Bob Brown explored progressive kustom bicycle design at a time when the movement was in its infancy. He pushed styling limits and was innovative in his execution of them. Through his years of exhibiting at kustom car shows in the 1960s tens of thousands of people were able to see and appreciate his kustom bicycle creations. Brown holds a special place in our collective history, and we hope that through this article, his important contribution to the early stages of our movement will no longer be a lost chapter in the kustom bicycle history book. If Bob Brown were still alive today (in 2009) he would be 92 years old. |
Bob Brown |
O F H A Y W A R D C A . |
The Founding Father of Kustom Biking |
1962: "The Little Swinger" Bob Brown made this bike in collaboration with Don Bell of Hayward California- in late December 1961. It was probably the first radical show bicycle exhibited in California. Wheels are 24-inch in the rear and a narrow 20-inch up front. |
new language and way of seeing for those who follow. The early years of the 1960s saw one man (more than any other) bring the emerging art of kustom biking into the public eye. This is the story of Mr. Bob Brown of Hayward California- one of the founding fathers of the kustom bicycle movement. Brown built and exhibited his creations at the dawn of California's burgeoning kustom bike scene, something that only a handful of people were doing at the time, and virtually none to the level to which Brown took it. His bikes were progressive in their design, and their degree of finish was unmatched by other builders of the period. Brown's success at his craft was reflected in the countless first-place trophies he won at competitions throughout Southern California. |
The Palma Ceia Cyclery |
Bob Brown was the proprietor of the "Palma Ceia Cyclery" a Schwinn dealership in the city of Hayward CA. Brown had a long career in the world of cycling. He received his first bicycle in 1927, spent nearly 20 years in competitive racing, and even manufactured his own line of bicycles in Berkeley California during World War two: The "Berkeley Bear" . |
1960 was the year that Brown opened his Hayward bike shop, and he offered a wide range of services to local customers. He could even provide custom-made bicycles for people with special physical needs and handicaps (always without charge). Brown's experience producing hand-made bicycles during the 1940s gave him the skills needed to execute such projects. The Little Swinger One of Brown's friends in the early 1960s was fellow Hayward resident Don Bell. Don was into kustomizing both cars and motorcycles, and at one point in 1961 he got into a discussion with Brown about the subject of vehicle modification. Don told Brown that he had just finished building a kustom |
Every movement has its trail-blazing pioneers, those rare individuals who create a |
A press clipping from the first week of January 1962 telling about the "Little Swinger" and its young owner Steven Bell. Steven's father Don collaborated with Bob Brown on the construction of the bike. |
A press clipping showing Bob Brown working in his Palma Ceia Cyclery in Hayward CA. |
The heavily-chromed "Swinger" was based around a modified 24-inch cantilever frame which had its top frame tube removed. It also featured a raked and molded neck, and a Schwinn Phantom springer fork for the steering. Brown actually modified the fork legs by giving them an even greater built-in curve, which lowered the forward stance of the bike for an even more radical look. The handlebars were tall bicycle ape-hangers mounted to a rear facing gooseneck. The seat was initially a small racing saddle, but was eventually changed to a Persons "Solo Polo" banana seat mounted to a tall rear-leaning sissy bar. The rear wheel was a 24-inch rim with a two-speed hub, with a fat balloon tire mounted on, while the front wheel featured a 20x1-3/8 narrow-tread set up. The bicycle also featured dual headlights (like Don's bike) and two small bullet-shaped tail lights. Once completed the "Little Swinger" was shown extensively at kustom car shows throughout southern California. Brown loved all the attention the Little Swinger was getting at the shows. And he often borrowed the bike to display at his Hayward shop, alongside other less-radical kustom bikes he had also put together. Kids loved the high-riser style, and it was bringing his bike shop extra business. 1962 was a great year for kustom bikes and Brown sold quite a number of high handlebars and polo seats at his store. |
This is Bob Brown's patent for his high-riser bike design- made from his "Mighty Swinger" bicycle. |
The "Little Swinger" was first shown at the San Mateo Kustom Car Show in the first week of January, 1962, and then shortly afterwards at the "Oakland Roadster Show". |
