39zep
Wore out three sets of tires already!
I'm posting this thread after receiving a lot of questions about the origin of this bike. While in the process of building this, I knew I would be sending some of the knowledgable CWC fans into a tailspin. Let me answer those questions.
The base bike was 41ish Roadmaster bent tank, fenderless with the Sturmey Archer high/low 3 speed set up that I rode around as a teenager in HB, CA back in the late 70's. The bike has been in my attic with the idea of bringing it back one day. I grew up building and riding Whizzers, so I am a huge fan of HD, purpose built bikes. Another part of my motivation for the build was the Roadmaster HD arch bar in the catalog picture. To date, I have not come across one. I attended the last Iron Ranch Swap and got the opportunity to meet Phil Marshall and he said he had never seen one as well. With that being said, the base bike along with parts from my stock, some ebay purchases and a motive to challenge my fab and design skills became the birth of the 41 Hawthorne Arch Bar HD. Now to my knowledge Hawthorne never built a Delivery or an HD bike.
Some of the bikes features.
The frame was customized from a base bent tank frame. I patterned the arch bar off of the cycle truck, because the bend of the tube was far more interesting than the HD bike. Looks like it's coiled and ready to spring forward.
I changed the springer from my old rider because this one had so much character. But probably the biggest pain in the rear springer to work on. I ended up rebuilding almost every working parts. New stainless steel flippers, machine smooth surfaces, aircraft nylon slides between surfaces, custom bushings and a lot of pinched fingers getting the hub in and out of it. I also added a post to the inside of the fork. In order to run a front brake and have the hub be able to go up and down with the springer I notched the brake arm and created this sliding brake arm.
Part of the build was the seat skirt tail light. You can see what I started with and what my finished unit looked like. Also custom to the bike is the battery from the seat skirt also powers the front horn/headlight. I custom bent a heavy wall SS seat post. Wires from the battery travel through the seat post down and through the arch bar and come out near the fork. The lens to my EA horn light was cracked so I casted a pattern and JAF/CO vacuum formed a new lens for me.
I painted to bike with a semi black lacquer and brought it closer to gloss with compounds. The amazing Tom Clark striped the bike, patterned the stripes from the cycle truck and HD bike in the catalog. I probably have more work into this bike than a lot of my other builds, but super happy with the result.
The base bike was 41ish Roadmaster bent tank, fenderless with the Sturmey Archer high/low 3 speed set up that I rode around as a teenager in HB, CA back in the late 70's. The bike has been in my attic with the idea of bringing it back one day. I grew up building and riding Whizzers, so I am a huge fan of HD, purpose built bikes. Another part of my motivation for the build was the Roadmaster HD arch bar in the catalog picture. To date, I have not come across one. I attended the last Iron Ranch Swap and got the opportunity to meet Phil Marshall and he said he had never seen one as well. With that being said, the base bike along with parts from my stock, some ebay purchases and a motive to challenge my fab and design skills became the birth of the 41 Hawthorne Arch Bar HD. Now to my knowledge Hawthorne never built a Delivery or an HD bike.
Some of the bikes features.
The frame was customized from a base bent tank frame. I patterned the arch bar off of the cycle truck, because the bend of the tube was far more interesting than the HD bike. Looks like it's coiled and ready to spring forward.
I changed the springer from my old rider because this one had so much character. But probably the biggest pain in the rear springer to work on. I ended up rebuilding almost every working parts. New stainless steel flippers, machine smooth surfaces, aircraft nylon slides between surfaces, custom bushings and a lot of pinched fingers getting the hub in and out of it. I also added a post to the inside of the fork. In order to run a front brake and have the hub be able to go up and down with the springer I notched the brake arm and created this sliding brake arm.
Part of the build was the seat skirt tail light. You can see what I started with and what my finished unit looked like. Also custom to the bike is the battery from the seat skirt also powers the front horn/headlight. I custom bent a heavy wall SS seat post. Wires from the battery travel through the seat post down and through the arch bar and come out near the fork. The lens to my EA horn light was cracked so I casted a pattern and JAF/CO vacuum formed a new lens for me.
I painted to bike with a semi black lacquer and brought it closer to gloss with compounds. The amazing Tom Clark striped the bike, patterned the stripes from the cycle truck and HD bike in the catalog. I probably have more work into this bike than a lot of my other builds, but super happy with the result.
