Need help with Monark Rocket..which year exactly?

[IJamEcono]

Hi everyone,

I bought this today, and want to know what year it may be. Can't find much info on the internet, but perhaps I'm looking in the wrong place. I just bought it to clean up and ride. Seat needs obvious work, as does chainguard. Some areas look to be repainted.

Model 2260B
Serial #: A1524941

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Adamtinkerer]

The serial # is 1953, but that's a 40s Schwinn chainguard.

 

[IJamEcono]

Adam..thank you. How do you derive 1953 from the serial number? I just found out from a friend that the chainguard was a Schwinn. He suggested I keep it on until I find a correct one.

 

[mpr455]

here is my monark rocket i was told mine was a 46 take a look at chainguard this is the correct one you need. this one is sort of unique to the rockets at least from my research. an interesting side note is that my bike is not chrome plated as some of the other rockets or monarks are. the reason for this was during and following ww-2 chrome was not available so mine has some sort of cad or nickel. again don't know if this is gospel or not just some details i ran across trying to find out about my rocket. monarks seem to be difficult to id. maybe due to what was available for parts was not the same as pictured in the catalog.

 

[IJamEcono]

Thanks for the info and the very helpful pictures. Will start looking for the chainguard. I saw some Monark chainguards on ebay, but they don't match what you have. If mine is a 53 and yours is a 46, they would perhaps have different chainguards, right?

 

[IJamEcono]

This is a chainguard from ebay. Not sure if it's the same, but could work while looking decent.

http://http://cgi.ebay.com/1953-MONARK-CHAINGUARD_W0QQitemZ360234119828QQihZ023QQcategoryZ420QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286.m7QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D4%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D7816788647466455753

 

[IJamEcono]

oops. goofed. here it is.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1953-MONARK-CHAINGUARD_W0QQitemZ360234119828QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item53dfa07294

 

[Strings-n-Spokes]

Here is a Rocket I sold last year, Looks to be very similar

 

[IJamEcono]

Strings n Spokes...that's identical.Thanks for the pictures! Do you agree that it's a 1953?

 

[Adamtinkerer]

Monark serial #'s from 1934-54 are listed in "Newsletter By John's An Introduction to Classic Bicycles" book, which shows up on ebay occasionally. Lots of old ads and info. The guard on mpr's Rocket is typical, I believe they were made by McCauley, and chrome aftermarket versions were sold into the 60s. Later ones don't have the straight lines where the crank arm is, it's just another indent. Almost forgot, I have a pic of my ladies' Rocket w/that guard:

String's bike has the deluxe guard used mostly on Monark badged bikes.