On February 19 1964 Bob Brown exhibited both the "Little Swinger" and the "Mighty Swinger" at the Oakland Roadster show. |
The Mighty Swinger Brown was on a roll, and in early 1963 he started construction of another show bike. This particular kustom project would be much smaller than his earlier bikes and would feature 16-inch wheels. Brown would call this new little kustom bike the "Mighty Swinger". It featured a specially-upholstered custom banana seat, 10 speeds, gear shifters mounted on the frame's top tube, a custom sissy bar with built-in tail lights, show chrome, dual headlights and a custom paint job. The bike went on to win awards at every show it was entered in. Brown also got a lot of new visitors to his shop around this time. Distributors had heard about Brown's kustom bikes and would drop in occasionally (sometimes with "guests') to check out what he was doing. By early 1963 kustom bicycle style was being "commercialized" by manufacturers. Brown thought it was great, he was doing more business because of it, and he was getting a lot of attention through his show bikes. |
motorcycle and that his 9-year-old son Steven was envious. Upon hearing this, Brown suggested that it would be great fun to create a junior-size "kustom bicycle" for the boy. Don thought it was a great idea too, and collaborated with Brown on some of the basic design elements of the project. Brown immediately got busy and used his mechanical skills and metal fabricating knowledge to create one of California's first true radical kustom bicycles, named the "Little Swinger". Don arranged to get all the metal parts chromed and applied the bike frame's custom paint finish. Brown then took all the various reworked bike parts and completely assembled the "Swinger" just prior to Christmas in 1961. |
Awarded a patent In late '63 Brown took the advice of friends and started looking into getting a patent for his design of the "Mighty Swinger". People who had known Brown for a while thought that his basic designs were being stolen by bicycle manufacturers and that he wasn't getting any of the proceeds. Brown saw a lot of things going on around him, he had been making kustom bikes since late 1961, and by 1963 companies were making bikes that looked just like the ones he put together in his shop in 1962. Brown really wondered if he was being taken advantage of. |
1963: "The Mighty Swinger" |
The 16-inch-wheeled "Mighty Swinger" was built by Bob Brown early in 1963. It also appears to be the first high-rise bike design to be awarded a patent in the United States. |
It took Brown a while, but he eventually got some legal advice and filed for a patent on April.15 1964 and was awarded a patent for the bicycle design on Jan 5.1965- no small feat. Brown's patent clearly shows a bike with a banana-type seat and high-rise handlebars used together as the main styling element. But, it was too little, too late. Brown never profited from his patent, and there was some lingering bitterness. He believed that the big companies made minor alterations to his design in order to get around his patent rights - leaving him out in the cold. Despite all this, Bob Brown carried on, and continued to enjoy creative cycling. |
Making a deal with "Big Daddy" Roth A wonderful thing happened to Brown while he was showing his kustom bikes at a big car show in California. Brown was setting up his display and looked up to find none other than Ed "Big Daddy" Roth checking out his bikes. Brown was thrilled to see the famous man standing there, but, it got better. Roth started talking to Brown about how cool he thought it was for him to be making kustom bicycles. "Big Daddy" Roth was especially taken by Brown's tiny "Mighty Swinger" bike, and told Brown that he would like to buy it from him. |
Brown couldn't believe his ears, one of the greatest kustom car builders in America wanted to buy one of his bikes! Brown said he would be pleased to sell him the bike as long as he could finish up the season's show circuit with it. Roth said that would be fine, and made out a check for the agreed-upon price of $200. Roth said (jokingly) that the bike was small enough to fit in the trunk of his car and that he was going to keep it there instead of a spare tire. |
Bob Brown made a Photostatic copy of the check Ed Roth had given him for the bike, and displayed it prominently at his bike shop. I recently received an E-mail from Ed Roth's son Daryl, who said he clearly remembers riding around on the little 10-speed kustom bike that his father brought home, but that neither he nor any of his brothers can remember what happened to it. He thinks that his father may have eventually traded the bike to someone in exchange for a needed part or service. Daryl said that his father would often barter for things this way. The "BB54-Super Speedster" In 1964, Bob Brown outdid himself by creating the most outstanding kustom bicycle of its day; a cool machine that would go on to win first place at every show it was entered in, from the Sacramento "Auto-Rama" to the "Oakland Roadster Show". Brown named this super bike the "BB54-Super Speedster". |
