Looking back over thirty-five years of collecting bicycles, sometimes one realizes that the journey to find the bicycle and bring it home is as memorable as the bike itself. My hours-long trip from Waterloo, Iowa, where I was teaching at a community college, to Savanna, Illinois, where the Sterling bicycle had surfaced in an antique shop a quarter century ago, is important to me for all sorts of reasons. It was a thrill, of course, to find a rare Sterling shaft-drive in such beautiful original condition, but the trip itself became significant in its own right. I was glad to have a teaching job, of course, but Waterloo, Iowa--despite being the birthplace of poet Mona Van Duyn and having a wonderful bike trail connecting it to Cedar Falls--was not ideally suited for this liberal arts professor.
I drove to Savanna, Illinois to pick up the Sterling, and on the way back I crossed the Galena River. I had heard of Galena, the home of Ulysses S. Grant, for many years, so when I came to the foot of the bridge I decided to turn right and take a look at the town famous throughout the midwest for its Victorian architecture. Needless to say, the town of Galena took my breath away. I remember thinking to myself, "Other people get to live in this town; why can't I?"
I won't bore you with any more of my personal history, but a few years later I had a new teaching job, married the girl of my dreams, and moved to Galena, Illinois, where I have happily spent the last twenty-three years. The Sterling shaft-drive bicycle brings all of this back with a single glance.
My Sterling was made in Kenosha, Wisconsin around the turn of the previous century, precisely when the Sterling Cycle Company (whose motto was "Built Like a Watch") was sold to the American Bicycle Company, a consortium of 42 bicycle manufacturers designed to stabilize falling bicycle prices. By 1900 The American Bicycle Company had declared bankruptcy.
Racing legend John Howard asks if my Sterling employs the spiral bevel gear made by Sager (identification will require further homework on my part). John says "Harry Sager put a lot of money into the development of this drive and sponsored Major Taylor who set 4 or 5 world pacing records on his drive." Despite Taylor's success on the shaft-drive bicycle, the design was short-lived; the spiral bevel gear proved to be too heavy, and the changing of the rear tire too cumbersome.
I love everything about this bike, from the olive green color, the gold ornamentation, the original saddle, and the toe clips made by my friend Charlie Dixon. (Charlie also restored the cork grips. When it comes to vintage bicycles, Charlie's talent knows no bounds).
I drove to Savanna, Illinois to pick up the Sterling, and on the way back I crossed the Galena River. I had heard of Galena, the home of Ulysses S. Grant, for many years, so when I came to the foot of the bridge I decided to turn right and take a look at the town famous throughout the midwest for its Victorian architecture. Needless to say, the town of Galena took my breath away. I remember thinking to myself, "Other people get to live in this town; why can't I?"
I won't bore you with any more of my personal history, but a few years later I had a new teaching job, married the girl of my dreams, and moved to Galena, Illinois, where I have happily spent the last twenty-three years. The Sterling shaft-drive bicycle brings all of this back with a single glance.
My Sterling was made in Kenosha, Wisconsin around the turn of the previous century, precisely when the Sterling Cycle Company (whose motto was "Built Like a Watch") was sold to the American Bicycle Company, a consortium of 42 bicycle manufacturers designed to stabilize falling bicycle prices. By 1900 The American Bicycle Company had declared bankruptcy.
Racing legend John Howard asks if my Sterling employs the spiral bevel gear made by Sager (identification will require further homework on my part). John says "Harry Sager put a lot of money into the development of this drive and sponsored Major Taylor who set 4 or 5 world pacing records on his drive." Despite Taylor's success on the shaft-drive bicycle, the design was short-lived; the spiral bevel gear proved to be too heavy, and the changing of the rear tire too cumbersome.
I love everything about this bike, from the olive green color, the gold ornamentation, the original saddle, and the toe clips made by my friend Charlie Dixon. (Charlie also restored the cork grips. When it comes to vintage bicycles, Charlie's talent knows no bounds).
1899 Sterling Shaft-Drive ©Daniel Dahlquist