The Cruso brand was created in 1902 by Frank Hibbard for the colossal Chicago hardware firm of the previous turn-of-century, Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co.
Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. sold everything from kerosene lamps to bathtubs to bicycles. There is a good possibility that the early Cruso double-bar bike you see here was made for the Chicago firm by Arnold, Schwinn & Co. The original owner may well have ridden this bike to work Monday through Friday and raced on weekends. Toward this end he chopped the rain gutter fenders and shaved the original Cruso saddle.
Note the Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. water can, mounted, perhaps, in the back of the buckboard as his wife followed her husband on training rides.
To adapt a phrase from the great sixties film, Cool Hand Luke, Hardware Store Bikes can be a real cool hand!
This is another restoration by my friend Charlie Dixon.
Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. sold everything from kerosene lamps to bathtubs to bicycles. There is a good possibility that the early Cruso double-bar bike you see here was made for the Chicago firm by Arnold, Schwinn & Co. The original owner may well have ridden this bike to work Monday through Friday and raced on weekends. Toward this end he chopped the rain gutter fenders and shaved the original Cruso saddle.
Note the Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. water can, mounted, perhaps, in the back of the buckboard as his wife followed her husband on training rides.
To adapt a phrase from the great sixties film, Cool Hand Luke, Hardware Store Bikes can be a real cool hand!
This is another restoration by my friend Charlie Dixon.
1907 Cruso Double Bar Semi-Racer ©Daniel Dahlquist