Does anyone know what the drinking on the job policy was at the Road Master factory?

bikewhorder · May 20, 2015

Based on the two prewar road master frames I have I'm guessing it was not only allowed but encouraged. I wasted an evening and a frame trying to fix some wacked out rear triangle alignment issues that could have only been welded in at that factory. When I gave up in disgust I examined the other frame I had and found it to be ef'ed up in much the same way. I can post some pictures later but you don't need a "good eye" to see how poorly these frames were welded up. I know the bar for build quality is set pretty low on some of these balloon tired bikes but based on what I've seen I'm ready to hand the prize for most craptasic frame construction to Road Master.

cds2323 · May 20, 2015

By any chance would you have a 1936 Roadmaster? The early 36 frames had the downtube and seat mast off center where they join into the bottom bracket. This causes the rear triangles to be asymmetrical to compensate. The frame isn't symmetrical like most other frames. Looks odd.

bikeyard · May 20, 2015

bikewhorder said:
Based on the two prewar road master frames I have I'm guessing it was not only allowed but encouraged. I wasted an evening and a frame trying to fix some wacked out rear triangle alignment issues that could have only been welded in at that factory. When I gave up in disgust I examined the other frame I had and found it to be ef'ed up in much the same way. I can post some pictures later but you don't need a "good eye" to see how poorly these frames were welded up. I know the bar for build quality is set pretty low on some of these balloon tired bikes but based on what I've seen I'm ready to hand the prize for most craptasic frame construction to Road Master.

To my knowledge drinking on the job was only allowed in Maine, and may still persist to this day

cds2323 · May 20, 2015

Here's a pic of an early 36 Roadmaster. There's about 1" on the drive side and about 5/8" the non drive side.

mike j · May 21, 2015

People did drink a lot more back then. They used to say, "never buy a car built on a monday or friday". Wonder if the same applied to bicycles?

rhenning · May 21, 2015

Maybe it is offset like that to get the chainline correct. It looks wrong but may have been built that way. Roger

bikewhorder · May 21, 2015

bikeyard said:
To my knowledge drinking on the job was only allowed in Maine, and may still persist to this day

No kidding, I know a guy who works for a pretty big fiberglass boat building company here and drinking on the job is totally ok. He said they had to crack down a bit after some guy fell off a ladder because he was drunk.

bikewhorder · May 21, 2015

cds2323 said:
By any chance would you have a 1936 Roadmaster? The early 36 frames had the downtube and seat mast off center where they join into the bottom bracket. This causes the rear triangles to be asymmetrical to compensate. The frame isn't symmetrical like most other frames. Looks odd.

One of them is an offset bottom bracket type, I was aware of those, but that's not the issue I'm having. One dropout is forward and lower than the other one by like a 1/4 inch (more forward than lower)! No amount of tweaking and pulling will correct it. As I was looking at it I noticed the lower rear stays were welded on with one side noticeably higher than the other where it attaches to the bottom bracket shell. And when I compared it to the other frame I had I noticed that one was even worse!

Conkity · May 28, 2015

cds2323, is that a flat tank?

vincev · May 28, 2015

I think the problem can be fixed by having a few drinks then it will look correct as it did to the drunk that assembled it.

Does anyone know what the drinking on the job policy was at the Road Master factory?

bikewhorder

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cds2323

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bikeyard

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mike j

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bikewhorder

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bikewhorder

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Conkity

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vincev

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