# My Best Bike - 1950 Girls Hawthorne Deluxe



## ridingtoy (Sep 10, 2011)

Members asked to see it in another forum discussing the boys model that went with it. I got this one from an antique store dealer several years ago for $225 - the most I ever spent on a vintage bicycle, but I thought she was a beauty and well worth it. Really gives a comfortable ride with the springer cushioning it. Still need to refurbish the rear turn signal system. Only the rear reflector and kickstand were added after I purchased it. Everything else is original...even the Wards Riverside Mate WW tires. Enjoy!

Oh, and sorry about the blurred photos of the head badge and light, and pedal side. My old digital has a broken battery door and I have to hold it shut under spring tension while shooting. My hand was starting to get spasms from holding it shut for so long.

Dave


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## Talewinds (Sep 10, 2011)

That is a great bike! Thanks for sharing with us.


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## ridingtoy (Sep 10, 2011)

You're welcome! Glad I was finally able to have a photo session today after all the rain we've had lately. As it was, the mosquitos were eating me alive while shooting the pics. All the wet weather has made them hungry, I guess!

When I'm on this 26" bike I feel like I'm riding high like on my 27" Schwinn Suburban. This Hawthorne has a pretty large frame for a girls model...much larger than my late '30s Schwinn girls bike.

Dave


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## Flat Tire (Sep 11, 2011)

Nice bike! Love the chainguard/fender skirts, you always see the ones on Higgins and Elgins but rarely see this type. Nice tires too..looks like a fun ride....


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## Freqman1 (Sep 11, 2011)

*Boys Model 80 Deluxe*

Here's the mate to yours. Mine is a '52 and still wears its original tires also. I haven't done anything to this one except ride it a couple of times. Mine is missing the battery/tailight tray so if you could share a pic of yours I'd appreciate it. v/r Shawn


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## ridingtoy (Sep 11, 2011)

Yep...the family resemblance is definitely there between these two Hawthornes.

I sure will! Believe it or not, I haven't ever opened the tailight to inspect it. I sure hope there's no battery acid decay in there. The wire connector was disconnected when I bought it and I haven't had a chance to see how everything works, and how it should be reconnected up. The tank horn still had batteries and worked, but I've since removed them to guard against leakage. The headlight battery case was OK, too, so maybe I won't get an unwelcome surprise when I open the rear one up.

Dave


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## ridingtoy (Sep 12, 2011)

*Battery Acid Blues*

Shawn,

Well, my worst fear was realized...the ancient batteries were left in the tail light for who knows how long before I bought it. Part of the battery tray is completely eaten away. I put some WD-40 on the rear screw holding the battery tray in place in hopes it will allow me to get the screw loose. I'm almost afraid to look inside where the batteries are still sitting. They just flop loosely in there, telling me the contacts holding them in place are long corroded away.  Soon as I get it loose, I take a photo of what's left of the holder. Hopefully, there's enough left to use as a pattern to fabricate a replacement out of sheet metal. Man...this really sucks! I'm surprised the acid didn't leak down on the rear fender and start eating that away, too.

Dave


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## Freqman1 (Sep 12, 2011)

Dave,
    Hopefully enough is left to see how it was designed and the wiring pattern. I don't think it should be too terribly difficult to fabricate once I see one. Thanks, Shawn


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## ridingtoy (Sep 14, 2011)

Shawn, haven't had a chance to work on that screw yet, but one thing that's interesting is there's a ground wire which clips on the bottom of the tray and runs down through the chrome, right side rack support. There's an opening at the top and bottom of the support where the wire is fed, and it connects onto the frame near the axle. I'll try to get a photo of it. You could check your rack supports - one should have those openings for the ground wire, the other doesn't. Never saw a ground wire on a bike before!

