Mr. John T. Bill with his first wife, Catherine, and their only son, George Bill. I am grateful to Lorna (Bill) Gunsauls, an ancestor of John T. Bill, for supplying me with this photo and some of the valuable information about the John T. Bill family.

A close-up of the founder, Mr. John T. Bill

This article about Pete Mole was published in the June 1, 2012 issue of B.R.A.I.N. (Bicycle Retailer and Industry News). Pete is certainly one of the good guys of the bicycle industry old timers.

The picture side of the 1913 postcard from New Departure to Mr. George Bill of the John T. Bill Co. The picture was taken in front of the New Departure office in Bristol, CT.

The message & address side of the 1913 postcard from New Departure to Mr. George Bill of the John T. Bill Co.

Phil Mole Senior.
The Phil Mole family background:
* Phil Sr. was born in 1894, passed away in 1973 (MGRHS)
* Phil Sr. did trick bike & unicycle riding with his brother in the early days.
* He opened a retail Bike Shop on Vermont Ave. in Los Angeles in the early 1930’s; it expanded into 3 stores.
* In 1937 A.J. Musselman asked Phil Sr. to be sales manager for the coaster brake company. He was with Musselman until the start of WW-II at which time Musselman was turned over to defense work.
* After the war Phil Sr. worked for the John T. Bill Co., first as an outside salesman, then as the General Manager. Mr. J.T. Bill died in 1944.
* Phil Sr. acquired the company from Mrs. J.T. Bill in 1950. His three children joined the company;
     1952 Phil Jr. as an outside salesman.
     1954 Pete as the inside assistant to his father (after Pete retired from the Armed Forces and finished working at Paramount Pictures for 8 years).
     1959 Katie as the office and credit manager.
The company was initially located at 955 S. Main St., Los Angeles, CA, then moved to another industrial building at 1042 South Grand Ave in downtown Los Angeles. Coincidentally, three other major Distributors were also located within a few blocks of them; (1) Harry Wilson Sales Agency, the Schwinn Distributor, (2) United Imports, the Steyer Distributor, and (3) The L.W. Keenan Co., managed by Les Keenan.
In 1973 The Mole family purchased and moved into a modern industrial warehouse and office building in Glendale, CA at 4116 San Fernando Road. The picture gallery contains a photo of the Mole family breaking ground for their new modern building. Outside sales people were Harry Lindblad, Gale Hafer, Phil Mole Jr., Greg Ulm, Henry Torres, John Finkenbiner and Johnny Paladino (Johnny’s parents owned a retail Bike Shop in Santa Ana, CA). The inside warehouse manager was Bill Kindig. Over the years, the company sold a full line of parts, accessories and sundries. The major bicycle brands carried were; Pierce, Armstrong, Raleigh, Columbia, Rollfast, Olmo, Webco, and Hutch. As the bicycle industry and business went through significant changes, they found it advantageous to liquidate the company and in 1987 sold the industrial building. I recall that the Mole family and the John T. Bill Co. were very well respected by the Bicycle Dealers, Industry Suppliers and their competitors. My father, Leo Cohen Sr., had a nice working relationship with Phil Sr. Pete and I have been friendly business associates and competitors for almost 50 years. He has kindly added several treasures to my bicycle memorabilia collection. Pete is currently (June of 2009) the General Manager of Dahon USA, the amazing worldwide leader of folding bicycles in the Bicycle Industry (www.dahon.com). Dahon is an ecologically conscientious company.

Phil Mole Senior dressed in costume for one of his trick bike riding performances

Pete Mole in 1933 at age 6 riding a unicycle in Los Angeles

A poster consisting of several pictures of the Mole Brothers (Phil & Joe) riding unicycles when they were young children

A nameplate (headbadge) for the John T. Bill Company

The catalog for Pierce Bicycles for the model year 1916. The distributor in the west was the John T. Bill Co., whose name is imprinted on the outside back cover.

The outside back cover of the 1916 catalog for Pierce Bicycles. John T. Bill Co was the distributor in the west.

The Mole family break ground for the construction of their new modern facility in Glendale, CA. (L to R) Phil Sr., Pete, Katie & Phil Jr.

Pete Mole was responsible for the first commercially produced high riser Sting-Ray type bicycle in 1963. He had a rather tenuous relationship with Huffy-Azusa (Huffman Manufacturing Co) which ended shortly after it began due to Huffy's change in policy. See the complete story by John Brain on his very informative web site BikeRod&Kustom (click here).
If you are interested in reading about the history of the Schwinn Sting-Ray, and other interesting stuff about Muscle Bikes & Kusom Bikes, visit & browse John's web site (click here).

Phil Mole's three children; they succeeded Phil Sr. in the business; (standing are Phil Jr. and Katie, seated is Pete)

Pictured while reviewing a product catalog are: standing Phil Mole Jr (left) & Greg Ulm (right), seated Pete Mole (left) & Johnny Paladino (right).

I do not own this photo; it was loaned to me by friend PETE MOLÈ who was the president of the John T. Bill Co of Glendale, CA. The photo was taken at the Wheel Craft Bicycle Factory (Huffy) in Azusa, CA on February 5, 1964. Posing with the Moulton 16x1 3/8 inch wheel dual suspension 4-speed bike are (L-R);` Horace Huffman (aka Huffy), Alex Moulton (inventor of the Moulton bicycle), Pete Mole and Phil Mole (both of the John T. Bill Co. The occasion was a meeting to discuss Huffman Mfg Co starting the production of the Moulton bicycles for sales in the USA. The John T. Bill Co was to be the USA Distributor for the Moulton Line. Huffy already had a relationship with Raleigh in England and was importing English Raleigh bicycles branded HUFFY. The dimensions are 8 X 10 inches. The project did not come to fruition.