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US 1917 Westfield Columbia "Military Model" Bicycle


Le Prof

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Hi All,

In the latest 'Windscreen' magazine (Issue 161, Page 30, 'Culling the Heard' by Tim Gosling and John Teasdale), they mention that by the signing of the Armistice in Nov 1918, the US Army had, amongst many other vehicles, 26,407 Army pattern bicycles in France. I am currently restoring one of the very few survivors, a 1917 Columbia "Military Model".

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Doughboy with US Army Bicycle

The US Army for the Great War had specified a particular design for their bicycles, the most notable feature in comparison to European bikes being the parallel twin bars on the top of the frame. This feature was not unique to military bikes, but is a useful place to start when identifying them. These standardised bikes were built by three different makers, Westfield, Great Western and Davis. The numbers made are given below. In common with many US military contracts, not all of the bikes ordered were completed, since the contracts were cancelled with the end of the war.

 

Make                                        Ordered Nov 1st 1918  Completed Nov 1st 1918  Completed Dec 31st 1918  Shipped Overseas

Westfield                                                    36,002                                     19,164                                         22,502                             N/K

Great Western                                          15,750                                           -                                                 3,750                             N/K

Davis Sewing Machine                      15,750                                       1,992                                            3,252                            N/K

Totals                                                           67,502                                      21,156                                          29,504                       26,407

Order and Production figures, US Army Bicycles in the Great War

Some of the unused parts were built up into bikes postwar for civilian sale. Including these civilian frames (since it is hard to know if some frames are civilian or Army Surplus) about 15 of these bikes are currently known from all three makers, the Westfield being the most common with maybe 10.

I bought mine in France about six months ago (I also have a 1943 US Army Westfield Columbia recently completed). In the photo below it looks quite complete, but it is a mix of 1917 US Army, and 1904ish French bicycle parts, most of which are non functional.

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1917 Westfield Columbia 'Military Model' as found

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Columbia "Military Model" headbadge

The main original parts are the frame (with badge, luckily, since that is about the rarest part), forks, crank (broken) rear wheel (broken).

Some parts will be easier to find than others. The main obvious missing part to this model is the chainwheel, which is of a particular pattern, and is very noticeable. I was lucky to find a good example, with matching replacement crank with the help of a member of a bicycle forum. Now that I have that major step forward completed, I have laid out the parts to see what is now missing:

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Parts Layout

Saddle, saddle stem, handlebars, handlebar stem, pump, hub brake, chain. The wheels are for sinle tube tyres, which are avaialable as reproductions, but are expensive and usable for only short distances. Since I intend to use the bike, I will probably fit cosmetically similar new 28 inch wheels with standard tubes and tyres, but I have already obtained original 1909 pattern wheel hubs and brakes to be laced to the new rims so that the bike behaves as close to original as possible.

The jury is still out on whether to paint it. It currently exhibits 100 years of patina or surface rust depending on your point of view. The current trend is to keep paintwork original, so I will start like that, with option of changing later. It doesn't feel very 'military' with rust..ahem..patina.

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Colour Comparison

There is also the perennial question as to what is the right colour. Above is a comparison. The vertical tube is the best preserved part of the paint on the exposed frame, and is very mustard. The upper tube is the steer tube from the top of the forks of the same bicycle. This is hidden inside the head tube of the bike and sees no light exposure. It can be seen this is a lot darker green, yet painted at the same time as the frame. For comparison, the lower tube is a pair of unissued 1943 handlebars showing WW2 colour.

I hope this was of some interest, I will add more as it happens.

Best Regards,

Adrian

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Columbia Military Model 01.jpg

Columbia Military Model 03.JPG

Photo A219 A.jpg

Photo a173.jpg

Edited by Le Prof
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Hello Adrian

GREAT find in my opinion LEAVE the bike as is . It is only original once and ww 2 paint is way off.

For correct ww 1 paint you would need to have it custom blended. Once again a terrific survivor that would be best refurbished and not "restored"

bob

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Steve, Tim and Bob,

Thanks for your replies and encouragement. (-:

Bikes in the US Army of the Great War were viewed differently to those of the Second World War. In 1917, we were just coming to the end of the great development period of the Bicycle, starting around the 1880's. It is somewhat forgotten that when the bike came along, it represented (for those that could afford it) the first real personal transport. Horses were expensive, required constant maintenance, and somewhere to keep them. Trains could cover long distances but were not door to door options. Cars and motorcycles didn't exist. The bike represented short to mid distance personal transport, and could be taken on the train for longer distances. This was also something of a social revolution meaning that you were no longer confined to 'courting' in your own village or the next over! Indeed, Tandems, or the Bicycle built for Two from the song 'Daisy, Daisy' were sometimes sold as 'Courting bicycles'.

By 1917, the most common form of the bike, with the triangular frame etc. was well established, but in the US and elsewhere, the Bike revolution was finishing, as the idea of motor cycles and cars as personal transport became more attainable.

The US army of 1917 still viewed bikes as useful communications, liaison, reconnaissance and personal transport, roles more commonly taken by the jeep in WW2. Personal issue of bicycles in a Battalion would be made to the Medical Officer, the leaders of the 1lb gun platoons, and Lieutenants in charge of Machine Gun Companies.

