Where All the Bicycle Frames are Above Average

American Bicycles Manufacturing hails from the land of sky blue waters. Starting in the early 80's and continuing well into the 90's, Fred Schilplin and company produced a series of frames in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

The Comp Lite was one of the higher-end frames produced by ABM. The "American" was their basic model, and the Comp Lite and M-16 were a step up. Both of these models shared 71/73 frame angles, but the M-16 came with ultra short 16" chain stays, while the Comp Lite had 16.5" stays (still relatively short). Additionally there was an American Breezer model that was made for Joe Breeze.

The higher-end American frames came with anodized finishes. ABM had a special jig that preserved the frame's alignment during the anodizing process, so the surface treatment did not come at the expense of having to cold set the frame afterward.

The visual feature that sets Americans are most any other frame made are the large welds. Beautifully made, these frames were rare when they were new, and hardly seen today.

I'm still in the process of aquiring components for this bike. (11/06)

- el