Iver Johnson Bicycles
Back then, in 1922, it made perfect sense to trust a gun manufacturer to make a safety bike. That’s because the same manufacturing technology to develop rifle barrels worked pretty well for bicycle tubing too. There was Iver Johnson, Browning, and Miyata in Japan.
Iver Johnson’s innovation was adding a truss to the top tube to, you know, make it stiff and vertically compliant.
What I like most about old ads like this that ran in Field and Stream, is marketers are selling pretty much the same thing now. And, Iver Johnson sponsored Major Taylor.
Learn more about Iver Johnson bicycles here and see one at Classic Cycles US. This whip was their special racer that cost $55.00 in 1920.
It was spec’d with thick enamel paint, bright nickel plating, and a full complement of Chater-Lea components.
