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Monark Research

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Hi,

Your paint scheme is exactly the same as my Firestone Special Cruiser (by the way I can't find any meaningful information about this bike) which I understand would have been built by Monark in the early fifties. I am not sure if this could give a clue regarding tank and racks etc. Hope this helps.



Matt
 

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Hi Matt........your Firestone was built by D.P. Harris/Rollfast not Monark. Monark also made bikes for Firestone. Many of the tire/auto, hardware stores, catalogs, etc. contracted different bike manufacturers to build their bikes. Some would even have bikes from two or three different manufacturers at the same time.
John
 
Thanks for the info John. I have never seen another one of these on the web or any of the forums. Is this because it is a rare bike or is it of no interest. Also do you have any idea of it's age? I was told 1951. Any help you can give would be great. Matt.
 
The serial # dates it as a 1952, according to the Monark serial number list in the NBJ 'Introduction to Classic Bicycles' book. ~Adam
 
Did you ever find any info on the 24" Monark? I recently picked up a skip tooth 24" Monark that no one seems to know about.

20230205_131306_resized.jpg
 
Chainring is CWC Roadmaster. Looks like a ladies frame cut and modified into a men’s.
I already had the guy from the national bicycle museum say it's real and hasn't been modified including that short vertical bar. But the CWC chainring is standard on every pre-war Monark I've seen.
 
I already had the guy from the national bicycle museum say it's real and hasn't been modified including that short vertical bar. But the CWC chainring is standard on every pre-war Monark I've seen.
Monark bicycle’s never came with CWC chainrings, especially prewar. They only used their own skip tooth chainrings on early aluminum bikes. I certainly can’t vouch for the originality of that frame as it looks identical to a prewar ladies frame, upside down.
 
CWC is a 1" pitch (skip tooth) whereas the Monark is a 1/2" pitch drive.
So, same spiral design, but the difference is skip tooth or not. Correct? I'm learning. If so, what does it mean to have a CWC on this bike? It's been pointed out twice for some reason.
 
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