# Need a headlight to fit Shockmaster Fork



## ChadB (Feb 19, 2010)

Ok, I posted about this before, and got no response..I find it highly unlikely that NONE of you collectors out there have a light (non luxury liner) to fit the CWC shockmaster fork. As you can see in the pictures, the light I have is a repop Schwinn Stingray light, which is all I had to put on there.  I need a complete light for that fork, that will clean up and isn't so corroded inside that it won't work. 

Also, if anyone has a ribbed chain guard, to match the tank, that is embossed with Roadmaster instead of Hawthorne or Western Flyer, I'd be interested in that as well.


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## pedaling pete (Feb 19, 2010)

About the chainguard? Is there one embossed roadmaster or plain? I have seen western flyer.hawthorne or hiawatha. The ribbed light came a couple ways. One batt opeated from tank and one internal batt with a switch lever like a rocket ray.The second is easier to find-I saw a guy at Ann Arbor had 4 of them and some guy bought them all for a hundred dollar bill-ohe had a nice lens but the tops needed chrome.


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## ChadB (Feb 19, 2010)

Ok, so they exist and some guy in Ann Arbor has 4 of them. I only need one.


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## ChadB (Feb 19, 2010)

Regarding the chain guard, I don't know if there were any embossed Roadmaster, I guess I assumed there must be since I;ve seen the same exact guard embossed with Western Flyer and Hawthorne, with the same tank i have.


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## Flat Tire (Feb 19, 2010)

Heres a chainguard off one of those reproduced Roadmaster bicycles...dont know if its correct for your bike or not but you can have it for 25  bucks shipped. Its got a couple minor scuffs...


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## ChadB (Feb 19, 2010)

I already had one of those...My bike obviously isn't a luxury liner. The guard I have currently, I'm guessing is a couple years newer than the frame, but still Roadmaster, or at least CWC.  I don't mind leaving that on, since realistically, anyone who isn't in the bike hobby who sees my bike wouldn't know the guard isn't right anyway. The headlight though, obviously isn't right for the bike. The light I'm looking for can either be the battery operated ribbed light, or the round one, as long as it has the longer mounting tab to fit the fork.


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## dogdart (Feb 20, 2010)

I'd be interested in that chainguard , PM sent


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## ChadB (Feb 21, 2010)

I still find it bizarre, that nobody on the Cabe has one of these lights, or knows someone who does. It just defies logic. I'm told "watch Ebay, one will pop up" and in at least 6 months of watching Ebay, not a single one has been listed. i don't egt wehy someone would hold ontyo one of these lights, when they have no use for it, if they know someone out here is willng to buy it from them.


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## ChadB (Feb 21, 2010)

Also, why can't I edit my posts to correct typos?


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## RMS37 (Feb 21, 2010)

Several variations of the Ball headlights have come and gone on eBay lately but most have been units with short mounting tabs like the one you tried that didn’t work.  

The ribbed Western Flyer light is quite hard to find and I haven’t seen one offered in some time.

If you are considering a Luxury Liner light you have missed three recently, one by itself

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...066250&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1182

A second, attached to a bike (in this case the bike including the springer with shipping only sold for about $90 more than the above headlight by itself.)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...463133&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1182

And a third mounted on a strange bitsa bike that sold well beyond realistic dollars

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...602347&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_786wt_1165

With four bidders on the first light and the sale price above $200 dollars it shows that there are a lot of people in need of these lights. There is no good substitute (barring the repops which are also hard to find) and supply is well below demand because the bike that used them have survived in relatively large numbers and so many of the original lights were destroyed by battery acid. 

Many collectors hold onto rare parts rather than sell them because they anticipate they will need them for future projects. With the recent spikes in prices for many CWC specific parts it doesn’t make sense to let them go if it is likely you will have to find another one in a year when prices are likely to go still higher.

Still, patience and an unyielding watch on eBay should get you the light you need (at a price.) The other option is hit the Midwest swap meets that are just around the corner. The laws of supply and demand are at work on these headlights but they are not really rare.

Oh, and I think we deserve to regain the ability to edit our posts.


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## sm2501 (Feb 22, 2010)

I checked my stock and I have a NOS (or darn close to it) light.


















Contact me at sm2501@aol.com if interested.


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## pedaling pete (Feb 22, 2010)

Well said Phil!


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## ChadB (Feb 23, 2010)

RMS37 said:


> Several variations of the Ball headlights have come and gone on eBay lately but most have been units with short mounting tabs like the one you tried that didn’t work.
> 
> The ribbed Western Flyer light is quite hard to find and I haven’t seen one offered in some time.
> 
> ...




