At 4:46 PM -0400 8/23/03, Bryon Wright wrote:
>I've heard of Columbia building bicycles before but one day my dad
>came home with a beat up Columbia roadbike that is sort of a
>lightish green, I can't a serial number anywhere but I'm trying to
>figure out how old it is based on it's parts. It had Huret Allvit
>derailleurs, it appears to have pressed stays, a large headtube in
>relation to the top and downtube, a 1 piece crankset, a chrome fork
>that well, has reflective decals on it and it looks like the fork
>crown is separeted into three parts with the fork legs welded in. I
>know this is very little information to go by but I'm trying to
>figure out if this bicycle can be worth something.
>
> -Bryon Wright
> Antioch, CA
No, this is from the junk era of Columbia. This was the bike for kids who couldn't affrord a Schwinn Varsity.
Older Columbias, the older the better, were often quite good for what they are, but by the 1960s they were only a tiny notch better than Huffy. They never made anything with derailer gears that was any good.
Columbia (Pope) was the first industrial-scale U.S. bike manufacturer, going back to the 1870s, if memory serves. Back in the old days they made some very fine bikes.
Sheldon "Don't Bother" Brown
Newtonville, Massachusetts
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