Catalog bikes

Catalog bikes were sold in the late 1950s and 1960s by Montgomery Wards and Sears, Roebuck and Company. They would rebadge Italian, Austrian, Japanese and American motorcycles and scooters.

Wards rebadged and sold as "Riversides", and Sears used the name "Allstate" [ [http://allstateguy.tripod.com/ Allstate, Puch and Sears motorcycles (and the occasional Studebaker, Silvertone or Elgin, too!) ] ] .

Wards sold Benelli 125cc and 175cc 2-strokes, and 250cc and 360cc 4-strokes. The Wards Riverside "Mojave" was the scrambler version. I believe, the bodywork was built from a company that Steve McQueen owned.

The first bikes Sears sold were Thor, Excelsior (aka Henderson Motorcycle), and Spacke. Sears stopped around 1916. In the late 1950s/1960s, Sears used the name "Allstate" and sold Gilera and Puch.

The Steyr-Daimler-Puch is a "twingle" [ [http://home.sprynet.com/~inniss/sears.htm 1966 Sears Allstate 250 ] ] -- a 250cc, 2 piston, single cylinder, 2-stroke. They used oil injection, instead of having to mix oil with fuel, like most 2-strokes of the period. There was also a high exhaust pipped scrambler version.

The Gilera was the Allstate 106SS (106cc).

When Sears and Wards sold scooters, they used Cushman, Vespa, Lambretta (motorscooter) and Mitsubishi [ [http://www.silverpigeons.com/Text2.htm Whats a Silver Pigeon? ] ] brands.

Benelli, Gilera, Vespa and Lambretta are Italian. Puch is Austrian, and Cushman is from Nebraska. Mitsubishi is Japanese.

Newsgroups and Websites

* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wards_Riverside_Cycles/ Montgomery Wards Yahoo Group]
* [http://www.wardsriversidecycles.com/wards/ Montgomery Wards and Benelli repair manuals and parts lists]

References