1920s Lance Claudel
This bike was made by Lance Claudel late in the 1920s, at a time when he was apprenticing for Willy Appelhans.
The bike is a terrific riding road model, even by today’s standards.
A durable three-speed hub gave the rider a few gears to choose from, at a time when road racers typically toughed it out with a single speed. A shift lever up on the handlebars must have made this cyclist the envy of his friends.
The ingenious rear brake has a similar pivot design as Campagnolo’s Delta brakes from the 1980s, and it actually had some stopping power.