Alienbaby17
Finally riding a big boys bike
I like old Hawthornes. Over the last couple of years I've collected about half-a-dozen of them without really trying. They seem to find me. I definitely have more older Schwinns and a few coveted Elgins but there's something about the Hawthornes that speaks to me. I also really like old cars. I was trying to explain the 'Hawthorne thing' to a car buddy and equated it to someone that liked old Plymouths. There's nothing really flashy about them but they're reliable, respectable and usually pretty cheap.
A few months ago a friend picked up my most recent Hawthorne for me. My friend is a former professional bicycle mechanic of twenty years and a passionate collector of old junk. He is also a wicked enabler of my bicycle hoarding and I couldn't be happier about that. He found this bike at a thrift-type store near Duluth Minnesota for $20. He bought it and hauled it back home for me thinking it was actually an Elgin. Once I gave it a closer look and did a little research I discovered that the bike (at least the frame) is actually a 1941 Hawthorne.
The bicycle was an amazing collection of mis-matched parts. From what I could tell the frame may have been the only original pre-war Hawthorne part on it. Someone thought that the fork was possibly off a Colson? The front wheel has an early Schwinn hub. The sprocket looks to be a '60's Murray built (Hawthorne). The seat is some awful banana seat unit that may have originally accompanied the bars. Who knows? It was a real.....project someone had compiled.
Once I discovered it was actually a pre-war Hawthorne it made me a little sad. I currently have no shortage of bicycle projects but I decided to pick at this one a bit in my spare time to try to give it back of some of its original dignity.
This is the photo my friend sent me the day he bought it.
A few months ago a friend picked up my most recent Hawthorne for me. My friend is a former professional bicycle mechanic of twenty years and a passionate collector of old junk. He is also a wicked enabler of my bicycle hoarding and I couldn't be happier about that. He found this bike at a thrift-type store near Duluth Minnesota for $20. He bought it and hauled it back home for me thinking it was actually an Elgin. Once I gave it a closer look and did a little research I discovered that the bike (at least the frame) is actually a 1941 Hawthorne.
The bicycle was an amazing collection of mis-matched parts. From what I could tell the frame may have been the only original pre-war Hawthorne part on it. Someone thought that the fork was possibly off a Colson? The front wheel has an early Schwinn hub. The sprocket looks to be a '60's Murray built (Hawthorne). The seat is some awful banana seat unit that may have originally accompanied the bars. Who knows? It was a real.....project someone had compiled.
Once I discovered it was actually a pre-war Hawthorne it made me a little sad. I currently have no shortage of bicycle projects but I decided to pick at this one a bit in my spare time to try to give it back of some of its original dignity.
This is the photo my friend sent me the day he bought it.