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Rollfast. What year is it?

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TonyD

Finally riding a big boys bike
In Memoriam
I’m looking for any info on this bike. I’ve had it for years and I was told it was 1917 Rollfast. It is a 28” frame and fork. I appreciate your help with this.
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Front and rear forks look wide; truss tube looks fairly low. Maybe about 1934?

They sometimes came with offset spacers for the rear fender.

Serial number; maybe an "A" begins in 1931, or so?
 
Last edited:
Front and rear forks look wide; truss tube looks fairly low. Maybe about 1934?

I’ve never been sure that any of the parts are original or not. They had been together under a couple thick layers of house paint for decades before it came to me. I have greased the bearings and I built the wheels for a different frame set.
I appreciate your help.
Just as a reference point, the tires are 700c x 38. I have all kinds of room on all sides of the tires, front and back.
I tried a set of 26 balloons and it was obvious that they were wrong for the bike.


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Front and rear forks look wide; truss tube looks fairly low. Maybe about 1934?

They sometimes came with offset spacers for the rear fender.

Serial number; maybe an "A" begins in 1931, or so?

I just realized that I didn’t post the picture of the serial number..
Coming right now.!
I have the fenders. Gnarly old rain gutters. Flat braces with eyelets.


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Maybe 1933-C. About the time that 26" balloon tires, (and later the super-balloons in 1933), the Snyder, Rollfast and Excelsior folks may have adopted a transitional one-size-fits-all frame design. It likely had some trade-offs, wrt how the bikes appearance seemed to fit either or both sizes of tires. I understand that the fork would merely be swapped 26, 28, as the customer ordered.
I generally associate the early alphabet codes (ABCDE) with Snyder's acquisition of Excelsior, and believe that the later end of the alphabet (WXYZ) indicates products that came from the Little Falls plant.
The badge holes look a bit narrow, and may fit a Montgomery Ward Hawthorne badge, (but the H chain ring sprocket is for DP Harris).
 
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I appreciate the help. I removed the the Rollfast badge to keep it safe since it is in great condition. I did clean a little paint off the edge but they painted around it pretty well.
I’m not sure if it’s the original badge, but it fit well on the holes.
I’m not trying to restore it but I am going to make it beautiful again. I’m really just looking for ideas based on what it used to be. You gave me some things to start with. Thank you.


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