1953 Roadmaster Flying Falcon

[mrg]

I have had a couple of Schwinn's with optional factory installed SA 3 spd drum on S2's. As for balloon tire 3 spd/caliper brake at least 3 company's started producing them in 53 ( 54 model ? ) Schwinn, Colson & AMF-Roadmaster, I started this thread a few years ago explanes a little about Schwinn's 2 yr experiment with a S2 3 spd. ( and adding calipes brackets ) to complete with the middleweights. https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/prototype-jaguar.70602/

 

[Oilit]

The whitewall tires on the Flying Falcon are deteriorated, but I thought I could just make out "U.S. Royal Riders", so I did some more digging. I haven't found anything that names the original tires, but these two ads make me think it was the Royal Riders. And then @hzqw2l pointed out that the Schwinn Reporter ad for the Jaguar specifies U.S. Royal Riders as well! As for the claim that they coast 65% farther, that sounds like a tire with higher air pressure, but I don't know if there was any real change to the tires or it was just marketing hype. And thanks to Shawn for the Jag ad and to Michelle for helping me with the others!

 

[razinhellcustomz]

The whitewall tires on the Flying Falcon are deteriorated, but I thought I could just make out "U.S. Royal Riders", so I did some more digging. I haven't found anything that names the original tires, but these two ads make me think it was the Royal Riders. And then @hzqw2l pointed out that the preproduction ad for the Jaguar specifies U.S. Royal Riders as well! As for the claim that they coast 65% farther, that sounds like a tire with higher air pressure, but I don't know if there was any real change to the tires or it was just marketing hype. And thanks to Shawn for the Jag ad and to Michelle for helping me with the others!

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Refresh my memory. Are the Royal Riders a saw tooth tread pattern or were they more like the chain link tires? Thanks for sharing and Ride on. Razin.

 

[Oilit]

Refresh my memory. Are the Royal Riders a saw tooth tread pattern or were they more like the chain link tires? Thanks for sharing and Ride on. Razin.

The tires on the bike are Royal Riders as far as I can make out. The 4th picture is a close-up of the Rocket Ray, but it also gives a good look at the tread.

 

[hzqw2l]

Tread pattern looks like royal riders. They didn't survive well over the years. Not many rideable whitewall royal riders out there.

 

[Oilit]

I picked up some interesting Roadmaster material off EBay this last weekend, including this brochure. This looks like part of the advertising campaign to introduce the Flying Falcon, but there's no date. There's a picture of the May 11, 1953 issue of Life Magazine, and there's a mark in one corner "DM 53-6 5M" which must be some kind of printer's code, but Google didn't return any clues. The "53-6" could refer to June 1953, but that's pure speculation on my part. If you look at the picture of the bike, there's some curious features - bent chain stays, a white contrast stripe on the chain guard, and some kind of (steel?) brake handles, which I've never seen on one of the bikes, so this drawing was probably produced before all production details were finalized. Does anybody know what that code referred to?

 

[Nostalgic Dave]

I picked up some interesting Roadmaster material off EBay this last weekend, including this brochure. This looks like part of the advertising campaign to introduce the Flying Falcon, but there's no date. There's a picture of the May 11, 1953 issue of Life Magazine, and there's a mark in one corner "DM 53-6 5M" which must be some kind of printer's code, but Google didn't return any clues. The "53-6" could refer to June 1953, but that's pure speculation on my part. If you look at the picture of the bike, there's some curious features - bent chain stays, a white contrast stripe on the chain guard, and some kind of (steel?) brake handles, which I've never seen on one of the bikes, so this drawing was probably produced before all production details were finalized. Does anybody know what that code referred to?

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Very cool. Thanks for sharing!

 

[mrg]

Probably early pre production literature that changed by the time the bike was released, like the 3 speed balloon tire Schwinn Jaguar and the Colson Firebird the Flying Falcon only short lived, 54-5?, I know Schwinn & Colson started ads in 53. Just noticed the pics at the beginning of this thread, are those the long-coasting Royal Riders!, can you read the PSI?

 

[Oilit]

Probably early pre production literature that changed by the time the bike was released, like the 3 speed balloon tire Schwinn Jaguar and the Colson Firebird the Flying Falcon only short lived, 54-5?, I know Schwinn & Colson started ads in 53. Just noticed the pics at the beginning of this thread, are those the long-coasting Royal Riders!, can you read the PSI?

I'll look again this weekend. As I recall, the whitewalls were pretty deteriorated, but if anything has survived, that would settle whether they ran higher pressure! This 2 page ad from the November 1954 issue of American Bicyclist shows the tread pattern, but there's nothing about why they were supposed to coast farther.

 

[razinhellcustomz]

I picked up some interesting Roadmaster material off EBay this last weekend, including this brochure. This looks like part of the advertising campaign to introduce the Flying Falcon, but there's no date. There's a picture of the May 11, 1953 issue of Life Magazine, and there's a mark in one corner "DM 53-6 5M" which must be some kind of printer's code, but Google didn't return any clues. The "53-6" could refer to June 1953, but that's pure speculation on my part. If you look at the picture of the bike, there's some curious features - bent chain stays, a white contrast stripe on the chain guard, and some kind of (steel?) brake handles, which I've never seen on one of the bikes, so this drawing was probably produced before all production details were finalized. Does anybody know what that code referred to?

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I do believe your right about the date code and when i took a course in print shop and press operation the 5M code i think is for 5 million which would have been the number of these ads printed on the first press run. Razin.