1953 JFS John Finley-Scott WOODSIE 1st mountain bike Tribute! museum / show ride

Description: A super unique piece of mountain bike history. This is a 1953 John Finley-Scott 'Woodsie' tribute for museum, show or ride. This Woodsie is considered as the birth and concept of the 'modern mountain bike'. There's much on the net about the late Prof John Finley-Scott and his contributions to the cycling scene in the USA. Inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. Also a former owner of Cupertino bike shop. He was instrumental and a backer for the 'Mountain Bike' company of Charlie Kelly and Gary Fisher. See the movie 'Klunkers' or outtakes on you tube as he discussed the 1st Woodsie. Later collaborated with Tom Ritchey and was pushing for 650b sized wheels. During his early college and the year 1953, he wanted a capable off road bicycle and built the Woodsie from a 1951 Schwinn World diamond shaped frame. Alumni decal on the frame seat tube. Fitted with the largest balloon type rugged black wall tires on Schwinn S2 rims. Rims are chrome in excellent condition. Replaced spokes and nipples. Front hub is a very early tall flange Schwinn racing type, possibly for an early Paramount. A faithful build to the original, with extensive research, the photos on the net of it originally 1953 and then a recreation photo of it here in 2022 Triumph motorcycle handlebar with embellishments, vintage Flexgrip type A grips, exact period Brooks saddle, 1930's era Resilion cantilever brakes up front and a 3 speed Sturmey Archer wide ratio rear hub with integrated coaster brake. The rear hub has a rare Cyclo 3 speed cog block with even more rare 1920's era Le Simplex chain tensioner. This isn't the most ideal setup but follows Finley-Scott build. This bike has a 3 x 3 x 1 gear setup! He mentioned using a 4 speed SA hub but were notorious for breaking under stress, so the reason this particular bike has the more robust 3 speed hub. I've climbed some fairly steep pitch aggressive hills without issue! The hub is fully serviced and shifts crispy. One interesting difference in using this geared hub plus the added external cogs is how you shift. The internal hub can be shifted while stopped or while coasting. For the Cyclo cog with tensioner, its most primitive by changing when stopped only. No racing back then or any rush to change gears, so while stopped, one has to manually lift the tensioner to reset chain per choice of cog. That's it! Brakes are primitive and definitely not for bonzai downhill. The Resilion cantilevers are complete with original cables and lever. The front pads are raw stick provided from Kool Stop 'salmon' and fitted to the original holders. Because of the shape of these S2 rims, they do work but with a slight delay and then they bite hard. Rear coaster brake works excellent however they weren't engineered for a tensioner that affects back pedal motion. Finley-Scott likely hadn't figured that back when. The direction of roller chain torque pulls the tensioner tight but then leaves slack at the top of the chain stay, but it works. The geometry is really interesting and angles near exact matching a mid 1980's Ritchey Ascent I have. Bike rides plush and yet not that slow in steering transition, might be due the wider bars. Ashtabula crank with 9/16 -20tpi adapted pedals. (one pedal cap is missing). All serviced and re-packed. Lots of patina. Includes a rare 50's era 32 oz. water bottle mounted to the frame down tube. One of the faves from my collection! https://ratrodbikes.com/forum/threads/john-finley-scott.10563/ Note: Seller rightfully may sell locally and end this listing early. Welcome to inquiry. Specifications in inches: 30 1/2 stand over height 20 1/4 seat tube (to top of tube) 22 1/2 top tube (ctr. to ctr.) 18 1/2 chain stay 5 1/2 head tube 28 inch width handlebar 43 1/2 wheelbase Tires 26 x 2.125 (57-559) Total weight 39.5 lbs. ----------- Being this is a vintage and used item, do not expect it to be factory or dealer new. I've described item to the best of my ability, please review the pictures and I welcome your inquiry prior to bid or purchase. Prefer buyer to pick up however if you wish to have shipped, I will drop it off at my local bike shop and they will pack and ship at buyers expense. Ship Bikes is the preferred me

Price: 1350 USD

Location: Fox Lake, Illinois

End Time: 2024-03-17T23:12:59.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD