Recently acquired pile of bikes and parts

[oldiron]

They all seem to have issues with LED shop lights, regular incandescent bulbs aren't the issue.
The Kodak cameras are fairly simple, they do fine but I don't know if there's a way to power them off an adapter. They won't power on when plugged into the USB cable but that's only for data transfer from internal memory or to use it as a video camera through the computer, which is worthless at 6mp.

 

[oldiron]

I took the chainguard off the Columbia today, it didn't match and was obviously pitted and repainted.
I stripped off the paint and its going to take a ton of work to make it look right again.
The question is does it even belong on that bike or is this the one that belonges on the Westfield?
Or were these all just universal chain guards?

Since I had it on the rack, I went digging for the serial number. it appears to be W282384. There's to very faint numbers past the 4 but their smaller and not stamped as deep and half the size lettering that read "38" Possibly a mark to denote its a Goodyear model?

I had to sand off the paint to see them, there was barely a hint of a number but I found a post somewhere online where someone showed where their number was so I sanded off the paint there.
I could have sworn I saw a Bendix brake arm but its clear its got a New Departure on it.



After looking at a bunch of pics, I noticed one big difference in this bike vs others from the late 40's to mid 50's, besides the different chain guard, this does not have a built in kickstand. (It didn't have one when I found it but I stuck a modern one on it for now off a newer Columbia 10 speed, its a bit short but its better than having it fall over.


After looking at about 100 bikes online, it appears that all the Columbia models had the integral chain guard.
But Goodyear models did not. Since there was a Goodyear Hiway Patrol badge with this bike, I have to assume its the one that belongs with it.





I stripped down the chain guard, its going to need a ton of work to make it look good again, its dented, split, and rust pitted with a crank arm swipe across the middle. It didn't come from this bike, its base color was olive green, the rest of the bike is black down to the steel.
I'm thinking its a better match for the Westfield than the Columbia?
The 1941 Elgin catalog pages show this cg as an accessory for sale, so do a few Columbia brochures.

I have several Columbia chain guards that fit the bike better, but their mid 50's models.
It won't be hard to make one black to match this bike. There's also a bucket of kickstands and a JC Higgins CG in white and blue and at least one of each of the accessory chainguards in the Sears catalog in 1940 to 1947.

 

[oldiron]

I was digging through boxes today and found this:


There were several of these hub shells rolling around in the bottom of a tub of misc. parts, a mix of disassembled black ND hubs, used bits and pieces, and a few coffee cans full of used discs.

They don't look plated, and they do not have an oil port. They are 36hole and appear cast, if you look close you can see that the outer edges of the flanges are not machined or polished, nor are the two ends. None appear to have ever been built.
Wanting to know what they were made of, I tried a magnet on them. They are only slightly magnetic where as a standard ND model D can be picked up with a magnet but this thing will bearly attract a fridge magnet.
It appears to be stainless steel of some sort?
There are no brand markings anywhere. It measures the same as a model D.

Did they, or when did they make a Stainless or non magnetic ND hub?

 

[Mercian]

Hi @oldiron

I can't answer your last post, but for post 63.

The chainguard is a McCauley made product. This pattern was commonly factory fitted on 1940's Westfield bicycles, and also could be bought as a separate item from McCauley for use on any bicycle.

The frame code W282384 is around May to June 1954.

I hope this helps.

Adrian

PS, only a suggestion, but you are doing a lot of research, and asking good questions, so it can be a little difficult following the detail in your mails, because you are addressing two different bicycles (all Columbias are Westfields, but not all Westfields are Columbias) and a pile of parts. Now you know more about the bicycles, perhaps start a new topic for each bicycle, and a topic for the parts?

 

[oldiron]

I'll start a thread for the Columbia as a '54 then.
My main though though is that since they all came from the same place when I got them, I'm thinking that the chainguard likely came from one of the other bikes, especially since it reall don't match the paint on the Columbia it was on, and its likely 15 years older than the bike.

The Westfield may then be more complete than I had thought, missing only the correct handle bars and possibly a drop stand although I don't see a bracket for one and the rear frame doesn't look like the holes were ever used. There is a really old style side stand in the box and the marks on the frame match up with it.

The headbadge though is still the big question. The Westfield badge on it appears only on later models that I've found on the web, and never on a curved tube model like this one so the big question is was it a 'stray or leftover frame that got built after the war, or did someone go to great lengths to fill in the old Elgin badge holes to fit a non-Sears badge, or is there a much larger Elgin badge that was used in those years?

Looking at the catalogs from 1940-41, I don't see an exact match to this frame.

I take it that Westfield wasn't the only one building Elgin bikes in 1940-41?


1940 Boys models (No curved seat tube frames shown)


1941 Boys Models
The curved seat tube only appears in the 1941 catalog and of those pictured in the Spring/summer edition, none match the frame I have.
They all differ in both the seat tube length, down tube shape, or crankset used.
There are no curved seat tubes shown in the



I found a few of these wrapped up in a box today among the same lot of parts

It appears someone cut the head tubes and badges off of some new bikes, probably long ago as the badges are the old larger type.





