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My Dad's 1941 Roadmaster

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gsivley

Look Ma, No Hands!
My Dad (who is now 95 but still hanging in there) bought a 1941 Roadmaster bike new from stock in 1943. He was working at the Dravo Corporation in the Pittsburgh area (they made LSTs) at the time and he got a ration card that enabled him to buy the bike since he used it to ride to work at the defense plant. I understand that there were no 1943 model year Roadmaster bikes for consumers (CWC may possibly have made some bikes for military use). I checked the serial number with a local CWC expert and he's pretty sure the bike was manufactured in 1941 or possibly early '42.


It originally had chrome hubs (the rear New Departure hub still has good chrome under all the old oil and dirt). However, my Dad got in a bad wreck with it (collided with a car that turned left in front of him) in 1944 and, as a result, the bike ended up with a mis-matched front wheel that had a black-out New Departure hub and didn’t have a drop center rim as the rear does. I think the wreck also took out the head light lens and it definitely bent the steering tube, fork and one of the truss rods (stuff I'm going to have to sort out).


My project is to bring that bike back as near as I can get it to the condition it was in when my Dad bought it. Unfortunately, due to the strong sulphuric acid rain from the steel mills, it got a lot of rust early in its life. Therefore, it was housepainted while my Dad lived in Pennsylvania. Worst of all, the bike lost its tank over 50 years ago. Other than the tank, the bike is essentially complete


From Pennsylvania, my Dad was drafted to active duty toward the end of the War and served in Germany during the Occupation (arriving in Feb 1946). When he returned, he lived in Baltimore and eventually settled in Eastern Washington in 1950. Somehow, he kept this bike all this time. As far back as I can remember, it was always in our garage and Dad rode it along with my sister, brother and I when we got our first bikes as kids. In fact, he rode this bike up into his 80's, even riding my own kids (his grandkids) on the rear rack when we'd visit.

Here's a picture of the bike when I started my project about 5 years ago.

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It has taken quite a while but I have made some progress on my project. I've found a good replacement rim for the front along with a NOS chrome New Departure hub to replace the blackout hub.

I've found a replacement chrome bezel and lens for the ball light and, importantly, this spring I finally found a replacement tank on an Ebay auction (needs work as you can see)

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Most recently, I've finally found NOS Torrington spokes and nipples so I can rebuild the wheels properly.

Currently, I'm concentrating on removing rust and getting everything ready for paint.
 
Yeah!! Today I got my seat back from Rustjunkie who did a fantastic job of recovering it (this after I disassembled it and removed the rust electrolyticly from all the parts - there are at least 33 separate parts to a Troxel saddle!! - and repainted the seat frame and hardware). Here are before and after pics.

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Sadly, my Dad passed away on May 3rd. He died peacefully and had enjoyed a long and happy life. I will miss him greatly but I will complete my restoration project to honor his memory. I was able to share with him the progress I was making and tell him about my quest to find parts, make repairs, etc. I know he enjoyed hearing about it and seeing all the bits and pieces.

Here's a photo of my Dad with my sister and me as he delivered the bike to me to begin the project.

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Sadly, my Dad passed away on May 3rd. He died peacefully and had enjoyed a long and happy life. I will miss him greatly but I will complete my restoration project to honor his memory. I was able to share with him the progress I was making and tell him about my quest to find parts, make repairs, etc. I know he enjoyed hearing about it and seeing all the bits and pieces.

Here's a photo of my Dad with my sister and me as he delivered the bike to me to begin the project.

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