A leisurely
venture Not all of Deere’s manufacturing ventures were strictly farm machinery. Some of them — such as bicycles and snowmobiles — were just for fun!
John Deere also made a line of lawn and garden equipment, which was like a miniature version of its farm tractor and implement family. A bicycle built for a buck Way before Lance Armstrong ever rode a bike, John Deere made bicycles. Deere’s first foray into bike building was way back in the mid-1890s when people were just discovering the personal freedom of riding a bicycle. It was termed the "great bicycle craze," but only lasted about five years, peaking around 1896. The bicycle was nothing new but a recent development into a new style called the "safety" brought about a new surge in sales. The "safety" version had two pneumatic tires of the same size, which made it much easier for anyone to master. Charles Deere Velie, John Deere’s grandson, worked with C.C. Webber at the Minneapolis branch (Deere & Webber) during this busy bicycle period. In fact, Charles was considered the bicycle product specialist during Deere’s brief manufacturing stint. By 1894, Deere was marketing two outside brands — the Tribune and the Peerless, plus three company-branded models —Ýthe Deere Leader, the Deere Roadster and the Moline Special. One source says that 1,000 Deere bicycles were on the market that year. In August of 1895, the branch sponsored the "Deere Road Race" over a 20-mile course at Lake Harriet near Minneapolis. Records show 127 cyclists entered the race with 119 starting and 90 crossing the finish line of this primitive Tour de France. The winner was a St. Paul rider who finished in 54 minutes, 17 seconds.
In 1896, Deere exhibited at major bicycle shows in Minneapolis and Kansas City, so both the Omaha and Kansas City sales branches began to sell the bicycles as well. Charles even developed a special trademark with a deer riding a bicycle. According to Farm Implement News, this would show "that even the deer is left behind in the race unless he mounts one of this particular build of bicycles." An 1899 product catalog featuring the "FAWN" and "REINDEER" models announced: "We are in the bicycle business to remain, and the purchaser of one of our Bicycles is assured that he will be well cared for through the life of his mount." Despite that bold statement, the bicycle basically rode itself out of business by 1900. In fact, one historian wrote this about the bicycle business in general: "Public taste, fickle at all times, and especially fickle regarding its amusements, became suddenly weary of the plaything, and threw it aside. Millions of dollars worth of property invested in the manufacture of bicycles consequently became worthless." However, Deere & Company would briefly revisit the bicycle business from 1972-1976. In those four years, Deere sold more than 2000,000 made-in-Taiwan bicycles including 20-inch boys’ and girls’ Hi-Rise models, 26-inch men’s and women’s 3-speeds, and 27-inch 10-speeds.
Snowmobile success For those places where the snow piles high and winter stretches on for many months, John Deere snowmobiles were popular forms of transportation too. John Deere’s Horicon Works manufactured nearly 225,000 snowmobiles from 1971 to 1982. An "Enduro Team Deere" racing team won acclaim with the Liquidator and Liquifire models. Other race-inspired sleds were named Cyclone, Sportfire, Sprintfire and Trailfire. In 1972 and 1975, Normatt produced two scale-model toy snowmobiles for John Deere. Toward the end of Deere’s snowmobile production run, Suttle also made two 1/10-scale toys of the 440 Cyclone model. One of these was battery powered! Values for these two newer toys range from $60-160. L&G's colorful quartet Looking back to the fashions and styles of the 1960s, it’s no wonder Deere jazzed up its new line of lawn and garden tractors with a colorful quartet for 1969.
Four bright colors were chosen to accent the Dogwood White chassis of these stylish suburban lawnmowers. The hood and seat were colored in either Spruce Blue, Sunset Orange, Patio Red or April Yellow. All attachments were Dogwood White so they would match any tractor. Clearly, even the naming scheme of the custom colors focused on the great outdoors — dogwood, spruce, sunset, patio, April. The Custom Color line comprised an 8-hp 110, 10-hp 112, 12-hp 120 and a 14-hp 140 tractor. The top two models had hydraulic lift and hydrostatic drive. A two-year trial found a lack of customer demand as well as dealer enthusiasm so the line was discontinued. Except for the four tractors available in a custom color, the rest of the lawn & garden line was John Deere green and yellow. Apparently, that’s what customers preferred! Ý
Text Ý © 2000 Brenda Kruse. Photos by Brenda Kruse unless otherwise noted. |
When most people
think of John Deere, bicycles aren’t usually the first product that comes to mind.
Others may remember Deere’s bicycle stint in the 1970s, but many people don’t
realize that Deere also made bicycles a century earlier. These two buttons promote
"Deere Bicycles" from the late 1890s. This pair in mint condition brought more
than $1,500 at a recent auction. Collectors advise that this is a rather inflated value
despite the rarity of these pins. A more reasonable range might be between $300 and $500
each. Photo © 2000 Brenda Kruse