# 1951 Roadmaster



## GoodLifeBikes (Oct 8, 2021)

Picked up this Roadmaster yesterday. Should be a fun little project.


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## juvela (Oct 8, 2021)

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thanks very much for sharing this new arrival

at first glance thought it to be a pastel green then saw where you had wiped the shell that it looks to be white

this is the first time have seen Monitor brakes

they appear to be the Sheerline model





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						VeloBase.com - Component: Monitor Sheerline
					





					velobase.com
				




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## 49autocycledeluxe (Oct 8, 2021)

cool bike. I have never seen one before.


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## Oilit (Nov 10, 2021)

There was one of these on Ebay recently, but this is a bike you don't see very often and it looks original except for the paint. I think AMF quit building lightweights after 1953 in favor of importing English bikes, and didn't start back until sometime in the later '60's. Going by Phil's chart, this is late '51 or maybe early '52. Have you got any good close-ups of the rear hub? I'm guessing that's a Hercules Synchro-Shift trigger so the hub may be Hercules too. Thanks for posting!


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## Oilit (Nov 11, 2021)

Here's a page out of the 1952 catalog (from an Ebay listing).


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## GoodLifeBikes (Apr 24, 2022)

Oilit said:


> There was one of these on Ebay recently, but this is a bike you don't see very often and it looks original except for the paint. I think AMF quit building lightweights after 1953 in favor of importing English bikes, and didn't start back until sometime in the later '60's. Going by Phil's chart, this is late '51 or maybe early '52. Have you got any good close-ups of the rear hub? I'm guessing that's a Hercules Synchro-Shift trigger so the hub may be Hercules too. Thanks for posting!






Looks like Sturmey Archer


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## Oilit (Apr 25, 2022)

GoodLifeBikes said:


> View attachment 1613227
> Looks like Sturmey Archer



I've seen more '53/54 Flying Falcons with Brampton hubs, but I've seen a couple with Sturmey-Archer also, so I'd guess that's original to the bike. CWC (and AMF) must have bought them wherever they could, maybe that's why the catalog just says "English three speed". Schwinn offered three speeds on the New World from before WWII, but the CWC catalogs don't show three speeds on the lightweights until sometime after the war. I wonder if that industrial green paint means it was used in a manufacturing plant?


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## Oilit (May 13, 2022)

It looks like your hub is dated 1953, but according to Phil Marshall's list, the serial would date to the end of 1951. That seems like a big gap, but these may not have been fast selling bikes. For 1953 AMF named the lightweight the "Whippet".


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## SirMike1983 (May 13, 2022)

Interesting looking wheelset - alloy hub, double-butted spokes, and grey rims (alloy? stainless? or dull plating?). Rim spec is 599mm (the old 26 x 1.375), which was long in the tooth by the 1950s (Schwinn going to 597mm, others importing English bikes with 590mm, etc). Bike has been housepainted, but it's something you find often enough. What is the writing on the calipers? Looks like the boys' model was 21 inch frame only (no tall frame option). Neat project.


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## Oilit (May 13, 2022)

SirMike1983 said:


> Interesting looking wheelset - alloy hub, double-butted spokes, and grey rims (alloy? stainless? or dull plating?). Rim spec is 599mm (the old 26 x 1.375), which was long in the tooth by the 1950s (Schwinn going to 597mm, others importing English bikes with 590mm, etc). Bike has been housepainted, but it's something you find often enough. What is the writing on the calipers? Looks like the boys' model was 21 inch frame only (no tall frame option). Neat project.



I noticed those rims as well. It looks like the English lightweights flooding the market in the early '50's put paid to that size. But I still don't know when they were introduced. Maybe 1939?


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## SirMike1983 (May 13, 2022)

Just noticed the interesting hooked brake pad holders as well - interesting approach to limit the caliper flex. John Bull pad holders sometimes came with ears on them, but that system that hooks to the flat blade fork is new to me.


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## Oilit (May 13, 2022)

Here's a Whippet that was on Ebay a while back showing a better view of the name on the brakes. These two CWC/AMF lightweights are the only bikes I've seen with those brakes, but I don't see many late '40's/early '50's American lightweights in any case.


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