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A Roadmaster question for Phil .......

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BWbiker

Wore out three sets of tires already!
Hopefully this is helpful for anyone putting a pre war or maybe even post war Roadmaster together. A pre war 26" boys bike came to me less a few parts including the rear wheel. The front wheel was included which appears to be nice quality deep drop center (Lobdell?) which is a full 1-1/2" wide. The front hub is un-marked and is the same one I have seen on other Roadmasters, pre and just post war. My questions are:
1) Was this a standard front hub that Roadmaster or CWC used?
2) If it is, when was it used, with Morrow rear hubs only? Did they use it in combination with New Departure rear hubs, or did they use ND front hubs when they used ND rear hubs or whatever the hell was on the shelf?
Please see attached photo of the front hub in question.

I hope these questions make sense!

Thank you, BW:eek:
 

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  • Roadmasterhub 002.jpg
    Roadmasterhub 002.jpg
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Unfortunately I haven’t noted front to rear hub pairings on the bikes I have or have studied so I don’t have any helpful information on the subject.

The front hub in the picture appears to be a Musselman, it is the same hub the company produced for Elgin but without the cooling fins.

I haven’t seen a CWC bike with a Musselman coaster brake so it may be that Musselman hubs were used for the front wheel when Morrow hubs were used in the rear. It is also possible and perhaps more likely that the choice of front hubs was based on supplier pricing and availability or on specific distributor requests.

Somewhat unrelated is the fact that CWC developed and held several patents on a hydraulic coaster rear hub that apparently never made it to production.

On the subject of rims, I have wondered if CWC produced their own rims in-house before WW2. One of their largest product lines outside of bicycles was their line of truck, tractor and automobile rims and the company was founded around the development of techniques and machinery to produce rolled and welded steel products. By the mid fifties they were producing bicycle rims to their own distinct pattern but the earlier rims are more generic in shape and may or may not have been produced in-house.

Anyone else have any information on the subject of hubs used on CWC bikes and in-house or outside suppliers for rims?

Phil
 
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