The total of 26,407 bikes mentioned earlier as shipped overseas were mainly allocated to Divisions as follows according to the AEF ToE of January 14th 1918:

Division Structure

4 Infantry Regiments = 168 Bikes Total

1 Engineering Regiment = 24 Bikes Total

1 Field Artillery Regiment = 26 Bikes Total

2 Machine Gun Battalions = 20 Bikes Total

Total = 238 Bikes.

In November 1918, the US had 42 Divisions in France, technically 9520 bikes. It is easy to see that apart from those unissued at this point, the rest would find plenty of use in Motor Pools, on Airfields etc.

Enough history.

This week I made another step forward (when they arrive from the US...) obtaining some correct pattern handlebars and I also managed to get a correct stem to match. These are in Chrome, and ideally this would have been Nickle, but the difference is academic to most. Ironically, these are WW2 military production handlebars that have had the original paint stripped off, and then been chromed. So they were intended to be military originally. It is possible that the similarity between WW1 and WW2 handlebars is a carryover from the early bikes to the later ones.

These bars are the most common part currently available for WW2 US G519 bikes. Some hundreds were found in a warehouse lift shaft (!) in unissued condition a few years ago. It seems likely these were made by the manufacturer Torrington for a wartime bike contract that was never completed or cancelled. Because the number of handlebars now existing far outstrips the likely demand, some dealers have chromed them for other bikes, and this is one of those sets.

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WW2 Bicycle Handlebars, Photo Credit: Craig Johnson

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Chromed Handlebars bought for the project.

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Early 20th Century Stem bought for the project.

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Correct WW1 Handlebars. Photo Credit OldBike.eu

As discussed above, part of the dilemma on this bike is whether to repaint it or not. In the past, there would have been no question, and it would have been repainted by now. The bike collecting world now values original paint, even in poor condition. It is, however, difficult enough to find the correct pieces without the problem of trying to find them with a matching level of Patina. The Military Vehicle collecting world often still feels that there should not be rust on a military vehicle, and repainting was a common exercise through its life, although I am seeing a change in that where the original paint or markings are in sufficiently good condition to preserve.

My sitting on the wall solution over this is to retain as many parts (frame, fork etc.) in the original state as possible, but where a part has been replaced, make it obvious so there is no mistake as to what is original, and what is not. I do want to be able to ride the final bike.

Best Regards,

Adrian

Handlebars 2A.jpg

Handlebars 1A.jpg

Handlebars 3A.jpg

Stem 01A.jpg

1918_Columbia_Army_Bars.jpg

Edited by Le Prof
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If you wanted the Nickel look (and I really like it, myself) then I think that a chrome plating shop would have no trouble putting a layer of Nickel on top of the chrome. They still use an under-layer of nickel to flatten the surface.

The parts I have had nickel plated were just a case of saying "don't bother with the chrome"

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Andy,

just realised that I didn't reply and thank you for your input.. I didn't know that Chrome was plated onto Nickle. I've subsequently found that the specification for the Nickled parts was 'Dull Nickle', which is probably what would be done by the plating shop. It's a little too late for me to do that, maybe next time....

In fact the specification of these bikes is a bit of a headache, although I think I'm getting there. The problem is that there are so few examples, and none of them totally as built. It is also becoming apparent that some parts, like the front axle, could be substituted in, presumably if there were shortages.

The whole specification thing should be easy, with the war finishing as suddenly as it did, Westfield, in common with many manufacturers, found themselves with masses of surplus stock from cancelled US contracts. For the next few years, they built up and sold off the surplus military frames with parts on hand.

Below are adverts from Dayton and Westfield for their 1920 and 1921 model bikes, using frames and other parts from the cancelled military orders.

These are useful in the absence of proper parts manuals, because they give an indication of the parts that could have been used, but cannot be treated as gospel because civilian parts were substituted in, and so require careful fact checking.

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columbia-military-model-bicycle 01.jpg

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  • 7 months later...

Hi All,

time for an update, I think. This bike is nearly complete:

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In the end, I retained the original paint. Parts were obtained from the UK, US, France, Germany and Canada. It's not complete yet (incorrect axles, I intend to rebuild the wheels onto original axles), and there were compromises (original tyres are single tube, and unobtainable). Also, the smallest things take the longest time, the bracket to hold the lamp on was very difficult to obtain, eventually coming from a period furnishings website in the US.

As mentioned in the previous post, there is no manual known for these, so I ended up doing a lot of research myself. Once I started sharing this mainly on the CABE bicycle site, others stepped forward with information of their own, so there has been a big increase in knowledge in just a year. It is also known that there are seven known survivors of this model in varying conditions, and maybe one or two each of the other two makers (Dayton and Great Western)

My research has included working through the US National archives, which has thrown up some nice pictures from 1919. One I'd like some help with appears to be a proposed way of mounting a rifle on the bike.

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Both the rifle mounting and leather bag on the crossbar are unusual. I can't imagine that they were made specially for the bike, and could be adaptions of other items.

Below, a left and right shot of the bag. Is this a standard item, eg, cavalry?

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Below, a shot of the rifle bracket. It is well made and stamped US on both sides, is this an adaption of a vehicle bracket?

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If you can help with these questions, I'd be grateful.

Also, any leads on other information or examples of these bikes always welcome.

Thanks,

Best Regards,

Adrian

 

 

 

Edited by Le Prof
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