1936 Monark Silver King Flocycle Model No. M037
THE FINEST BICYCLE IN THE WORLD
Made for Those Who Demand the Best
It’s brand new! There’s never been a bike like it before! It has a spring, like an automobile – and a flexible frame that acts like a second spring. When you ride over bumps, the rear wheel rocks up and down on the spring – the frame flexes. They absorb the jar – the shock – you don’t get it – it’s like a Floating Ride.
I love the early years of cycling, particularly the 1890s, before cars pushed bicycles off the road. The innovations of the final decade of Queen Victoria’s rule shaped the world we know today. By the beginning of the Edwardian era, the bicycle had evolved into a design that remained unchanged for the following 50 years. Except in America.
While the rest of the world used bicycles as everyday transport, in the USA the automobile was a much more practical means of transportation. By the 1920s, American bicycles were marketed at teenagers rather than adults, with most models adopting the appearance of a miniature motorcycle, known as the ‘motobike.’ In the 1930s, the ‘art deco’ style and streamlining became the fashion for the latest products; automobile designers were soon working for cycle manufacturers in order to create new, different bicycles that might catch the public imagination. This was the era of American World Fairs, in Chicago in 1933 and New York in 1939. In 1932, Schwinn instantly turned all 1920s 28″ wooden-wheeled ‘motobikes’ into dinosaurs by introducing a new generation of balloon-tyred 26″ metal-wheeled bicycles. Every company followed suit. Now all vehicles – trains, cars, motorcycles, bicycles – had to combine the latest technological advances with the newest styles in order to outdate and supersede the previous year’s fashion and create a lust in the public purse.
The 1936 Monark Silver King Flocycle had many competitors: Elgin, Mercury, Shelby and many more companies were creating expensive iconic bicycles to help keep sales flowing. But this combination of new and stylish features created such a totally different bicycle that it surely stands out as the ultimate American balloon-tyred bicycle. An automobile-style leaf spring and flexible frame, polished aluminium frame without any paint, 24″ wheels to create a low wheelbase… hot-rodders ever since have been working to the same sort of criteria to create one-off dynamic designs that stand out from the crowd. And the key component not mentioned above? – beauty.
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PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE BIDDING
OWNER: BuyVintage Online Auctions
LOCATION: Brighton, E.Sussex, United Kingdom
UK DELIVERY:
£50 to mainland UK
(by man & van)
INTERNATIONAL DELIVERY:
I CAN PACK THIS BICYCLE AND SHIP IT BY COURIER
Ireland, NI, Europe is £100
USA & CANADA – £150
Australasia, Japan, Asia £250
South America £300
PAYMENT: Paypal is okay. Alternatively cheque, bank transfer, cash, international bank transfer (IBAN)
International purchasers – Please discuss payment and shipping before the end of the auction.
AFTER PURCHASE: Please email me your phone numbers; I prefer to speak to all purchasers personally.
VEHICLE CONDITION: Vintage vehicles are wonderful beasts – but each has an individual personality and they sometimes have bad days just like you and me. You will need basic mechanical skills (or a local mechanic) to use one on a regular basis.
These are rare vehicles whose values are not necessarily based on running order.
IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THE ABOVE, PLEASE DO NOT BID.
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If you have any questions about this (or any other vehicle in these BuyVintage Online Auctions),
you can contact Colin in the Customer Service Department between 9am and 7pm daily:
By Phone – (UK 0044) 07866-126469
By email – Buyvintage@mac.com
The Auction Catalogue is the website –
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2nd BuyVintage Online Auction: 2015 Onwards 