Phil, I didn't MISS those lights, I just wasn't willing to spend that kind of money on them. 

I suppose my bike is a "bitsa" bike anyway, so the Schwinn repop light can stay..At least it works and it didn't cost me hundreds of dollars to get.


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## ChadB (Feb 23, 2010)

sm2501 said:


> I checked my stock and I have a NOS (or darn close to it) light.
> 
> View attachment 8021
> 
> ...




I'm almost afraid to ask what you want for it.


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## RMS37 (Feb 23, 2010)

ChadB said:


> I still find it bizarre, that nobody on the Cabe has one of these lights, or knows someone who does. It just defies logic. I'm told "watch Ebay, one will pop up" and in at least 6 months of watching Ebay, not a single one has been listed. i don't egt wehy someone would hold ontyo one of these lights, when they have no use for it, if they know someone out here is willng to buy it from them.




I assumed you missed them based on your statement that in 6 months none had been listed. They were listed, available, and sold; presumably, by people who didn't need them and were willing to sell them to people who were willing to buy them. As I noted, with four eager buyers, the $210 light can be considered market correct even if it does seem like a lot for the light. You currently have the afforable fix on your bike, If Scott's light ends up being out of reach the best monetary solution to an upgrade may end up being to buy a girl's bike with the headlight you want and then part the rest.

Anyway, every good bike project seems to come down to at least one over-the-top splurge before you can put it on the mantle and pull out your pipe and slippers.

Good luck, 

Phil


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## ChadB (Feb 23, 2010)

RMS37 said:


> I assumed you missed them based on your statement that in 6 months none had been listed. They were listed, available, and sold; presumably, by people who didn't need them and were willing to sell them to people who were willing to buy them. As I noted, with four eager buyers, the $210 light can be considered market correct even if it does seem like a lot for the light. You currently have the afforable fix on your bike, If Scott's light ends up being out of reach the best monetary solution to an upgrade may end up being to buy a girl's bike with the headlight you want and then part the rest.
> 
> Anyway, every good bike project seems to come down to at least one over-the-top splurge before you can put it on the mantle and pull out your pipe and slippers.
> 
> ...




That's how I got my tank, bought a whole bike and parted the rest out. I actually made out well on that deal, since the bike I bought, tank, springer and all, only cost me 
$250.


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## ChadB (Feb 23, 2010)

Also, when I said I hadn't seen any lights in 6+ months of looking, I wasn't referring to luxury liner lights, I was referring to the more correct for my bike ribbed or ball light w/ the extended mounting tab.


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## RMS37 (Feb 23, 2010)

Noted; but as you say your bike is a CWC bitsa, so “correct” is a matter of choosing which part of the bike you want to match to and not a single course directive. You’ll probably have to sell your slippers, pipe and the family cat to win a ribbed light off eBay (when one turns up, probably about once a year) but if you will settle for a ball light you can always get a light with short mounting tabs and modify the tabs to fit your bike. Those lights are plentiful and will keep the cost down.


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## ChadB (Feb 23, 2010)

Ehh, if one pops up I'll watch it, but I'm not going to get into a bidding war over it. Nobody around here even knows what a Cleveland Welding bike is, to most "old bike" means Schwinn from the 60's, like a Sting Ray.


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## ChadB (Feb 23, 2010)

To locals here, the bike I have isn't a 1949 CWC bike, but a Pee Wee Herman bike. I can tell people the bike is 100% original and nobody would think much of it, it's just a pretty red bike with a funny horn and whitewalls. I had somebody ask me if I bought it at Wal Mart.


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## Busher (Feb 27, 2010)

I wish you luck.  I just posted some pics of my CWC and as you can see the girls bike needs one, so let me know if you find two.  Seriously, I've been watching Ebay for a replacement sealed beam light and I've yet to see one.  They are rare.  Fortunately the one on the boys frame still works.  Good luck again in your search.


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## ChadB (Feb 27, 2010)

Busher said:


> I wish you luck.  I just posted some pics of my CWC and as you can see the girls bike needs one, so let me know if you find two.  Seriously, I've been watching Ebay for a replacement sealed beam light and I've yet to see one.  They are rare.  Fortunately the one on the boys frame still works.  Good luck again in your search.




