Monark Five Bar Four Bar Superframe 5 Bar 4 bar Thread

Yea the title looks kinda crazy but the search feature of this forum needs all the help it can get. At the suggestion of another member I am going to start a thread on the discussion of these bikes whereby hopefully we can contribute to the shallow body of knowledge that exist on these bikes. This thread is for Monark superframe bikes built between approx 1939-41 (primarily Monark and Spiegel). There was tremendous variety as there are two different springers and several different frames between both girls and boys bikes. Please post pics if you have them. Areas where I see a need for info is serial # and location, seat post binders, chrome or painted chassis seat frames on which models, paint schemes/colors, handlebars and stems between models, and light variations among others. I will start adding my stuff this weekend and hopefully we can all learn a lot more about these unique and interesting bicycles. V/r Shawn

Mens Frames

OK lets start with the frame on these. First the reference I use is the revised (Jul 2012) Monark Book by John Pollizzi.

It appears there are three types and I believe all are 19". The first is the tank frame used on Models M604, M604X, and GT495. A couple of notes here. First is serial # location. I have three of these frames. Two have the serial # (061476 and 088097) on the dropout and one has it underneath the crank hanger stamped into the tube (126590). The ones on the drop out are small regular spaced #s but the "0" looks like a "C" due to a week stamp on the right side of the zero. These #s do not agree with any serial # info I have for Monark. The second note regarding these frames is that the one with the number on the bottom does not have the built in seat post binder.

The second style frame is found on models M602/600 which are the non-tank models. I do not have one of these so can't shed much light on them.

The third style is the non-tank loop tail frame found on both mens and ladies models. The book shows the 1940 Airman (Spiegel) models. I do not know if the mens model was built with a tank. The reason I mention this is I have a ladies (Monark badge) loop tail with tank. Does anyone have a mens looptail tank model?

I would like to hear from others regarding the mens frames. Next time I'll cover the ladies frames. V/r Shawn

Hello

The below pics are before and after of my Monark 5 bar built for and badged Hawthorne. It is the other style 5 bar frame that the down tubes go into the crank housing instead of a wrap around bottom of housing like yours are.

Seems to me that both especially your style of frame is pretty rare. They are beautiful frames.





1918 Ranger

This is the H.P. Snyder built version of the 5-Bar Hawthorne and it is not Monark built. All of the Monark built versions feature the cradled crank hanger. Both Snyder and Cleveland Welding (several differences also separate the 5-bar frames built by these two manufacturers) versions of the bike are constructed along more conventional lines.

1918 Ranger said:

Hello

The below pics are before and after of my Monark 5 bar built for and badged Hawthorne. It is the other style 5 bar frame that the down tubes go into the crank housing instead of a wrap around bottom of housing like yours are.

Seems to me that both especially your style of frame is pretty rare. They are beautiful frames.

View attachment 62703
View attachment 62704


1918 Ranger

Click to expand...

Thanks Phil,
I don't want to get into the other twinbar makes/frames out there to include Elgin-Westfield/Murray/Snyder. V/r Shawn

Please bare with me on the backdrop.

Newly acquired 1939 Monark 4-Bar.

My Monark 5 bar is similar to yours, same color scheme (blue with red darts). The serial numbers are hand stamped underneath the crank hanger. The first character is hard to discern...but with a jewelers loupe, it reads A44295, it also has no seat post binder.

Here is a lousy picture of a tankless 5 bar with a Hawthorne badge:
http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g72/gormanao/?action=view&current=5Bar.jpg
Aluminum bars,fenders and pie plate chainguard.

Shawn thanks for getting this thread started. I don't know much, but here is my 3 cents on the Superframe 4 Bar/5bar subject. The first is my girls, it's a '41 or '42 I think. As stated in the other thread it has the later style 2 spring Monark fork and a standard style seat post clamp. S# is C83791 or could be a 083791.



the 2nd one I'm guessing is a '39 or '40 since it has the early fork w/ the horizontal spring and the seat post is a clincher style. S# is C59069. We refer to it as the doner bike, it was someone elses project and is in parts and primer, but has most of the missing stuff we need to restore the Airman.





3rd, is the Airman. It is late '39 I'm told and was called the Comet as shown in the '39 Spiegel Catalog. I have yet to find a S# on it since it has the rare rear suspension and no numbers are stamped on the rear yoke/dropout area where most other numbers were found, and the under crank area where other numbers have been found is heavily coated with grease and dirt at this point. We do plan to start a careful clean up and teardown for restoration next month, so I will post any numbers if found.

RMS37 said:

This is the H.P. Snyder built version of the 5-Bar Hawthorne and it is not Monark built. All of the Monark built versions feature the cradled crank hanger. Both Snyder and Cleveland Welding (several differences also separate the 5-bar frames built by these two manufacturers) versions of the bike are constructed along more conventional lines.

Click to expand...

You are correct. This is a Snyder built frame made exclusively for Hawthorne and Montgomery Wards. I had forgotten this to be the case and I'm sure a frequent mistake made because of the similarities in the Monark and Snyder built frames. Thanks for the reminder.


1918 Ranger