Joe Steinlauf Bike. See notes
By William Mullen — Chicago Tribune — November 19, 1967
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Spiked Bike — Tire salesman Joe Steinlauf tests the spikes on his icecycle that he built in 1925. The all-wood tricycle was made in the 1860s. Steinlauf has about a dozen antique bicycles at his tire store, 3851 Ogden Avenue.
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CHICAGO —
Once Joe Steinlauf nearly drowned on a bicycle. Another time, he was nearly killed falling from a bicycle into a junk wagon.
Seventy-year-old, Austrian-born Joe got his start in business with bicycles, and has made a handsome and happy life out of them. Though he went out of the bicycle business two years ago, he still keeps about a dozen antique and freak bikes sitting around his tire store at 3851 Ogden Avenue.
“I came here from Austria in 1912,” silver-haired and handsome Joe will tell you in his accent-tinted voice. “I got my start in business by spotting bikes in the back of junk wagons. I used to jump on my bike and follow them. Usually I could pick up a bike for two or three dollars, fix it up, and sell it for 8 or 10 dollars.”
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Followed Too Close
Once he followed a junk wagon too closely and the horse stopped suddenly.
“I really hit it hard,” Joe chuckled. “I thought I killed myself. The driver turned around and looked at me like nothing strange had happened, and kept right on going.”
Joe started his first bicycle shop in 1919, selling his own manufactured line (“Joe’s 50 Year Flyers”) and his refurbished used bikes. He also rented out bicycles for 25 cents an hour.
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Took A Beating
“It took me a few years to get wise to the ways of the city,” he said. “I made people leave a deposit with me when they rented a bike, like a watch or their coat or something. They used to take off with the bikes anyway, and I would find out their deposits were practically worthless. I took a beating in those days.”
Once six men came into his shop and rented all his best rental bikes. He ended up chasing them to Milwaukee, where the men ended up shipping the bikes back to Chicago at their own expense.
⸻
Began to Get Cre
⸻
Spiked Bike — Tire salesman Joe Steinlauf tests the spikes on his icecycle that he built in 1925. The all-wood tricycle was made in the 1860s. Steinlauf has about a dozen antique bicycles at his tire store, 3851 Ogden Avenue.
⸻
CHICAGO —
Once Joe Steinlauf nearly drowned on a bicycle. Another time, he was nearly killed falling from a bicycle into a junk wagon.
Seventy-year-old, Austrian-born Joe got his start in business with bicycles, and has made a handsome and happy life out of them. Though he went out of the bicycle business two years ago, he still keeps about a dozen antique and freak bikes sitting around his tire store at 3851 Ogden Avenue.
“I came here from Austria in 1912,” silver-haired and handsome Joe will tell you in his accent-tinted voice. “I got my start in business by spotting bikes in the back of junk wagons. I used to jump on my bike and follow them. Usually I could pick up a bike for two or three dollars, fix it up, and sell it for 8 or 10 dollars.”
⸻
Followed Too Close
Once he followed a junk wagon too closely and the horse stopped suddenly.
“I really hit it hard,” Joe chuckled. “I thought I killed myself. The driver turned around and looked at me like nothing strange had happened, and kept right on going.”
Joe started his first bicycle shop in 1919, selling his own manufactured line (“Joe’s 50 Year Flyers”) and his refurbished used bikes. He also rented out bicycles for 25 cents an hour.
⸻
Took A Beating
“It took me a few years to get wise to the ways of the city,” he said. “I made people leave a deposit with me when they rented a bike, like a watch or their coat or something. They used to take off with the bikes anyway, and I would find out their deposits were practically worthless. I took a beating in those days.”
Once six men came into his shop and rented all his best rental bikes. He ended up chasing them to Milwaukee, where the men ended up shipping the bikes back to Chicago at their own expense.
⸻
Began to Get Cre
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