Dave


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## Freqman1 (Sep 14, 2011)

Dave,
   My bike also has this wire but I haven't really looked at it because I am missing the tray. I'm currently out of town but will look at it when I get home. v/r Shawn


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## pedaling pete (Sep 17, 2011)

*Hawthorne tail light brake light turn signals*

I have 2 Hawthorne mens like pictured in thread. One has sealed beam light and the other has the light like girls bike in thread. The sealed beam model uses a 6 volt battery mounted in the tank which operates headlight taillight and turn signals. The other model has seperate systems.  2 batt for headlight 2 batt for horn 2 batt for taillight. I wonder if wire going down to rear hub is for brake light on 2 batt? Maybe the fender doctor knows? Also on the 2 batt turn unit both turn signal bulb brackets jarred loose and were rattling around . Glad they were there-batt holder still solid. 

6 volt is same as Western Flyer Super with powermaster.  2 batt has some type of transister to operate turn signals and would not need a ground wire


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## pedaling pete (Sep 18, 2011)

*Turn Signal on two batt unit*

Dave   Where do your two wires from turn signal switch hook up?  Am missing switch. Pete


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## ridingtoy (Sep 18, 2011)

On the rear light bottom plate, the wires were disconnected when I bought the bike. There's three wires (red, green, black) inside the grey cable coming from the turn signal switch - two hots and a neutral, I believe. The spring clip connectors are still attached to the red and green wire ends. It looks like the clips were attched to the bottom of the battery holder with insulated washers and the neutral wire must have been attached to the holder itself somewhere. The corrosion caused all the clips except one to break loose from the holder. I thought the wire going down to the hub was a ground wire because it was also attached to the holder with a spring clip and no insulation. Was there a brake light function on this model, too? I'll try to get a photo posted of the bottom of the holder. There's also a switch on the holder bottom to turn the light assembly on and off.

Dave


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## pedaling pete (Sep 18, 2011)

*Turn signals*



ridingtoy said:


> On the rear light bottom plate, the wires were disconnected when I bought the bike. There's three wires (red, green, black) inside the grey cable coming from the turn signal switch - two hots and a neutral, I believe. The spring clip connectors are still attached to the red and green wire ends. It looks like the clips were attched to the bottom of the battery holder with insulated washers and the neutral wire must have been attached to the holder itself somewhere. The corrosion caused all the clips except one to break loose from the holder. I thought the wire going down to the hub was a ground wire because it was also attached to the holder with a spring clip and no insulation. Was there a brake light function on this model, too? I'll try to get a photo posted of the bottom of the holder. There's also a switch on the holder bottom to turn the light assembly on and off.
> 
> Dave




Dave  I believe the  red and  green wires go to the turn signal  bulbs The black wire goes to the clip to the rear of the unit.  On my unit the 2 tunsignal bulbs and L brackets were laying loose inside unit. The wire clips were missing from rivet failure. I believe the switch operates tail light-middle bulb. With some work I should be able to get this working. Any idea where I CAN GET SOME WIRE CLIPS?


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## ridingtoy (Sep 18, 2011)

Haven't attempted getting the rusty screw loose from the back side of the light. Here's a photo of what I'm seeing:






The spring clip on the right had the wire attached which runs down through the rack support tube and attaches to another clip near the axle. It appears the other two clips still attached to the wires used to be riveted on either side of the light bulb window in the center. It appears there was some type of (fiber?) washer at the rivet holes because there's a round looking mark around each hole. Possibly the black wire was also clipped to the neutral clip along with the wire going to the axle area, as you mentioned. It would make sense to be hooked up that way. For wire spring clips my first thought was Radio Shack.

Dave


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## Turnerr (Dec 24, 2012)

Can you post a picture of the battery tray?
Thanks


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## ridingtoy (Dec 25, 2012)

Turnerr said:


> Can you post a picture of the battery tray?
> Thanks




I think I did in another thread. I'll have to see if I can find it again.

EDIT: Oh, I see it was originally posted on this thread, but the photo is no longer there. I checked my photobucket album where I had it and it's not there, yet I don't recall deleting it. I'll have to take another photo, possibly on the upcoming weekend since I have 4 days off.

Dave


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