# Roadmaster Sky King



## Gthoro (Mar 28, 2020)

Hi all,

I had a gentleman man respond to a wanted ad I posted.  He says that he has a Roadmaster Sky King available.  He told me it was a women's bike.  Does anyone have or has any one seen a ladies Sky King before?  I am hoping that it is a men's frame that he confused for a women's.  It is a bit of a drive, so I wouldn't make it knowing that it is a women's frame, but I would for a men's.  He isn't able to send a photo of it. 

Thanks,

Greg


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## Adamtinkerer (Mar 28, 2020)

Seems unlikely, a ladies' Sky KING, can't say I've seen one. Try to get him to send a pic!


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## Gthoro (Mar 28, 2020)

Adamtinkerer said:


> Seems unlikely, a ladies' Sky KING, can't say I've seen one. Try to get him to send a pic!




I agree, it does seem unlikely.  He's an old timer who doesn't use computers or smartphones, so I can't get a pic.


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## Gthoro (Mar 29, 2020)

I got curious and took a drive today.  Turned out to be a ladies Sky Rider deluxe.  I passed on it.  Sure wish it would have been da King!


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## Oilit (Mar 30, 2020)

Gthoro said:


> I got curious and took a drive today.  Turned out to be a ladies Sky Rider deluxe.  I passed on it.  Sure wish it would have been da King!



That would have been cool to see. I've seen pictures in the catalog, but I don't think I've ever seen one one in person,  or even on the CABE. From the catalog, there was a women's version, called the Sky Queen.


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## Oilit (Apr 1, 2020)

From the 1960 catalog:


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## soulshine73 (May 22, 2021)

i own what i think is a 1959 sky king. seems like a pretty rare bike. hard to find info and parts. i am missing the correct foward bending strut springer, seat, bars/stem and cardinal headlight. i added a bunch of stem. last pic is how it looks now. paint, graphics and chrome on fenders, guard, tank and chrank set are all original.

if any one has info on this bike please forward. catalog pics would be much appreciated 

hope you enjoy the pictures 
thank in advance


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## Oilit (May 23, 2021)

Since yours has a sprung fork I'm going to guess it's maybe 1961 or ?? The Sky King was first listed in 1959, but had a solid fork while the 1959 Royal Eagle had the sprung fork, at least going by the catalog. And the first two years show the chain guard as painted, while yours shows the Sky King name directly on the chrome. I've got a Flying Falcon with a white on chrome chainguard decal, and I think it's 1966. The first letter in your serial number should give you the year, at least up into the mid-'60's. "J" was 1959, "K" was 1960 and so on. I've never heard how long AMF kept using the "Shockmaster" fork, so if yours is later than 1961, I'd like to know.


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## soulshine73 (May 31, 2021)

Oilit said:


> Since yours has a sprung fork I'm going to guess it's maybe 1961 or ?? The Sky King was first listed in 1959, but had a solid fork while the 1959 Royal Eagle had the sprung fork, at least going by the catalog. And the first two years show the chain guard as painted, while yours shows the Sky King name directly on the chrome. I've got a Flying Falcon with a white on chrome chainguard decal, and I think it's 1966. The first letter in your serial number should give you the year, at least up into the mid-'60's. "J" was 1959, "K" was 1960 and so on. I've never heard how long AMF kept using the "Shockmaster" fork, so if yours is later than 1961, I'd like to know.
> 
> View attachment 1417375
> 
> View attachment 1417376



thanks for the info. unfortunately the fork on my bike is an earlier fork with the straight trust rods which is late 40s early 50s i believe.  i added this fork because i was told it once had one but was parted out and sold. the fork supposedly looked like the one on the royal eagle with bent forward facing trust rods. now i am thinking maybe it just had the solid fork thanks to you forwarding these adds. i will check the serial number next time i get to storage and dig it out. i will keep you informed 

thanks again


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## Oilit (Jun 1, 2021)

Thanks for posting your pictures, these don't turn up that often so there's still a lot I don't know, including how long they were made. I have catalogs for 1959 and 1960, but nothing after that until 1967. There's no Sky King in the '67 catalog, so they were dropped by then, but I don't know the year. They're interesting because it looks like they were the last bikes to use the "Shockmaster" fork introduced by CWC.
Here's a couple of pictures of a Sky King and Sky Queen that were for sale in Chicago, they're not the best, but they give you an idea of the original paint scheme. The decal on your chainguard is applied directly over the chrome so it may be later, but that's just a guess. If it is later, then it could have had the sprung fork - @Superman1984 picked up a Sky Queen with the sprung fork that's 1961 (I think), so they were available at least that long. The Chicago Sky King is a 1959 by the serial number, I didn't think to ask about the Queen, but I probably should have, it has a fender light which is not shown in either catalog above. Your serial could be under the bottom bracket like this one or on the left drop-out, AMF was using both in the late '50's.


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## Superman1984 (Jun 4, 2021)

@Oilit what did you end up actually doin' with that oL'gal in the end bud?

Hopefully if she came apart.... she donated to a cool bike or bikes


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## Oilit (Jun 4, 2021)

Superman1984 said:


> @Oilit what did you end up actually doin' with that oL'gal in the end bud?
> 
> Hopefully if she came apart.... she donated to a cool bike or bikes



I've still got it. I've thought about putting the chain guard on my Shelby, but the mounting is different, so I would have to make an adapter. Not too hard to do, but the Bendix 2 speed (on the Shelby) needs some attention first, so right now it's on the back burner. The sprung fork on this Sky Queen has no bracket for the headlight, which matches the one that was for sale in Chicago, but the catalog shows one on the 1960 version, so that must have been a change AMF made for 1961. I should have asked about the serials on both Chicago bikes, but oh well.
Part of the fascination is that a lot of the history is not well documented, and answering even simple questions can require lots of digging. I bought a 1956 Flying Falcon from @bikemonkey 5 or 6 years ago now, and it took a lot of reading before I was even sure of the year. Thanks to the work of Phil Marshall and some help from @ratina I eventually figured it out, but if you have any tendency towards OCD, the CABE is like the La Brea Tar Pits, and I'm still here!


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## Oilit (Jun 15, 2021)

Just for the record, here's a really nice Sky Queen that was for sale on FBM in Tennessee. They were asking $350.00, and I don't know what the selling price was, but the bike was only up a couple of weeks.


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