# Seiberling Road King  Help



## Keebo (Oct 3, 2012)

Guys
I bought this Seiberling Road King and I am new at this so pleeeeeze help. Im having a heck of a time finding any kind of resources about this bike and would love to know the correct year and what this bike looked like originally. Not many pictures of this on the internet so if anyone could share some that would be great. I did find a couple of pics and they show it with a tank and i hope to find a tank for this. if anyone could help i would appreciate it and i will quit crying now


----------



## RMS37 (Oct 4, 2012)

This bike was manufactured by Cleveland Welding (CWC) for distribution and sale by the Seiberling Rubber Company. It is essentially a standard issue CWC bike using the second series post-war CWC 3-Gill pattern frame and the serial number places the build date in 1947, probably near the middle of that year. While the basic bike is common, the Seiberling badging is one of the less common badges that were used on these bikes.


  The CWC/Seiberling badged post-war bikes I have seen were built to fairly standard CWC specifications.  High specification versions of the bike would feature a headlight strut mounted to the fork crown so this bike was probably originally a mid-level or base-spec bike. The rear fender should have a central ridge which it does not appear to have. If there is no ridge then it is a replacement and not original to the bike. The chain guard is correct as is most of the rest of what is present. The bike may or may not have originally been tank equipped. If so equipped it would use the standard (year appropriate) postwar CWC 3-Gill tank.


----------



## cds2323 (Oct 4, 2012)

The bike was made by Cleveland Welding co.. The serial # indicates being made between 12/1946 & 2/1947. There is a serial # thread for Cleveland Welding on this site. I can't tell from what is left of the bike if it originally had a tank or not.


----------



## RMS37 (Oct 4, 2012)

cds2323 said:


> The bike was made by Cleveland Welding co.. The serial # indicates being made between 12/1946 & 2/1947. There is a serial # thread for Cleveland Welding on this site. I can't tell from what is left of the bike if it originally had a tank or not.




  It appears you are using the ABC reproduced Western Flyer booklet to date this bike.

  The caution is that those numbers and dates are likely transcribed from Western Autos distribution records by the distributor for Western Autos and not necessarily complete or accurate for the non-Western Flyer badged bicycles or necessarily supplied directly by the CWC factory. The dates may actually be order dates or delivery dates to the distributor and not factory production dates, unfortunately the source document does not explain specifically what the dates signify.  

  The other factor is that there are two different sequences for early Postwar “A” serialed bikes; those with the Cw suffix and those without. It appears that an initial series of bicycles were produced without the Cw stamp (around the dates you mentioned) and then the stamp was added a bit later (mid-1947 ?) and the serial counters were reset to zero. As a Cw bike, I believe it dates to a period just after the one you have noted.

  There is just not enough factory documentation available in the public domain to dial in the true production dates for CWC produced bicycles so I generally give my best estimate based on several sources (including the ABC booklet, it is very helpful) and try not to round closer than about a half year window.


----------



## Keebo (Oct 5, 2012)

Guys this is really good information and thank you for the response.  I do not have the peaked fenders as mentioned. i did get a matching ladies bike that does have these but they have holes in them and are rough but i would like to find these and buy them. You menitioned a couple of things and could you suggest how i might ask or look for these items since when i do a search specific to "Seiberling Road King" not much appears or if i put CWC, everything appears?
such as:
Gil Tank- would this be a specific tank as mentioned ((year appropriate) postwar CWC 3-Gill tank)? you commented on a cwc3 gil tank below and would that be the same style of tank (hope so cuz it groovy)?

http://host2.ministrycrm.com/~ratrodbi/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=44512&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

headlight strut mounted to the fork crown 
Peaked/ridge fenders
I also have an  offset cranks (on the other bike) i was told were possibly original to the bike. I will post these. Thanks again!


----------



## Rookie (Oct 5, 2012)

The first bicycle that got me started in the hobby was badged a Seiberling Road King.


