"BOYS Whoopee! You can get this flashy new motorbike without a cent of cost." So read any of the tens of thousands of brightly colored catalogs that the Mead Company mailed to every state in the union, to be devoured by boys across America in the first part of the 20th Century. (There was a catch. The boy who wanted a Mead Motorbike had to deliver magazines door to door. One wonders how many boys actually paid for their new Mead by home delivery). My friend Floyd Smith gave this beautiful 1920s Mead Ranger Motorbike a partial restoration, lavishing on his prize a N.O.S. teacup lamp with Mead lens, ooga horn, and original Aristocrat saddle and tool bag. I added the bell and aeroplane propeller. Floyd's motorbike won Best of Show in the Southwest Missouri "Springtime in the Ozarks" Bicycle Show in 1998.
1920s Mead Ranger Motorbike ©Daniel Dahlquist