Cleveland Welding Company

[Pedals Past]

Its a bike that has been robbed if parts or put together from multiple parts or a term used by some to tell you its nothing special just depends on who is using the term.

You will find on here that more often than not the responders are quick to “bash” your bike if you are new to hobby or just inquiring.

I believe your bike is a non deluxe 1954 Roadmaster Not believing in the term “expert” i dont believe a middleweight was built in 1954 however your seat is of a middleweight style.

I think every bike or anything you wish to collect is special to the person owning it. Looks like its an original as built what size are the tires, this deppcts if its a ballooner example 26x2.12 being ballon or 2-1/8” and 26x1.75 or 1-3/4” a middleweight, or at least a common rule I learned the hard way when I started 30 years ago, a ballooner holding more weight to most and a middleweight the smaller lighter version.

The cold reality is you wont get alot for this bike even for parts but its a cool rider nice og paint it was really special to the first owner and will be to the last.

Welcome to the world of trying to get help in learning

 

[Freqman1]

Are you sure that's a Wald? AMF used a very similar chain ring in the late '50's, but I'm not sure when they first appeared. And AMF may have got these from Wald too, for all I know. But the seat definitely looks later than the bike.

AMF's first Little Rock plant. | General Discussion About Old Bicycles

I thought this article was interesting. In an interview, a former employee of AMF in Little Rock AR, Beth Cripps (then Stuart) says that they actually started production in 1955 from a plant they bought in East Little Rock, before building the plant on W. 65th St. That's the first I've heard of...

thecabe.com

I don't believe the ring is correct for that bike. While they may have used something similar in the late '50s this bike is earlier and I don't recall seeing that ring. If I'm wrong I'm sure Jerry will correct me!

 

[mrg]

Frankinbike sold as a 54 Columbia Roadmaster ( Frankiname? ) at a auction.

 

[Oilit]

Rims are white with a red strips on each side.

View attachment 1953984

If you look at the thread in the link above, there's a 1956 brochure on Roadmaster models, and there's a promotional model that looks a lot like yours. The promotional model was the basic bike with no frills, so not particularly valuable, but yours is not in bad shape. Your seat doesn't look correct for the period, and the handlebars and the chain ring may be later, but the wheels and fenders look right. The main thing you're missing is the chain guard. And the earliest AMF middleweight I've seen is 1955, so I'd bet your bike originally had balloon tires. It looks like the fork isn't painted, so it may be replaced but that's not unusual. Run into something with these old bikes and the fork is usually what gets bent.

 

[Oilit]

Frankinbike sold as a 54 Columbia Roadmaster ( Frankiname? ) at a auction.
View attachment 1955504

Somebody put a lot of work into that one. We probably ought to start a thread on Frankenbikes, but then somebody will have to decide where to draw the line between a Frankenbike and a custom.

 

[Freqman1]

Somebody put a lot of work into that one. We probably ought to start a thread on Frankenbikes, but then somebody will have to decide where to draw the line between a Frankenbike and a custom.

To me a Frankenbike is when someone used an assortment of available parts just to get a bike functional again. A custom is usually done with an end result in mind. A rat rod in my opinion is just another flavor of custom. Then there are some e.g. the 'fur' bikes that fall into the category of abomination! Of course all this is subjective and each will have their own ideas of what constitute a certain category.