# Curious about my new project



## SirMike1983 (Jun 27, 2012)

I recently got this off the cabe market, as my new summer project, and was wondering if any of you might have some more information on it. It looks to be an Elgin with a snowflake chainring of some sort. It has the chainring of what seems to be a 1920s bike with the paint scheme of the later 1930s balloon tire Elgins. It appears to be a 28 inch roadster though Anyone have any ideas on year, a little more about the builder etc. I know Elgin was Sears brand built by a bunch of companies over the years, but not much else. I know that Davis/Dayton, Westfield, Snyder, and Murray all made bikes for them.














Here's the reference image for the 1930s paint scheme I alluded to:

http://img.inkfrog.com/click_enlarge1.php?image=elgin_prewar-01.JPG&username=bbcbikes&aid=885934681

I'm psyched to get started on the project this summer and would like to a do a "period correct" rider bike. I will end up compromising and going with modern rims, but the other parts I'd like to be more or less pre-war correct. I'm not dead set on everything being Elgin, but rather more on putting together a prewar motobike roadster I can ride and that would still have the period look/feel.


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## rustyspoke66 (Jun 27, 2012)

Mike, give this a try for a original paint bike that looks to be the same. This is the bike I was going to use the paint scheme from. The only difference I can see is the top truss rod bracket is different.
http://www.nostalgic.net/bicycle316/picture1270


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## Balloontyre (Jun 27, 2012)

*What color is the bike*

The bike looks blue? Is the paint original?  Here is a cut from 1929 Sears Cat.


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## SirMike1983 (Jun 27, 2012)

Good information there- a fellow over at ratrod forum seemed to think it was an early to mid 1930s Westfield-build item due to the geometry and fork construction. The catalog picture with the chainring does show a late 20s/early 30s time period match as well. I'm wondering now if the Westfield assessment might be right after all, as it seems that they built a large portion of Elgin's bikes in that time period. I have seen a couple Elgins now with that same sort of irregular white/dark dart scheme, but they're 1930s ballooners.

http://www.vintagebmx.com/community/lofiversion/index.php/t27026507.html

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Vintage-1941...A=/$(KGrHqN,!jME665(QLbIBO8g1embBQ~~60_57.JPG

I wonder if maybe it turns out that it's a roadster made at the same time as the transition to ballooners was happening in the 1930s? It's an interesting thing- my other bikes all were pretty cut and dry in terms of what they were. It seems like the store brands like Elgin and Hawthorne add a level of investigative work.


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## SirMike1983 (Jul 12, 2012)

A few notes so far; I'm sure more will come up.

The chainring is as cool up close as it is in the pictures- really a nice piece of manufacturing. Crank arms are straight, so probably never came with a chain guard. The truss rods are brazed onto the fork- never seen that before, interesting approach. I guess that makes it more robust to some degree. They appear to have all been painted as a unit. The shape of the fork looks Columbia/Westfield to me- actually is the same design as my 1950 3 Star Columbia, but the frame is different from any other Columbia/Westfield I've seen. The fenders attach with old-style straight blade, round head screws and not rivets. I actually like that since it makes working on them a little easier. The fenders have quite a bit of depth to them, which was surprising. They're even deeper than my British rod brake bike 28 x 1.5 fenders. The color behind the head badge is red, which is interesting in that you'd think it was white for detail/spears from that era. I think the main color was indeed some sort of red originally.  The braces for the fenders were nickel plated and not painted black like some from that era. It appears to have had a fender ornament at one time (single large hole rather than two smaller ones for a light?).

I'll have to grab some pictures later on as I get more time into it.

Balloontyre-- is there a description or notation about the finish/paint scheme in that clipping you scanned? FInding what appears to be original red paint behind the badge surprised me since I assumed the vast majority of the 1920s era motos had the spear-type scheme.


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## Balloontyre (Jul 14, 2012)

SirMike1983 said:


> Balloontyre-- is there a description or notation about the finish/paint scheme in that clipping you scanned? FInding what appears to be original red paint behind the badge surprised me since I assumed the vast majority of the 1920s era motos had the spear-type scheme.




SirMike1983, 
Nothin in the clip about the paint scheme. Some catalog years are very descriptive about the paint scheme, the 1929 didn't clarify either way. I can look further into other years 30-33 maybe. I was curious about the scheme myself when I first saw your post. Yours looks like no stripes on the fenders and no dart on down tube. Since your bike has been repainted who knows what was OG unless you are lucky enough to uncover it.

The scheme that is on your bike has been a point of controversy, did Elgin produce bikes without fender stripes and down tube dart? 
I say without doubt YES!!! There are 2 Camelback 28" bikes in OG paint that I know of without fender strips or the down tube dart. That was why I wanted to know if your ride is sportin the original finish. The other bikes are Elgin Red with white accents.
The nickle braces, hubs, and even nickle dropstand were common on these bikes from this period.


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