# 1930's Admiral? need help



## the jackal (Oct 4, 2008)

To make a long story short   
one of my cousins took some of the bikes and sold traded dismantled etc
this bike was one of many that was used by aunts and  uncles  and us grand kids   
this is all that is left .
 the Serial is six digits but the last 2 are hard to read  
# 5H2083
or 
5H2033, 5H2035 , 5H2085
all I remember that this bike was blue and the rims were white it had the truss rods,    
I know one of the other bikes had a Admiral badge but  the bike was red and white and had wooden rims
I would like to put it back together .














Thanks,
 Martin


----------



## ejlwheels (Oct 4, 2008)

That looks like a Hawthorne Flyer, although there were other variations.
The frame was made to accomodate 28" wheels.
Sold by Montgomery Wards.
I do not know who made the frame.  
I think it was possibly Hartford(Columbia).
Possibly Snyder(Rollfast).

http://www.nostalgic.net/index.asp?S=arc/bicycles/1920's+Hawthorne.jpg

http://www.nostalgic.net/index.asp?S=arc/bicycles/1930's+Hawthorne+Flyer+mint+mint.jpg


----------



## RMS37 (Oct 5, 2008)

Hi,

The style of frame you have is among the hardest to identify as almost every manufacturer in the business at that time produced frames in the Moto-Bike/Moto Balloon style and the differences between them are subtle.

The most telling feature in the pictures of your frame is the rear drop-outs with the mounting holes and integral stops for a rear drop stand. The large diameter holes and the shape of the drop stand tangs indicate to me that the frame was produced by Colson. 

Forks are also useful for determining the manufacturer. While it is possible that the fork is not original to that frame, it does appear to be the two plate style with truss supports on the lower plate used on Colsons at that time.  

The serial number is also consistent with Colson and likely denotes a 1935 build date.

The width of the fork crown and the width of the offset of the chain stays lead me to believe that your frame was designed for 26? balloon tire wheels as opposed to the earlier 28? single tube tire wheels.

Colson bikes were produced and sold with many different head badges so finding an appropriate badge should not be difficult but determining the original badge without even an outline would require that a family member recall what it was badged. I believe Admiral was a Schwinn badge and I don?t know of it being used on Colson produced bicycles.  

The following link to Dave Stromberger?s site shows a similar Colson built bicycle.

http://www.nostalgic.net/bicycle512.htm


----------



## the jackal (Oct 5, 2008)

Thank you for your help..

I wish i could remember what the head badge looked like ,
I can only remember three (  Admiral,  Plane-Train-Auto,  Ranger )
I know the one that had wood rims was an Admiral, never liked riding it since i couldn't do any bunny hops or jump off curbs, or jumping over things that we put on the street thinking they would turn to splinters on me.  

the others had handle bars that had a crossbar, and this one had full sweeping half moon with bullet grips. felt like your elbows were tucked in.


Thanks, 
           Again

Martin


----------



## the jackal (Oct 31, 2008)

*bike*

Bump 

still looking for some more info


----------



## ejlwheels (Oct 31, 2008)

*oops*

I am going to say Colson now, too.  I did not see the serial # before.
I also have a Colson Flyer with serial # 5J6566 and I agree that the 5 at the beginning most likely denotes 1935.


----------

