# Dayton Huffman Top Flite Project.



## ace (Nov 26, 2011)

. Anybody have a crows beak chain guard for sale or trade to help me complete my project? I have a '38 Firestone Twin-Flex parts bike to use as trade bait or plain old cash. 
My research tells me it's a 39 Huffman Top Flite model bike. I'm finding some og paint under the red barn paint and will save as much as I can. I also have the alminum fender light for it so all I need is the c'guard and many hours of paint chipping. Thanks!
Ace


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## bentwoody66 (Nov 26, 2011)

You lucked into that one!!! Nice bike, the '39s are hard to come by. I may be wrong but the fork looks different than mine. I still have my fork if you need it. Is it badged a Davis Flyer? If you ever want to turn loose of it keep me in mind


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## ace (Nov 26, 2011)

bentwoody66 said:


> You lucked into that one!!! Nice bike, the '39s are hard to come by. I may be wrong but the fork looks different than mine. I still have my fork if you need it. Is it badged a Davis Flyer? If you ever want to turn loose of it keep me in mind




Yes it's a Davis Flyer. I questioned the fork also. Looks like a schwinn fork and no truss rods. Did yours have a dayton style fork?  I have a ladies spring fork stamped 38 i was thinking of using but not sure i want to change the fender braces? I would be interested in your fork if it's the correct one. Please send me a pic and your infor on buying it. Thanks for your help.


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## 37fleetwood (Nov 26, 2011)

the fork is fine, Huffman used Ashtabula style forks on some bikes during that period. the catalog only shows the regular Huffman type fork but I have several bikes that have the fork you have, and have seen several others. I always assumed that it was found on the lower line bikes, but your bike would appear to be a Top-Flite which was the third in line to the top bike. in Huffmans the lower the number the higher level the bike. the top bike for 1939 was the Model 1, next the Model 11, then the Model 21. the Model 1 was the top Twin-Flex, the Model 11 was the very first Champion, then the Top-Flite. interestingly your bike appears to have the 1940 tank, which may indicate a late '39 early '40 manufacture date. the 1940 tank deletes the screw on brackets to hold the front of the tank to the frame in favor of a design which snaps into the frame and has bumps to center the tank at the front. if your bike has it's original wheels it may have a Morrow rear hub which seems to be the most common. this may help pin it down further.


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## 55tbird (Nov 27, 2011)

*Looking Good!!*

Hey Ace, Bike looks great!!! You must have some great pickers out there. Thanks again for all your help.   Mike


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## bentwoody66 (Dec 11, 2011)

Hey Scott, wouldn't a '40 not have the dropstand tabs on the rear dropouts? If so I'm a little confused. Also I'm not seeing the raised "nubs" on the front of the tank like Im used to seeing on the later bikes.


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## 37fleetwood (Dec 11, 2011)

do you like this model better






I guess that wasn't really very helpful.
I have done this before but maybe it was a long time ago and it's time again.
these catalogs were not for consumer eyes, they were for prospective wholesale buyers. Say you were a Mom and Pop grocery store, and you wanted to sell a few bikes because the nearest Sears catalog store was in the next town over. what do you do? you contact one of the bicycle manufacturers and they send out a salesman who drives around his area to various stores selling the Brand X line. when he gets there he shows you this catalog and asks you what you think you could sell, and makes suggestions based on this catalog.
now lets get a bit more specific. say the salesman comes by and Pop says "Boy! I sure like the look of the Top Flite line but they are just too expensive, what can we do? the salesman pulls out a couple sheets of paper like these.








the salesman says, that's no problem, why don't you order the Model 31 which is cheaper and we'll add a few of the nicer parts, like the deluxe fenders and lit rack. "Giant Balloon Enamel "A" decoration fenders are only $0.35 more per bike! the kick stand instead of the drop stand is only $0.20, and the lit rack is only $0.90! since the Model 31 is cheaper, you'll save a bit on every bike! so Pop orders his 10 bikes for that year model, and they're slightly different from any others because no one uses these "Confidential Cost Sheets" exactly the same every time, and the sales man is on commission so he does whatever it takes to get Pop to buy a few bikes.
of course this is all speculation but these price adjustment sheets are real, and the bike looks authentic, and it doesn't really fit the catalog very well, and it's all we have to go on.


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## ace (Dec 12, 2011)

37fleetwood said:


> do you like this model better
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Just want to clarify the pics of my Top Flite. I only have one side of the tank on it to get a quick pic. It has the brackets that hold the other side of the tank to the frame. It looks just like the first catalog pic minus the guard. Still looking for that guard to complete this beautiful bicycle. Thanks!


