# Rollfast...V200??? ooooh Dr. Phil Help!!!



## Aeropsycho (Jun 3, 2009)

Hey Phil do you know if the bike in this picture is a "Twin Bar"/Blackhawk type frame or did Rollfast produce their own in 34/35 that was similar?

I have seen a image of a Columbia type twin/single different frame I was just wondering if you or anybody else on here had a Pic of a 34-35 Rollfast with a belly bar down tube like a blackhawk or did Rollfast use the same bike just put their name on it???

No,... I don't want to buy a book that has copies that I can't tell are good and  pics I already have... I need a good reference on Rollfast!!!


Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!


----------



## RMS37 (Jun 3, 2009)

Jamie, you?ve outdone yourself if you can lay claim to ?Bellybar?. That?s the best descriptor I?ve heard in ages!

If you invested in Classicrider?s Rollfast book, (I have one on my Father?s Day wish list) you would know that Snyder built a frame and bike that looks very much like a Westfield Airider/Elgin Blackhawk. Snyder referred to their version as a Tri-bar frame and their version of the tank as the Master tank. Both the frame and the tank are unique to Snyder. The frame has a single top tube from the head tube to the seat mast, the seat stays grow to top tube diameter as they rise and meld into the top tube about two inches in front of the seat mast. The juncture looks like a Shelby Airflo frame with the top tube continuing through to the seat mast. The tank is also different and the main visual difference is that the Westfield tank has a round nose while the Snyder tank has a squared off nose that aligns more closely with the head tube. Paint jobs also are a good indicator of which version you are looking at if none of the other details are visible

Both companies sold the bikes under several different badges. The Westfield version seems to be most prevalent in Elgin guise and the Snyder version was marketed by Mongomery Ward for several years as the Speedlined model. Snyder got extra mileage out of the tank by using it on a camel back, straight downtube frame in a variety of guises after the ?Bellybar? frame was dropped.

Also, and not to be confused with the Snyder frame, Westfield offered variations of their bike and their big tank with a single top tube and a wishbone seat stay configuration.

Lastly, it is obvious that someone copied someone. I would put my money on Westfield being first but I haven?t seen facts one way or the other


----------



## Aeropsycho (Jun 3, 2009)

*Secrets of the EARTH!!!... or bike crud...*

Thank You very much Dr. Phil!!!

I will have to invest in that book I was just not sure it had That Much info..
Sorry.

I would really like to make this bike I have the tank which is the same as the Hawthorne Speedline with no horn gills... If I can't make or find the frame I will just make a v200 like Tripletts I purchased the pic of Dave Ohrts Cream and black from the Evel one book I like it too I have never seen this bike only in the pic with the "Belly Bar" hmmmm maybe Chubby Checker coined it first I better watch out....


I coined the name McCracken... Consider yourself lucky that is not Your last name...


----------



## RMS37 (Jun 3, 2009)

I can?t speak personally yet for the Rollfast book (but my Father?s Day request has been pretty direct). I have talked with the producer and based on those conversations, Classic Bicycle News, and my strangely large collection of Snyder products, I think it will get well worn once I have it.

I also can?t speak for all the variations of the Snyder Master tank but I have seen two versions; the original which doesn?t have horn louvers because the early bikes used a pancake horn, and the later versions which have the louvers to let the sound out once the horn went indoors. 

I don?t know if any of the Bellybar (love that term) frames used louvered tanks. The late tanks used on straight down tube frames also have a piece of sheet metal channel affixed to the front/bottom of the tank that straddles the down tube and keeps the tank from swaying.

Also, the ?Ohrt bike? is now a Seattle area resident. After leaving the Midwest it was in a California collection for some time, then purchased in a package deal and moved to a Portland, OR collection for about 15 years. It was offered by that collector at our local Kent Swap last March and bought by one of our local collectors, I?m sure it will make an appearance on the LeMay lawn when we get to featuring Rollfast.


----------



## akikuro (Jun 3, 2009)

*great book*

I did order that Rollfast book and it's great. Solid content and high quality print job. Even a couple of good articles outlining the history and evolution of the company.

Now if we can get catalogs with 100% full color pages....we'd been cookin with gas


----------



## Classicriders (Jun 5, 2009)

Thereis an article in the May/June edition of Classic Bicycle News on the V-200 with a full page scan of an original catalog ad for the Zenith version.  Well worth picking up!  When you subscribe you get all the back issues of the year so you are caught up.

C.R.


----------

