DeFelice

[Chere]

A friend new to 'bents (hasn't owned one yet but has ridden some with OSS) wants to know about a
DeFelice. Says there's one in Colorado for sale and he's seriously considering purchasing it. I
couldn't help him out. Anyone know anything about them? (This one has USS). I told him I'd check
with my gurus.

--
Chere ~ GRR Sanibel, FL / Cumberland, MD

 

[Tom Blum]

http://www.lmb.org/mhpva/members.htm

The group picture near the top has one in it , at the left side.

Quick search shows they were made by Brian Defelice in New Palestine, Indiana. Appear to be a long
wheel base undersea steering type, as built.

Tom

 

[Tom Blum]

and pictures here, at the bottom http://narp.com/~rralston/recumb.html

 

[John Foltz]

chere wrote:
> A friend new to 'bents (hasn't owned one yet but has ridden some with OSS) wants to know about a
> DeFelice. Says there's one in Colorado for sale and he's seriously considering purchasing it. I
> couldn't help him out. Anyone know anything about them? (This one has USS). I told him I'd check
> with my gurus.
>
Here's a better pic of a DeFelice. I don't know much about the bike, but the overall configuration
looks similar to a Ryan Vanguard, possibly with similar characteristics (better for touring than
speed work.) http://www.biketcba.org/TRICORR/members/dajohnson.html

BTW, Dave's other recumbent is the streamliner, "Great White."
--

John Foltz --- O _ Baron --- _O _ V-Rex 24/63 --- _\\/\-%)
_________(_)`=()___________________(_)= (_)_____

 

[Carl]

In article <[email protected]>, "Tom Blum" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Appear to be a long wheel base undersea steering type, as built.

Anybody who thinks that's a good way to configure steering is all wet.

-Carl (who can't resist a bad pun)

 

[John Riley]

John Foltz <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

> Here's a better pic of a DeFelice. I don't know much about the bike, but the overall configuration
> looks similar to a Ryan Vanguard, possibly with similar characteristics (better for touring than
> speed work.) http://www.biketcba.org/TRICORR/members/dajohnson.html

The bike in this picture is their main model. The Ralston link is talking about a later, low cost
model called the Bitubular.

Yes, it was similar to a Vanguard.

There were two generations. The later generation had longer seat stays, and the USS bars were angled
upward. The seat fabric was taller too. That would be the one you would want.

The USS mount and pivot are bombproof; beautiful craftmanship. Linkage rod is solid and vibrates
some. Linkage ratio is not one-to-one; it is faster than that, so it takes some getting used to. The
seat lacked the horn of the Vanguard, so there is a tendency to slide forward in the seat. I used
some extra straps to give the seat a bit of a lip to counter that.

Fork was flat solid blades, like on an old Schwinn. Seemed to work ok.

Wheel sizes were 27" (630mm) and 20" (451mm). The cantilever mounts were set for these wheels. Not
sure what other sizes would work. There may be other "dimensional" issues with an historic bike like
this, such as dropout width.

Frames might have come in sizes, so they would want to know that it would fit.

I've got an original flyer if you need more info.

I rode one for many years/miles and my brother still has one.

johnriley1 (at) rogers.com