# 1944 Dayton



## 37fleetwood (May 24, 2006)

I just rode my 1944 Dayton for the first time today. rode great!! I went about a mile or so and no problems except I need to re adjust the bottom bracket a bit. what a wonderful bike. for those of you who aren't familiar, it was made during the war and has no chrome and no accessories at all, just fenders. I went with red with white trim. this one was a civilian model apparently. I'll see if I can get some photos up soon.
thanx.


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## 37fleetwood (May 25, 2006)

here is an older photo from about a week or so ago. 




boy is it red!!!
Scott


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## MartyW (May 26, 2006)

*Nice*

Looks good Scott, I was expecting an OD green bike that was all blacked out  What type of hubs are on it?

Marty W


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## 37fleetwood (May 26, 2006)

it has a Morrow rear and a New Departure front.


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## 37fleetwood (May 28, 2006)

you would have to ask my paint guy about that!:eek:


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## 37fleetwood (Feb 26, 2007)

Did anyone notice the 1942 Dayton military bike on ebay? 170084733939
It is a little different from my 1944 civilian model. it looks like it has a Columbia sprocket and the chain guard looks like the ones used on the late '40s Daytons. I wonder which of the differences are the year difference and which due to the military vs. civilian thing? I'll have to get more photos posted now that the bike is more together. 
Scott


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## ejlwheels (Feb 26, 2007)

I saw that auction.

Is there a way to tell what year a Huffman frame is by serial #s or characteristics of the frame?  I think mine is a '40-'41 but how can I know?


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## AntonyR (Feb 27, 2007)

MartyW said:


> Looks good Scott, I was expecting an OD green bike that was all blacked out  What type of hubs are on it?
> 
> Marty W




I was wondering if anyone had a picture or knows about wartime paint schemes.
I've got a mid '40s Roadmaster that was completely painted- handlebars, gooseneck, wheels, hubs(ND f + R). The only thing not painted was the chainring and crank. It had many layers of different colors, except for the hubs that are flat black, which I can tell is original. I stripped the wheels and the handlebars and they arent chrome underneath, but the gooseneck is. The original paint on the wheels was white with a broad black pinstripe on both sides. The handlebars were flat black. Would it be normal to have a bike during that time with everything blacked out and white wheels? I wonder if those wheels started out white and got blacked out before it left the factory? There is no trace of paint on the spokes or nipples. I havent seen any pictures of Roadmasters with painted wheels.


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## Monarkguy (Feb 27, 2007)

I have no idea, but during WW2, as I'm sure many of you know, chrome was not used on the last of the cars being made because of te war effort to save materials. Some cars had wooden boards as bumpers. 
Why not "No chrome" on bicycles and other things being produced as well?


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## 37fleetwood (Feb 28, 2007)

ok, every ones answers in one post.
first question: the year of the bike frame posted by ejlwheels, your frame is between 1941 and 1947 the chainguard came out in 1940 so it isn't earlier. the 1940's had a welded on kick stand kinda like the Schwinns. 1941 and 1942 had bolt on kick stands. starting somewhere in the 1943-44 area the frames were changed a bit. my 1944 has a slightly larger rear dropout than the earlier years as well as the seat binder is like the '50s bikes not the brazed on type of the pre-war bikes and the attach point on the rear fender is also curved like the '50s bikes not like the prewar frames which had a small piece of straight tubing with a hole in it for the fender to bolt to. so if yours has the straight tube to attach the rear fender to I would say 1941-42 (1943-45 would be a military bike or a no chrome civilian model like mine was). if your frame has the curved fender mount than I would guess later like 1947.

second question: war time paint schemes were basically the same as regular production except there were no metalics allowed so no silver, just basic colors. the other option was O.D. green O.D.=Olive Drab. all chrome trim was black.

Third Question: there were no Roadmasters at all! only two companies were allowed to make bicycles during the war years. those two were Columbia, and Huffman. some of the parts makers were allowed to make some limited parts to keep existing bikes going since they were considered an essential form of transportation. you will find some blacked out stuff on early post war bikes since demand was high and new bikes were scarce. most early post war stuff was basically left over pre war stuff.

last question: you are right about chrome. during the war years the U.S. Government declared copper and nickel to be used only for war purposes. the chroming process usually involved a copper then nickel then Chrome plate.
Scott


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## ejlwheels (Mar 1, 2007)

*dayton frame ID by year*

What about this frame?  It has a straight downtube, which seems to only exist on frames '39 and earlier (possibly still sold during the war as overstock), and yet it has a curved fender mount.