I'm not really searching. I am not by any stretch of the imagination a bicycle collector, so the idea of spending hundreds of dollars for a bicycle light, to me, is obscene. I don't care if "the market" which of course, means bicycle collectors, deem such lights worth the money. I don't. I think back on the money I DID spend to put my red bike together and I want to kick myself..I guess I just got into building the bike and decided not to half-ass it, but I spent far too much on it and it's still just a bicycle.  

If I happen to see one on craigslist on a bike for cheap, I'll grab it. No way am I getting into a bidding war on Ebay for one.


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## yeshoney (Feb 28, 2010)

My advice is........ Be patient.

You will find what you are looking for often when you aren't in search of it.  There is no hurry.  Enjoying riding it and taking care of it.  Start a new project while you are enjoying your current one.  Have fun!

Joe


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## ChadB (Mar 12, 2010)

RMS37 said:


> Noted; but as you say your bike is a CWC bitsa, so “correct” is a matter of choosing which part of the bike you want to match to and not a single course directive. You’ll probably have to sell your slippers, pipe and the family cat to win a ribbed light off eBay (when one turns up, probably about once a year) but if you will settle for a ball light you can always get a light with short mounting tabs and modify the tabs to fit your bike. Those lights are plentiful and will keep the cost down.




I don't feel it's right to call, even though I have called it such, my bike a "bitsa" bike. I did my best, to find period, even year correct parts for it. Sure, the tank and chain guard may be a year or 2 newer than the frame, but the frame, fenders, rack, springer fork, and flaps of the bike, are indeed from 1949. I may well get a softball light and modify it to fit my forks, since I feel the softball light, being used as it was throughought the CWC product line, is correct for my bike.


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## yeshoney (Mar 13, 2010)

Not sure what your reserve was/is, but to get the bid to $600 and still not meet reserve, hmmm.  That to me is a lot of cash for a non original bike that has been mostly restored.  Also, not bashing or questioning because it is your right to do with it what you want, but like all of us in this hobby, we want the best part for the best (notice I did nt say cheapest) price.  I feel that if someone had stepped to the plate with a correct light and then you listed it on ebay with the correct light - the person who supplied you with the light would have felt a little awkward.  Just my two cents and I don't mind change.

joe


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## ChadB (Mar 13, 2010)

yeshoney said:


> Not sure what your reserve was/is, but to get the bid to $600 and still not meet reserve, hmmm.  That to me is a lot of cash for a non original bike that has been mostly restored.  Also, not bashing or questioning because it is your right to do with it what you want, but like all of us in this hobby, we want the best part for the best (notice I did nt say cheapest) price.  I feel that if someone had stepped to the plate with a correct light and then you listed it on ebay with the correct light - the person who supplied you with the light would have felt a little awkward.  Just my two cents and I don't mind change.
> 
> joe




My decision to try and sell the bike was because my wife recently lost her job, and we don't know how long it'll be before she gets another. I also successfully sold the newer AMF bike, and a 70's Huffy 10 speed I had on CL. 

You say "but to get the bid to $600 and still not meet reserve, hmmm.  That to me is a lot of cash for a non original bike that has been mostly restored." All you're seeing is a bike that isn't totally as it came from the factory, that doesn't have it's original paint, tires and sales reciept.  You're not seeing what the bike was when I got it, basically a CWC frame, fenders and rear rack, the rest miss-matched Schwinn parts, painted construction barrel orange. Every CWC part on that bike, aside from the frame, fenders and rack, I had to find. Most were in bad condition and needed work, like the tank and springer fork. I had no idea what the original paint scheme was, only that it was red, and since I have a co-worker who does powder coating on the side, having it coated solid red seemed like a good idea; You don't have to wax it, and it's more durable and resistant to chips than paint. Plus, powder coat builds up and helps to cover blemishes in 60 year old metal. Also, blasting and re-chroming 60 year old parts isn't cheap.  Even the seat, had it's springs re-chromed and was re-upholstered in leather. So, even though it isn't factory fresh with the sales tag still on it, alot of time, work, and money went into it, and $600 doesn't come near to what I'd accept for it. Perhaps I was a fool for trying to sell it, but to me it's worth more than that.


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## ChadB (Jun 24, 2010)

Just wanted to update, I ended up selling the red bike for $750, and also the girls bike, which was really just a miss-mash of parts that I made look pretty, for $375. I picked up a couple dept. store bikes, they work well enough, a Huffy Good Vibrations and a girls Schwinn that's purple and white, paid a whopping $225 for both of them. Any further work I do on vehicles with 2 wheels will be on those with engines.  The bikes I sold are in somebody's living room, he doesn't even ride them.


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