Murray straight bar, 39-41. If I was a betting man, I'd say the date on the seat post was when the bike was re-done, considering the fenders, pedals, etc.. Seat, bars, guard and truss rod setup are wrong as well, Good Project. They make great looking racer's, if not complete when found.
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Nice! Is that the period your Elgin was manufactured? According to one of the guys on ratrodbikes.com, mine appears to be a '38-'39. That also just so happens to be the date of manufacture on the rear hub, according to
@J-wagon's earlier post. So I'm willing to bet mine is either a '38 or '39 model based on what I know so far.
That would definitely make sense for the date on the seat post. My guess was that was the day the fire museum acquired the bike, but I'm not ruling anything out until I ask someone from the museum itself.
I knew the fenders, guard and pedals were all wrong, and I figured that the seat and handlebars might not be original either, but I'm a little surprised by the truss rods. How are those wrong; just not the correct parts, or are they assembled incorrectly?
Thanks! They do look great as board track racers, as yours clearly shows. I know mine would look good as one; I've seen a lot of other folks build similar bikes that way, but that's part of the problem; just about every prewar Elgin/Murray I've seen that's similar to mine seems to have been converted into a board track racer. That just makes me want to go a completely different direction with mine! I've mocked up a few parts on this bike already, but nothing's really clicking just yet. I'd have to sketch up some ideas both on paper and in Photoshop before I make any decisions.
I actually got my Elgin rolling under its own power yesterday, and looking like a board track racer too! I had to tweak the master link on the chain so it'd actually lock together this time, but I was able to use the original skiptooth chain on this bike. Granted, it'd need to be cleaned and lubed again to be at its best, but none of the links are locked up at least. I just took it for a very short ride around my neighborhood, just to assess everything. The biggest issues the bike has right now is that the coaster brake needs a rebuild, and I can't get the handlebars clamped tight enough to prevent them from rotating down with any reasonable pressure applied to them. Seat's not too comfy either, but it's tolerable at least. I left the chain guard and fenders off, both because they weren't original to the bike, and because I just wanted to see how the bike would look without them. The tires are just some freebies I got from a friend, and the tubes were just ones I salvaged from some parts bikes. Not very elegant, but functional.