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## 37fleetwood (Dec 12, 2011)

actually it's not like the Top Flite at all. this was the point of Bentwoody66's question. he was right to point out that your bike has the cheaper frame with the drop stand mount points. a Top Flite would not likely have those. this also plays into my issue of that fork being used on lower level bikes. at best you could say that your bike isn't built as depicted in the catalog. experience tells me that it also isn't built like any of the many Huffmans I've run across in real life.
you can make a big deal out of this, or not depending on how closely you want the bike to match the catalog model.


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## ace (Dec 12, 2011)

37fleetwood said:


> actually it's not like the Top Flite at all. this was the point of Bentwoody66's question. he was right to point out that your bike has the cheaper frame with the drop stand mount points. a Top Flite would not likely have those. this also plays into my issue of that fork being used on lower level bikes. at best you could say that your bike isn't built as depicted in the catalog. experience tells me that it also isn't built like any of the many Huffmans I've run across in real life.
> you can make a big deal out of this, or not depending on how closely you want the bike to match the catalog model.




I noticed the pics of the model 31 show a straight down tube. Mine has the slight curves. Any significants to the model? Also, my rear fender never had a drop stand clip. Also want to point out my bike has the big fenders and the deluxe paint scheme.


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## 37fleetwood (Dec 12, 2011)

a friend and I discussed your bike at length last night and we discussed everything you mention. I agree it isn't exactly a Model 31 but it doesn't fit Model 21 either. so that leaves us back where I was kinda leading. Huffman would sell you whatever you wanted on whatever frame you wanted. there is no curved down tube frame with drop stand tabs in the catalog. again speculative, imagine Model 31 later in the year, Huffman decides not to build a new run of straight downtube frames but has some of the drop stand rear end stuff, and putting a curved tube in is an upgrade so they do it without a second thought. in 1940, there are no 26" frames at all with straight downtubes. when they ran out of the straight tubes they switched to the curved ones for everything, they wouldn't have bothered to make more on a bike that was gone in a few months anyway.
I don't know what you want to hear, Huffman was a small manufacturer, many of the bikes you find fit the catalogs well, some do not. yours is one of the ones that do not. there are several possibilities, we know from the sheets I posted above that Huffman would build any bike with any parts the dealer wanted. your bike fits somewhere into that reality. your frame and fork are from a lower level bike, your fenders rack seat paint scheme and handle bars are from an upper level bike, yet all of it looks like it came together. unlike Schwinn, this really doesn't matter much as far as it's value goes. you can look at it two ways, either it will be impossible to really know what accessories it would have had, or you have carte blanche reign on putting anything from that year on it. there is no way anyone will be able to say that's wrong, or it shouldn't have that light, etc...


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## pedal alley (Dec 12, 2011)

*Huffman Bicycles Rule !*

nice cycle, man.
important fact remains ;
it is a Huffman.


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## Crytek21 (Dec 12, 2011)

Pretty great! That was really a classic one. I'm glad you still have this files these days.


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## twjensen (Dec 13, 2011)

*yep*

Very nice bike, looks great.


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## videoranger (Dec 22, 2011)

Nice bike and should be a fun project. I really liked Scott's info which I think is very valid. It's great to see the documentation of catalog and dealer price sheets combined with personal first hand observations to help flesh out the process of how these bikes were ordered and equipped. Definitely a nice find.


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## tobytyler (Dec 22, 2011)

*huffman fork*

can anyone tell me why the inside fork is rolled over like that seems strange thanks toby .t


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## scrubbinrims (Dec 22, 2011)

*upgrade?*

I have a complete 39 men's twinflex fork if you want to pimp your ride... 350.00 shipped.
Chris


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## 37fleetwood (Dec 22, 2011)

tobytyler said:


> can anyone tell me why the inside fork is rolled over like that seems strange thanks toby .t



if I'm not mistaken, that's a Wald generic replacement fork. it isn't a Huffman fork.


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## tobytyler (Dec 23, 2011)

ok thanks i thought it might be a aftermarket still looking for a tank going to memory lane monday with my christmas bonus merry christmas everyone toby


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## 37fleetwood (Dec 23, 2011)

there was just recently a tank here on the cabe, he may have sold it by now but it can't hurt to check. a tank shouldn't go for over $200.00
http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?21264-Huffman-Tank-FS


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## Balloonoob (Sep 17, 2019)

This is the only other rolled wald fork that I have seen besides my own.   Check it out!    

Wald Fork

The patent for the Wald rolled metal fork can be found on Google under patent # 2,561,710.

The patent for the fork was filed on November 2, 1948, and issued on July 24, 1951.


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