----------



## Keebo (Oct 5, 2012)

More Pics please. awsome.. careful, may have many questions.


----------



## Keebo (Oct 5, 2012)




----------



## Keebo (Oct 5, 2012)

here is some wheels and hopefully spare part that i can use? ?=help...again all input is welcome.

bueno




peaked


----------



## Andrew Gorman (Oct 5, 2012)

I like the branch growing through the wheel!


----------



## Keebo (Oct 6, 2012)

Ya Drew im going to leave it there since its "original" to the bike..haha!


----------



## Keebo (Nov 4, 2012)

Phil and those with an opinion,

Wanted to get your opion on this statement and what i gather it states it wasnt made by CWC?? Or maybe there is another Road King? i dont have the pic he is refering to so that may clear the matter but anyones thoughts?

http://nbhaa.com/gtcc4.html
• Page 97... "1941 Western Flyers..." Almost all of the bicycles shown here were made by Cleveland Welding Company (NOT Murray) except for the "Road King" and "Road Queen" which were made by Huffman. It is a serious oversight that the book does not even mention these prominent bicycle makers. In fact, of the 19 different Western Flyer bicycle models listed in the official 1940-41 Western Auto Bicycle Manual used by dealers which NBHAA has, only one was made by Murray. There is an interesting tandem made by Colson. And a cycle-truck made by CWC.


----------



## 41OLDSTEED (Nov 4, 2012)

Hello ! While I'm not an expert on these Post war CWC Bikes...I can Tell you a Friend of Mine has 3 of them from this later 40's period...1st one is Badged as a Hawthorne...It was Picked up with Parts on it for a Whizzer Motor still attached...No Cw stamp...1946-47 is My best guess...2nd is a Hiawatha Badged frame with the Cw in the serial#...3rd is another Hawthorne Badged with a Comet style Tank...Later 40's also...If your Looking for Parts any of these Brands should be very Similar...Besides the Chainrings...Yours has a Roadmaster style...Made by CWC also...


----------



## Keebo (Nov 4, 2012)

Thanks Steed!


----------



## RMS37 (Nov 4, 2012)

Western Autos and Seiberling were both companies competing in the same commercial arena and both offered lines of bicycles supplied to them by a range of individual bicycle manufacturing firms. The use of the name Roadking on your bicycle’s badge and the use of the same name in the Western Autos literature is really just a naming coincidence occurring between two separate companies. The monikers “Road King” and “Road Queen” have probably been used as names for bicycles many times since the 1890’s in catalogs and/or on badges and do not alone carry any real or implied lineage between those so named units.

The excerpt you posted from the NBHAA is referring to the cataloged model lineup sold by Western Autos in 1940 and 1941. Those bikes would have been branded with Western Flyer branding or badges while, in the catalog, they would have been given additional names and/or model numbers to distinguish them from each other.

In the case of your bicycle, the actual manufacturer was clearly Cleveland Welding and the final retailer was clearly the Seiberling auto and tire supply chain. Your bicycle is also separated in time from the NBHAA description which refers to 1940/41 while your bicycle is from 1947.

Seiberling was a smaller chain than Western Autos but I have seen some of their catalogs. If you are looking for more information pertinent to your bicycle you could keep an active search on eBay to try to locate a catalog that might help or you could contact the NBHAA to see what they may have on the early postwar Seiberling lineup.


----------



## Keebo (Nov 4, 2012)

Phil, as usual you cleared it up! Not really sure what this forum would do without you. I am currently waiting on info regarding my bike and need to submit another Western Flyer i have purchased that as usual, i do not know the year and history. The history on these bikes is whats attracts me to this. Not really sure what this group would do without you. Phil, is there a public resource i could access to find out the year of my Western Flyer? i know i could send it out but im still waiting for the first bikes info and understand this research takes a while. Thanks again guys.


----------



## Keebo (Nov 4, 2012)

The Western Flyer was a recent bike purchase i made this week not the above. This i posted on another post as to not cause confusion.

Keebo


----------