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## 37fleetwood (Mar 2, 2007)

good question. the first answer is, I have put together most of what I know from what I've seen and heard so none of this is set in stone. you would think that if the straight bar was left over stuff the frame would have been complete and not assembled from a frame as early as 1939 with the rear being the wartime or postwar type. those front halves should have been long gone. my uneducated guess from what i've seen is that Huffman used the straight downtube frame on the very low models and promotional models for many years and yours could be one of those from 1944 - 1948 or so. the other option is you have a bare frame, are you sure you have a Huffman frame? alot of frames when stripped look alot alike. I had a frame I thought for years was a Huffman until I had one I knew to be a Huffman frame and set it beside the other one and it was just slightly different. it turned out to be a Cleveland welding frame. the ol' tin bender bought a frame some time ago with a "bee-hive" springer on it and it wasn't until we got it here that we realized that it was an old Huffman made Western Flyer frame. I even posted here at the cabe asking if anyone knew what it was and got all kinds of answers. 
Scott


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## ejlwheels (Mar 2, 2007)

that frame with the straight bar is on ebay (although, seems a bit pricey).

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...EWA:PIC&viewitem=&item=190087490514&rd=1&rd=1

the space for the tank looks more like the
older 3-rib tank rather than the newer 1940
mainliner/champion style tank that is slightly
taller at the front like this one, also on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220087830456

this 2nd frame is identical to mine.


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## 37fleetwood (Mar 2, 2007)

ok the red frame with the green fork is verry wrong I just looked at the photo of the fork and head tube. look at those welds!!! Huffman had Bronze welds those look almost like they arent brazed at all almost look steel. I have no idea what that thing is but it is not like any of the 20 or so Huffman bikes I have ever had, or the hundreds I've seen!:eek: 
Scott


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## 37fleetwood (Mar 2, 2007)

the other bike is pretty correct. the rack is wrong the light is wrong the stem and bars are wrong. the rest looks original. looks to be a 1941. 
Scott


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## 37fleetwood (Mar 2, 2007)

here is a photo of one of my frames. all of the ones I've seen have been welded this smooth and nice:


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## 37fleetwood (Mar 2, 2007)

I have bought many of these frames for around $50.00. the Dixie Flyer was in the $20.00 range.


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## ejlwheels (Mar 2, 2007)

That 2nd ebay frame has a curved rear fender mount like mine.


What year do you think this twin-flex is?
It also has a curved rear fender mount.
I realize it has a later model fork on it.


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## 37fleetwood (Mar 2, 2007)

the curved rear mount on the twin flex photo is a bent tube not the curved brace used later. twin flexes were made from late 1938 through 1940. this one is most likely a 1939 since it doesn't have the welded on kick stand. and you are correct about the bike on ebay it looks to have the curved brace. here are two photos of frames I have. the first I got from eazywind (Marc) the second is my 1944 (I am assuming because of the date on the rear hub (sept 43)) Dayton. I have considered that the differences are not because of year but something else however year seems to be the best explanation.
Scott


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## 37fleetwood (Aug 6, 2007)

updated photos 






Scott


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## 37fleetwood (Apr 17, 2008)

*New Photos*


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## 37fleetwood (Apr 17, 2008)

Scott


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## old hotrod (Apr 17, 2008)

Excuse me sir, it appears from the photo that you are in violation of wartime blackout rules. Please remove the chrome bell before the enemy spots it...


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## 37fleetwood (Apr 18, 2008)

Yeah I know about the bell, I should probably find a painted one. also I wanted to mention about the crank. notice in the photo that the crank is very rough and not polished like you would expect? I'm assuming it was this way since it wasn't going to be chromed. before I cleaned it up the paint was much thicker. I also didn't rebuild the wheels because they were in such decent shape and no one that I've heard has ever seen a civilian balloon tire war era bike most all you see are military or lightweights.I left the wheels so no one could say it was made up, and I got the hub off ebay and built me a war bike. this bike is fairly different from a military issue bike. first this bike was never O.D. green and all military bikes were delivered green and changed if needed (the navy painted theirs blue etc.), mine was red inside the head tube and bottom bracket so I went with red. the bike had been repainted blue when I got it. another difference is the military issue bikes have the year stamped under the serial on the bottom bracket, mine just has the serial number. I added the tank because I had it and liked it. the tank is also different from the earlier bikes in that it doesn't have the vents at the front. I suppose at a stretch it could be possible that the tank is about right if they changed the frame design and the tank at the same time. I have a rack and will probably add it though it may never have had one. if you have a wartime Huffman or Columbia I would love to see it. post photos here if you like.
Scott


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## ejlwheels (Apr 18, 2008)

This link has some good war bike photos and info:

http://www.theliberator.be/militarybicycles.htm


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## old hotrod (Apr 18, 2008)

Scott, I have also seen black chrome plated as well as painted bells of the period. Still a very cool bike- I would love to have it despite the shiney bell...LOL


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## 37fleetwood (May 30, 2008)

Well, I finally got around to putting the rack on. I think it looks better. next is to pin stripe it. it has gotten a few scratches since then I may just pull it apart again and touch up the paint.
Scott


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