# Hawthorne bicycle



## npence (Mar 13, 2010)

This is a Hawthorne Bicycle wondering if some one can help me figure out what kind of Hawthorne it is and maybe what year it was made. any Info would be great. thanks


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## RMS37 (Mar 13, 2010)

Your bike was made by the Cleveland Welding Company for Montgomery Ward. The serial number on the crank hanger will help pin down the manufacturing date which is probably between late 1938 and 1939. The mechanisms attached to the bike appear to be part of an old stationary exercise device designed to add resistance to pedaling when the rear wheel is elevated.


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## npence (Mar 13, 2010)

How do you read the serial number to find the date of  the Bicycle.


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## rustyspoke66 (Mar 13, 2010)

Great bike, whats its story?


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## RMS37 (Mar 13, 2010)

Pre-war CWC serial numbers are generally 5 digits preceded by a letter. There is no factory chart currently available in the hobby correlating serial numbers to dates but the numbers do appear to be sequential in nature so bikes can be dated relative to each other by comparison. These correlations combined with the features of the bikes themselves allows for a reasonable projection of when a particular bike was made.


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## npence (Mar 14, 2010)

thanks rms37 I read your post over on ratrod forum thanks for all the info what would something like this sell for.


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