if you have been looking long but nicer ones do come up for sale.>>
I followed up thanking him for his honesty and pointed out that this was likely a 1930s machine. I also noted that bikes of this date aren't as common as he thinks. In the end he could not be swayed and therefore if you see an orphaned rear wheel with an SA 2-speed rear hub on E-Bay you will know where it originated. As to what he is going to do with the rest of the bike, maybe the landfill awaits!
In another message from him, he did inform me that he originally had six bikes which he brought over to N.Amer. from England when he moved this side of the pond 20 years ago. He has one left: "I am holding on to it for a bit longer as it is the sweatest of the bikes I had.(It belonged to the local bobby in Wimborne Dorset in England.) I will keep your email and let you know if I plan to sell. It is a 3 Speed from the early Fifties."
Paul Williams,
Ottawa, ON, Canada