Ladies Monark Rocket

[gkeep]

A coworker rescued this from becoming scrap metal today. It seems to be a 54 Rocket and has some serious rust where the rims contacted the dirt for decades. Lots of small rust patches. I tried one area on the frame with barkeepers friend (oxalic acid), Maquires Cleaning Wax and 0000 steel wool. The paint seems very thin and looking close there seems to be fingers of rust running under the paint.It looked like a little steel wool and WD40 would take it right down to bare metal real quick.

Not the bike I would choose as a project but my daughter might enjoy riding it or I could pass it on to someone as a cruiser, perfect for our flat town.

The Wald basket is nice and the ND hubs are in good shape, everything still moves and spins pretty freely. But do I need this project!!?? Will someone want to ride it?

Too bad it's not an early Rocket from the 40s with a tank. I found a reference that 1954 was the last year for Monark and I wonder if the paint quality was dropping or is it just the newer style metallic paints that were not as thick and robust as the old baked enamel finishes

Gary

 

[Adamtinkerer]

Too bad it's not an early Rocket from the 40s with a tank. I found a reference that 1954 was the last year for Monark and I wonder if the paint quality was dropping or is it just the newer style metallic paints that were not as thick and robust as the old baked enamel finishes

Gary

'54 was the last year for balloon tire Monarks, and the next years' middleweight line was badged Silver King. There were Monark badged mw's too, and then Huffy bought them in '57.

 

[gkeep]

The Monark Rocket back in orbit. This has turned into a really smooth and solid rider. After giving the fenders and struts an OA bath and seeing big flakes of blue paint slough off I went for 3M Perfect It Fine Cut compound, Mothers Carnuba Cleaner was and WD40. Used rags, brass brush, bronze wool and on the really crusty rims foil and 0000 steel wool. The interesting thing is light gray primer really held up well on the fenders while the blue was toast. Undersides show a much more vibrant darker blue. Even my wife thinks it's a nice ride. On to the next project...

 

[Sprockets]

Congrats! Another one saved!

 

[Soultrain]

A coworker rescued this from becoming scrap metal today. It seems to be a 54 Rocket and has some serious rust where the rims contacted the dirt for decades. Lots of small rust patches. I tried one area on the frame with barkeepers friend (oxalic acid), Maquires Cleaning Wax and 0000 steel wool. The paint seems very thin and looking close there seems to be fingers of rust running under the paint.It looked like a little steel wool and WD40 would take it right down to bare metal real quick.

Not the bike I would choose as a project but my daughter might enjoy riding it or I could pass it on to someone as a cruiser, perfect for our flat town.

The Wald basket is nice and the ND hubs are in good shape, everything still moves and spins pretty freely. But do I need this project!!?? Will someone want to ride it? View attachment 733643 View attachment 733644 View attachment 733645 View attachment 733646 View attachment 733647

Too bad it's not an early Rocket from the 40s with a tank. I found a reference that 1954 was the last year for Monark and I wonder if the paint quality was dropping or is it just the newer style metallic paints that were not as thick and robust as the old baked enamel finishes

Gary

Hi all, new to the forum. I have been looking for date coding on the type of riveted date tag this bike has. I have an old White's Super Chief w/tanks that has a tag like this on the bottom. I'm trying to date code the bike. Model: 67 250. Serial No: A1830476. Any help?