Some of these have Columbia badges, some have JC Higgins badges.
The tubes themselves are heavy guage, but not nearly as thick or heavy as the
Westfield frame.

I've been setting aside all the headbadges I find in among all this stuff and so far the only
headbadge that matches the screw holes is an early Roadmaster badge, which I"m fairly certain
is a Cleveland Welding badge not Westfield. The only headbadge so far that fits in the Westfield but
I still can't find any proof that any such combination ever existed.

 

[Iverider]

Elgin was Sears bicycle label. After WW2 they changed the name to JC Higgins. They used different manufacturers to produce their bikes so while a Westfield built bike may be an Elgin or a Higgins, the opposite is not always true (Murray mad some Elgin and Higgins bikes as well) I’m not an expert on the make, but that’s what little I’ve retained (grain of salt).

The brass you’re finding on the frame may be from a process called dip brazing—again, not an expert on Westfield bikes) but dip brazing was a method where frames could be assembled in large scale by pinning them and then dipping the assembly into a molten batch of brazing material. Capillary action would draw brass into the joints and probably the insides of the frame as well. Maybe the heavy one was dipped too long? Speculation.

I enjoyed reading about your find. I dunno if your neighbor is into old bikes, but perhaps this is an opportunity to get them interested. Maybe a pay-off in the form of a bike project in exchange for photography? Just a thought. I can’t wait to see more of what you’ve hauled home!

 

[oldiron]

I don't think anyone around here even rides a bike. The neighborhood has changed to a younger generation and most don't even own a car let alone a bike. They rely on their phones to get a ride or order food.

I think its a good part of why I ended up with all this stuff. They had apparently run ads online for it all and got zero replies. I have no idea though where they listed it. I couldn't find anything on eBay, Craigslist, or Facebook Marketplace. The guy has a son and daughter but they don't live here, they moved away 60 years ago and never returned. I think the son took two bikes or had them shipped to where ever he lives, the wife, who was not the mother of his two kids, (both kids are well into their 70's themselves by now), the wife was younger than the guy who had all this stuff by 20-25 years or so.
When I was there it was obvious there were bikes missing, there were wheel stands still laying there where he had about 25 or so bikes lined up. Other then the five complete bikes I took, none of which were balloon tire models, were all lightweights, a Rollfast, a Mossberg, a Crown (D.P. Harris/Rollfast made in England), all single speeds, plus a Robin Hood, another Crown, and a Silverline made in Holland, all three speed models. At first I wasn't supposed to take the remaining bikes, but they needed someone to remove a wood stove and about four cords of wood from the back garage so they could sell the place. I hauled all of that away and they gave me the bikes and all the shelving and tools he had. I think their goal was to get the house empty to sell. If all went as planned its got a new owner there, but I've not heard either way.
Their cluttered up half a garage got loaded into my shed, basement, and camper. Most of the bikes are stuffed in the camper for now. I laid down a few tarps pumped up all the tires, and just started lining them up down the center. The bunks are full of boxes of parts and the front dinette and couch are folded up to make room for about 20 Rubbermaid tubs of parts. I put the buckets of greasy used hubs in the mower shed where I'll deal with them when it gets warm..
I took anything related to the three balloon tire models down stairs where there's heat.

I hadn't intended to take that much stuff but if I hadn't, they would have simply put it out on the curb. At that point its a gamble whether it gets found by someone who appreciates it, or it goes to the scrap yard in the back of some rusty old pickup when the scrappers make their rounds.

Bikes don't sell here, at least not on FB or CL, I've watched quite a few really nice bikes just sit for years with no takers for not much money.
I've been watching a Columbia that's nearly identical to the one I just got and its been on FB for over two years for $30 not 10 miles away. Its in better shape than this one and other than flat tires is likely complete and rideable with super nice original paint and wheels. I think that one is a few years older having drop center rims. I really thought someone would have grabbed it as a boardwalk bike but most don't seem interested in even pumping up a flat tire these days. I can't count how many bikes I've picked up for free with nothing but flat tires, both new and old.

I just picked up a mid 80's Raleigh MTB with a flat tire and loose seat for free off CL, it was listed as 'Needs a lot of work' in the Free ads It said the seat was broken and the tires both bad. They likely call the local bike shop, got quoted $100 for tires and $75 for a saddle and said forget it. The thought of pumping up the tires likely never crossed their minds.
I brought it home, pumped up the tires, adjusted and tightened the seat, oiled the chain and its fine. The tires seem to hold air just fine. They're old, likely original and have turned dark brown but they're not going anywhere. The seat has a few nicks in the corners, but I've got used seats around. I rode it around the block this morning and it shifts, pedals just fine, and at best needs a good cleaning and some polish. Best of all it a tall frame model, so my 6ft self fits on it just fine.