1944 Dayton

[37fleetwood]

I just rode my 1944 Dayton for the first time today. rode great!! I went about a mile or so and no problems except I need to re adjust the bottom bracket a bit. what a wonderful bike. for those of you who aren't familiar, it was made during the war and has no chrome and no accessories at all, just fenders. I went with red with white trim. this one was a civilian model apparently. I'll see if I can get some photos up soon.
thanx.

 

[37fleetwood]

here is an older photo from about a week or so ago.

boy is it red!!!
Scott

 

[MartyW]

Nice

Looks good Scott, I was expecting an OD green bike that was all blacked out What type of hubs are on it?

Marty W

 

[37fleetwood]

it has a Morrow rear and a New Departure front.

 

[37fleetwood]

you would have to ask my paint guy about that!:eek:

 

[37fleetwood]

Did anyone notice the 1942 Dayton military bike on ebay? 170084733939
It is a little different from my 1944 civilian model. it looks like it has a Columbia sprocket and the chain guard looks like the ones used on the late '40s Daytons. I wonder which of the differences are the year difference and which due to the military vs. civilian thing? I'll have to get more photos posted now that the bike is more together.
Scott

 

[ejlwheels]

I saw that auction.

Is there a way to tell what year a Huffman frame is by serial #s or characteristics of the frame? I think mine is a '40-'41 but how can I know?

 

[AntonyR]

Looks good Scott, I was expecting an OD green bike that was all blacked out What type of hubs are on it?

Marty W

I was wondering if anyone had a picture or knows about wartime paint schemes.
I've got a mid '40s Roadmaster that was completely painted- handlebars, gooseneck, wheels, hubs(ND f + R). The only thing not painted was the chainring and crank. It had many layers of different colors, except for the hubs that are flat black, which I can tell is original. I stripped the wheels and the handlebars and they arent chrome underneath, but the gooseneck is. The original paint on the wheels was white with a broad black pinstripe on both sides. The handlebars were flat black. Would it be normal to have a bike during that time with everything blacked out and white wheels? I wonder if those wheels started out white and got blacked out before it left the factory? There is no trace of paint on the spokes or nipples. I havent seen any pictures of Roadmasters with painted wheels.

 

[Monarkguy]

I have no idea, but during WW2, as I'm sure many of you know, chrome was not used on the last of the cars being made because of te war effort to save materials. Some cars had wooden boards as bumpers.
Why not "No chrome" on bicycles and other things being produced as well?

 

[37fleetwood]

ok, every ones answers in one post.
first question: the year of the bike frame posted by ejlwheels, your frame is between 1941 and 1947 the chainguard came out in 1940 so it isn't earlier. the 1940's had a welded on kick stand kinda like the Schwinns. 1941 and 1942 had bolt on kick stands. starting somewhere in the 1943-44 area the frames were changed a bit. my 1944 has a slightly larger rear dropout than the earlier years as well as the seat binder is like the '50s bikes not the brazed on type of the pre-war bikes and the attach point on the rear fender is also curved like the '50s bikes not like the prewar frames which had a small piece of straight tubing with a hole in it for the fender to bolt to. so if yours has the straight tube to attach the rear fender to I would say 1941-42 (1943-45 would be a military bike or a no chrome civilian model like mine was). if your frame has the curved fender mount than I would guess later like 1947.

second question: war time paint schemes were basically the same as regular production except there were no metalics allowed so no silver, just basic colors. the other option was O.D. green O.D.=Olive Drab. all chrome trim was black.

Third Question: there were no Roadmasters at all! only two companies were allowed to make bicycles during the war years. those two were Columbia, and Huffman. some of the parts makers were allowed to make some limited parts to keep existing bikes going since they were considered an essential form of transportation. you will find some blacked out stuff on early post war bikes since demand was high and new bikes were scarce. most early post war stuff was basically left over pre war stuff.

last question: you are right about chrome. during the war years the U.S. Government declared copper and nickel to be used only for war purposes. the chroming process usually involved a copper then nickel then Chrome plate.
Scott