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1964: The BB54 Super Speedster |
Bob Brown's ultimate kustom creation. It was the top California show bike for a number of years. |
The "BB54" was a wild orange-colored machine, featuring 54 gears, a set of custom-made handlebars, and a genuine Zebra-skin banana seat. Behind the seat, Brown installed a fully-chromed home-made suspension sissy bar. Out front was a Schwinn spring fork mated to a 20-inch drum brake wheel. The bike also featured dual headlights, a speedometer, and a 24-inch rear wheel with a wide black wall tire. Topping off the bike's finish was an extensive show chrome treatment, covering virtually every unpainted metal surface. Brown used the bike's trophy-winning successes to promote his shop and at one point advertised the value of the bike at $450, a substantial amount of money for 1964/65. |
Into the 1970's and BMX Brown continued to promote kustom biking throughout the 1960s and early 70s. And when the sport of BMX racing first started making inroads he was one of the first to recognize its future potential. In the early '70s Brown even suggested that bicycle Moto-cross would eventually overtake little league baseball in overall popularity. He may have been right. Brown's Place in kustom bike history: Bob Brown was clearly the most outstanding of the early bicycle kustomizers in southern California. It could be argued that some aspects of Brown's early designs were appropriated by major bicycle concerns (without |
A news clipping showing the front of Bob Brown's Palma Ceia Cyclery. |
giving Brown credit). Brown himself even suggested this possibility and was very vocal on the subject. Brown's early use of banana seats, suspension sissy bars, front drum brakes, and frame-mounted gear shift actuators on kustom bikes makes the argument even more compelling. |
A news clipping showing both Bob Brown and Steven Bell as kustom bike entrants at the Oakland Roadster show. |
Bob Brown explored progressive kustom bicycle design at a time when the movement was in its infancy. He pushed styling limits and was innovative in his execution of them. Through his years of exhibiting at kustom car shows in the 1960s tens of thousands of people were able to see and appreciate his kustom bicycle creations. Brown holds a special place in our collective history, and we hope that through this article, his important contribution to the early stages of our movement will no longer be a lost chapter in the kustom bicycle history book. If Bob Brown were still alive today (in 2009) he would be 92 years old. |
A newspaper clipping giving names of car show entrants, both Bob Brown's and Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's names can be seen. |
From 1968, the story of Bob Brown and his passion for bicycles. This article also mentions his belief that major bicycle companies used his designs by making minor alterations to his patent, and that he lost out. Here is Brown working on his little "Yellow Sidewinder" bike with a tiny sidecar attached. |
Bob Brown was known as the man who could make a bike to accommodate any physical challenge someone might have. Many children were helped to gain a sense of independence with the cycles Brown built for them, and always without charge. |
Bob Brown moved his shop a number of times. Once he had his shop in a place that was going to have a freeway built through it. It almost ruined him, financially |
A Bob Brown Scrap Book Of Press Clippings and Ads |
A newspaper article talking about Bob Brown entering his "Super Speedster" in the Sacramento Autorama show early in 1965. It also mentions his belief that a major bicycle company used his designs to sell millions of bikes in 1964. |
An ad for Bob Brown's later Schwinn Cyclery. |
An ad for Bob Brown's First Schwinn Cyclery. |
Bob Brown continued to have fun with making bikes right into the 1970s. This 3- person bike was built from an old bed frame. |
Brown was well known as the guy with a big heart, willing to help those in need. He never got rich at the bike business, but had many friends and admirers. At the bottom of this article is a rare glimpse of Brown's "Yellow Sidewinder" which was a little 16-inch wheeled bike with a tiny sidecar. |
Bob Brown (second from left) receives award for his "Mighty Swinger" bicycle, at the Los Angeles bicycle convention February 1964 |
Winners of the bike competition at the '64 LA Bicycle Dealers convention, Brown wins award for his "Mighty Swinger" bike. |
The card Brown sent to people when their bike repairs were finished shows Bob's attention to detail. |
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