# Roadmaster expert please..... w/pic & ser#



## BWbiker (Jan 12, 2008)

Here is the frame pic, ser#A08469. Any help is appreciated!


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## AntonyR (Jan 13, 2008)

*'39 Mens Deluxe*

It could have sold as late as 1941 as leftover stock, and it's possible that it was available in 1938, but the closest dating would be '39-40. The 3 gill is the right tank, gothic fenders with curved braces, with a drop stand clip in the rear fender. The drop stand is the one with the shoulder bolts that screw into the frame. The rear rack would be the square reflector version with the rear shroud, but most likely just the standard rack with no reflector mount, either one with curved braces to match the fender braces. It most likely wouldn't have come with a Shockmaster fork, since that is a '40s item, unless you wanted the later version bike. That bike most likely came with the 
"swan" style fork, that held the truss rods. The handlebars are the longhorn style, not the U shaped one, Coke bottle grips. The chain guard could have been the type that clamps horizontally around the rear drop-out in chrome, but most likely the winged, painted one that clamped vertically to the lower chain stay. Torpedo headlight. "Flying Teardrop" skip-tooth chainring, dog leg crank, most likely Torrington 10 or Pearson Supreme pedals.  Double-drop rims, New Departure hubs(most likely), Troxel saddle with either the cupped style rear springs for the later version or a long-spring, since it was a transitional era, and there were a lot of changes between the '30 and the '40s. The bottom line is you could use '30s era parts or prewar '40s era parts and still have a correct bike, or at least period correct, since the original paint isnt in tact.






This is an older picture of my '41. I has the wrong seat, later wartime blacked out hubs and pedals.(parts I thought were correct at the time) It now has the correct chrome parts and the correct Troxel seat. I had to learn too, getting what I thought were the right parts, then changing them out as I learned more. I started out with a house-painted bare frame too. Just don't be in a hurry, you'll find all the right parts eventually!







And now, finished, and bad-ass.


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## BWbiker (Jan 13, 2008)

*Roadmaster 39-40*

Thank you Anthony! Nice bike you have there. Maybe I need to find a 41frame! I have more parts for that year bike.


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## AntonyR (Jan 13, 2008)

If you see it on my bike, you can use it on yours and you'd still be correct. Besides the down tube, our frames are identical, so not more than a year(probably) separates them. The shape of your two upper bars and a straight down bar makes it a '39 frame at the earliest, and would most likely have come with the same parts as mine so use the stuff that you have! Do you have a tank yet? If not, it may take a while, since that will probably be your single most expensive investment for that bike.... When you finally find one!


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## militarymonark (Jan 13, 2008)

anthony what year is mine


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## militarymonark (Jan 13, 2008)

and BW i think I found your tank but you have to take the whole bike well at least buy the whole bike from a friend of mine and I can send you the tank I think its 50 bucks


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## AntonyR (Jan 13, 2008)

MM- I'll take that bike if BWBiker doesn't want it because I can use that tank to finish a project of my own...


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## militarymonark (Jan 13, 2008)

the badge is a hard ware company and its not hiawatha its a cleveland welding frame Im pretty sure


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## AntonyR (Jan 13, 2008)

Hiawatha = Cleveland Welding (some by Shelby too)
It looks like a CW built private label, a re-badged Hawthorne by the looks of the chainring and guard.


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## militarymonark (Jan 14, 2008)

cool what year its a complete bike I know that


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## AntonyR (Jan 14, 2008)

Unfortunately its just guesswork, without an actual dated store catalog, or something like that to go by. Just looking at it my guess is either very late prewar to early postwar. When I have a bike that could go either way like that, I just call it a 'war time' bike.


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## militarymonark (Jan 14, 2008)

well you can't call it a war time bike because it would have had blacked out hubs and sprocket and prob no tank or rack at least I've never seen a war time bike with all the good stuff on it


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## AntonyR (Jan 14, 2008)

I don't mean it like 'during war', I mean it as in 'around the time of WWII', either near the beginning or shortly after. If you'd rather, just call it a '40s Cleveland Weld. That's probably as close as you're gonna come to dating it anyway.


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## AntonyR (Jan 14, 2008)

militarymonark said:


> well you can't call it a war time bike because it would have had blacked out hubs and sprocket and prob no tank or rack at least I've never seen a war time bike with all the good stuff on it




Here's my 'wartime' Western Flier. It has a prewar headbadge, but it doesn't have the dropstand ears on the rear dropouts like my '41 Roadmaster. It has black-out hubs and pedals, including wooden pedal blocks. CW didn't produce any bikes during WWII, so is it a prewar or postwar bike? I don't know because I haven't seen another one like it. If someone asks, I just call it a wartime bike, and let them figure it out...


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## Langsmer (Jan 14, 2008)

Double post


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## Langsmer (Mar 4, 2008)

AntonyR, did you restore your bike using a stencil kit? Any idea where I might hunt one down? I'm going to start into one of these bikes (_exactly_ like Militarymonark's if you know what I mean) as soon as it comes in in the mail .


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## AntonyR (Mar 4, 2008)

*The elusive Roadmaster stencil*



Langsmer said:


> AntonyR, did you restore your bike using a stencil kit? Any idea where I might hunt one down? I'm going to start into one of these bikes (_exactly_ like Militarymonark's if you know what I mean) as soon as it comes in in the mail .




I started asking people that were selling stencils of other makes on ebay and never got any responses. I asked Memory Lane. No luck. I finally found a catalog picture of what my bike was supposed to look like, then bit the bullet. I bought some high quality spray paint that matched the colors I was after, along with 4", and 1" 3M blue masking tape, black automotive vinyl pin striping, black acrylic paint and a fine brush. I had the frame and parts bead blasted, I primered everything 2 coats and scotch brited it, then sprayed the light areas, then masked them off while looking at the picture to  keep it  real(sort of speak) using a razor blade,  then sprayed the darker color, removed the masking, then used the pin striping between them. The acrylic is to join the edges of the pin striping and to give it a little tail on the end so it looks semi-hand done. I dunno. I like how it came out. People seem to like it.


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## Langsmer (Mar 4, 2008)

Sounds like thats what I will have to do. It will just be a rider anyway. Thanks for the info!


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## JOEL (Mar 5, 2008)

That frame is earlier than the ones you guys posted. Notice the straight down tube?


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## AntonyR (Mar 5, 2008)

*Thanks*



JOEL said:


> That frame is earlier than the ones you guys posted. Notice the straight down tube?



We know. I covered that in my first post. While the pic you posted is a '39-'40, mine, having the only difference from your frame, a curved down tube, making it a '40-42.


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## JOEL (Mar 5, 2008)

Sorry, missed that.


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