# Dating an Elgin...same old question



## Armadillo (Jun 25, 2010)

Hello folks,

I was wondering if anyone could answer the same old question for me:  What year is this Elgin?  I recently purchased it sight unseen assuming it was prewar or wartime.  Then I thought all Elgin's of that era had Truss rod forks.  Anyone have any input?  It's my first pre-1950's bike and I'm eager to clean it up.  

-A. 









http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e369/orracle1/RAISING/Elgin2.jpg


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## RMS37 (Jun 25, 2010)

The bike is Westfield built so if you post the serial number from the bottom of the crank hanger it can be dated accurately. It is probably from just before or after the war. It looks like a good start but needs to have the fork straightened or replaced.


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## Armadillo (Jun 25, 2010)

Ack!  I didn't even notice how out of whack the fork looks.  And the dented fender is evidence to boot.  What are the chances of being able to straighten a bent fork tube? I guess it depends on whether or not it is cracked.  I'll report back with the serial number when I pick it up.  I might have to trade it for the Challenger in my other post.  

-A.


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## RMS37 (Jun 25, 2010)

Forks are generally repairable and there are several ways to fix them. There are a number of posts on this forum expressly about this question. The key to a good repair is to be carefull when you assess the damage to determine if the damage is only in the steerer tube or the fork blades or both and to make sure the repair adresses all the effected areas.


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## bairdco (Jun 25, 2010)

or you can just spin the bars around backwards and run it into a wall a coupla times.


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## 53Phantom (Jun 25, 2010)

Nice bike! Looks allot like my '42 Elgin but i think yours may be earlier.


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## Armadillo (Jul 1, 2010)

I finally took a minute to write down the serial number:  K 80867

If anyone can do something with that number, I would greatly appreciate it.  
I'm going to make some urethane dies for my flypress and gently bump the forks back into position cold.  It looks as thought the bend is mainly in the fork arms and not in the steer tube, but I haven't yet taken it apart.  

Thanks for the help.  

-A


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## Strings-n-Spokes (Jul 1, 2010)

bairdco said:


> or you can just spin the bars around backwards and run it into a wall a coupla times.



take the fender off first


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## RMS37 (Jul 1, 2010)

This is what i expected; K80867 falls in the Westfield serial number codes between K5000 and K256116 which are the serial numbers assigned to 1946. This means your bike was produced in roughly the first third of 1946 and is one of the very early postwar bikes sold by Sears under the Elgin brand before the cycle line was rebranded as J.C. Higgins.

The first bikes out the door after WW2 were generally simply equipped in an attempt to turn as much raw material into as many saleable units as possible. Many of the deluxe features that characterize postwar bicycles were gradually added as content during the later 40's


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## RMS37 (Jul 1, 2010)

It looks like the rear hub may be a Morrow, if so the hub should have a date code consisting of a letter followed by a number (1 through 4, indicating the year and quarter the hub was produced). In another post I have been trying to determine when Morrow returned to chrome finished hubs after producing black "parkerized" hubs during the war.


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## Armadillo (Jul 1, 2010)

Phil,

Wow, that is tremendous information.  I'm very excited about fixing this bike up and knowing quite a bit more about it is very helpful.  

-A


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## Armadillo (Jul 22, 2010)

Hey everyone, 

I just picked up a Hawthorne that looks to be of the same era as my elgin.  Strangely, to my eye which I thought I had trained to identify at least the general frame characteristics associated with different names,  my Hawthorne side by side with my Elgin is remarkably similar.  I understand that single companies were making frames for different sellers, but I didn't realize the frame design could be so close in form.


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