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Western Flyer middleweight, 1932-33? Identification assistance.

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Started to disassemble today, so I took some of photos of the before process. Had to do a minor amount of chipping to get off the three layers of paint. Was originally red as seen in the serial number stamps. Serial # ; G44940. Painted org. red, blue, then white.

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Started to disassemble today, so I took some of photos of the before process. Had to do a minor amount of chipping to get off the three layers of paint. Was originally red as seen in the serial number stamps. Serial # ; G44940. Painted org. red, blue, then white.

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Hello...

No need to guess or marvel over this bicycle. It is quite typical of what I have always termed "War Mongrels"... used, refurbished bicycles assembled out of whatever was available during WW2. People needed bicycles badly during WW2 since they were sometimes the only transportation available. Shops did their best to put what they could together.

The wheels are from WW2 "Victory" bicycles... handlebars are early 1942 black painted spares. Fenders are off-the-shelf aftermarket prewar replacements often used on singletube bicycles and Victory models. And in simple repairs.

Most American bicycle shops refurbished "War Mongrels" and sold them. Especially since new bicycles were tough to get and few were being made.
 
Hello...

No need to guess or marvel over this bicycle. It is quite typical of what I have always termed "War Mongrels"... used, refurbished bicycles assembled out of whatever was available during WW2. People needed bicycles badly during WW2 since they were sometimes the only transportation available. Shops did their best to put what they could together.

The wheels are from WW2 "Victory" bicycles... handlebars are early 1942 black painted spares. Fenders are off-the-shelf aftermarket prewar replacements often used on singletube bicycles and Victory models. And in simple repairs.

Most American bicycle shops refurbished "War Mongrels" and sold them. Especially since new bicycles were tough to get and few were being made.
Thank you for the information. I also found out it is a Jul 1940 - Dec 1940 make from the serial #, my guess is that it might be a refit to middleweight during the war, in order to save rubber? I am no expert so it is a guess, but it seems odd to completely redo an almost brand new bike. so they would just rebuild new bikes to save on resources. I hope to possibly get a set of fenders and rims to bring it back to its balloon tire configuration, although that might be difficult.
 
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Thank you for the information. I also found out it is a Jul 1940 - Dec 1940 make from the serial #, my guess is that it might be a refit to middleweight during the war, in order to save rubber? I am no expert so it is a guess, but it seems odd to completely redo an almost brand new bike. so they would just rebuild new bikes to save on resources. I hope to possibly get a set of fenders and rims to bring it back to its balloon tire configuration, although that might be difficult.
Middleweights were introduced in the mid-'50's. Your wheels came from an early lightweight, maybe something like this:


Or this:

I hadn't thought about the "War Mongrel" angle but it makes sense. Lightweight tires were probably the only tires available.
 
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Middleweights were introduced in the mid-'50's. Your wheels came from an early lightweight, maybe something like this:


Or this:

I hadn't thought about the "War Mongrel" angle but it makes sense. Lightweight tires were probably the only tires available.
The hubs on the wheels are exactly like the ones on those wartime bicycles. I do not know what the fenders are from though.
 
I do not know what the fenders are from though.
The fenders might be something to look into.
Not sure when or which models that the rain gutter fenders came with; supplanted by the peaked or gothic arch profile?

If they fit 26 x 2.125 balloon tires, or even the old 28 x 1.5” tires, I think that the style goes best with the less-streamlined double drop bar frame motorbikes.
With an 80+ year old bike, many plausible stories could be just made-up; just to sound knowledgeable.
 
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The hubs on the wheels are exactly like the ones on those wartime bicycles. I do not know what the fenders are from though.
Again... the fenders are off-the-shelf aftermarket universal fit pieces. Dealers stocked them. I bought out dealers years ago that had piles and piles of these. Usually painted black and sleeved in white packing paper. Everybody had them. They were very, very, very commonly used fenders for wartime refurbs. As I stated earlier. This is a WW2 refurbish bicycle.

Again, as I said earlier... the wheels are not "Middleweight" (which was a different size and not invented until the 1950s)... the wheels are Victory bicycle wheels. "Victory" bicycles were wartime lightweight government specification. Yes, of course they were saving rubber... it was World War Two... and the whole reason for Victory wheels and Victory bicycles was to save materials which were precious during the war.

Anyone old enough or around the bicycle industry in the USA for enough years can easily identify what you have. It is not "making up stories" to refer to "war mongrel" refurbished bicycles. There were once thousand and thousands of them. But one would have to simply know this.
 
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Again... the fenders are off-the-shelf aftermarket universal fit pieces. Dealers stocked them. I bought out dealers years ago that had piles and piles of these. Usually painted black and sleeved in white packing paper. Everybody had them. They were very, very, very commonly used fenders for wartime refurbs. As I stated earlier. This is a WW2 refurbish bicycle.

Again, as I said earlier... the wheels are not "Middleweight" (which was a different size and not invented until the 1950s)... the wheels are Victory bicycle wheels. "Victory" bicycles were wartime lightweight government specification. Yes, of course they were saving rubber... it was World War Two... and the whole reason for Victory wheels and Victory bicycles was to save materials which were precious during the war.

Anyone old enough or around the bicycle industry in the USA for enough years can easily identify what you have. It is not "making up stories" to refer to "war mongrel" refurbished bicycles. There were once thousand and thousands of them. But one would have to simply know this.
I never claimed you were making up any of this, I only truly got into this three years ago. I was just saying it seemed odd that the frame was almost brand new when they refurbished it. Thank you for telling me I didn’t know that was a practice until yesterday. I did not mean to insult you by questioning the practice, I just was confused.
 
1941 Western Flyer. I have one sitting in my back yard. It's a balloon bike someone put road bike wheels on. It's beautiful!!!
 
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