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The start of my 1957 AMF Roadmaster Pleasure Liner

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“AMF trying to bring in the CWC models into their own existing production line….”

of bicycles? or bowling pins?

I have not been paying very close attention to these AMF/CWC bicycles of the later almost middleweight era.

I reviewed the fine print on the chart again, and I do not see the 12 letters (A-L or A-M) for the 12 months; was that for 1957 only, or 1952 and later; and did the prefix letters in those days start with an “A” in January; and are there 12 examples, one for each month of the year?
Here's a blow up of 1958, you can see the months as Jan, etc. That's when they used the A, B, C, etc as the starting letter of the serial number, for Jan A, Feb B, etc. They skipped the capital I, and ended the year on Mnumber. That was becoming industry standard then. This easier to read chart has the month A, B, etc left off. It should be added in there, but by then it was industry standard if they had a year code as a suffix, the first letter would be the month. Keep in mind too that on the left side of the chart, the months are shown there, and each letter that started the serial numbers, like in 1948 etc, ran for about 3 months. The serials then went like D00001 to D9999 in that range, then changed to E and went again, etc. Later, using A for January, etc helped them to get more structure in the serial numbers. Whether it was 52Cw or H, etc. the year and month of build was becoming more exact and easier to keep track of. Hopefully, this makes sense to you. If not, I'll do better at explaining it to you.

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Here's a blow up of 1958, you can see the months as Jan, etc. That's when they used the A, B, C, etc as the starting letter of the serial number, for Jan A, Feb B, etc. They skipped the capital I, and ended the year on Mnumber. That was becoming industry standard then. This easier to read chart has the month A, B, etc left off. It should be added in there, but by then it was industry standard if they had a year code as a suffix, the first letter would be the month. Keep in mind too that on the left side of the chart, the months are shown there, and each letter that started the serial numbers, like in 1948 etc, ran for about 3 months. The serials then went like D00001 to D9999 in that range, then changed to E and went again, etc. Later, using A for January, etc helped them to get more structure in the serial numbers. Whether it was 52Cw or H, etc. the year and month of build was becoming more exact and easier to keep track of. Hopefully, this makes sense to you. If not, I'll do better at explaining it to you.

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But this was only for 1957 and '58, correct? On the bikes I've seen, there aren't any suffixes after 1958, just the letter (for the year) and the number.
 
But this was only for 1957 and '58, correct? On the bikes I've seen, there aren't any suffixes after 1958, just the letter (for the year) and the number.
No, suffixes (letters after and to the right of the serial number) continued through 1963. You're not understanding what I mean by a suffix. Here's a scenario to help. There's a bike, the info on the bottom of the frame says: B47652 then to the right of that, it says G. The correct build info is this, B=February. 47652 is the consecutive build number. The G is the year G=1957. So, this example was built in February 1957.
So, if the serial number says G43345, suffix of G it means it was built in July of 1957.
 
First day I assessed what needs to be clean :no I will not be painting this and I am waiting on parts to complete the bike .

It's not to bad for sitting and a barn /garage for decades
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If anyone knows if the Roadmaster emblem is brass or supposed to be chrome it would be much appreciated

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I started with the rear wheel and hub due to it being so dirty that it was stuck and also If I can find bearings they will be replaced or at the very least cleaned and repacked with grease.
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I started with cleaning them with dawn first to brake up some of the crude than I had to use mineral spirits for the rest. There was no rust on the hub what so ever that it was that shiny just from cleaning it the actual rim of the wheel however did. I used aluminum foil dipped in water. There was a choice of using quad Ott steel wool or the aluminum but in knew the aluminum would pull the rust and won't scratch the surface. So far it turned out good but I will use same wax on it to protect it .
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Next was the pedal assembly with the same process but I did not want to use the mineral spirits with it being so close to the paint . It still needs work but I will be pulling it off to finish cleaning it off . And yes I know it's a dark picture lol
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That was the last part for the day to clean ,well technically I did clean the front fender it turned out well and I would have taken a picture but I took it to work to straighten the mounting bars .

Hopefully this week I will have the bearings and tires but I have to get to cleaning the front storage rack and the rest of the chrome .

Any suggestions on the emblem or brining stickers on the bike back would be a help .

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Built in March of 1957.
 
No, suffixes (letters after and to the right of the serial number) continued through 1963. You're not understanding what I mean by a suffix. Here's a scenario to help. There's a bike, the info on the bottom of the frame says: B47652 then to the right of that, it says G. The correct build info is this, B=February. 47652 is the consecutive build number. The G is the year G=1957. So, this example was built in February 1957.
So, if the serial number says G43345, suffix of G it means it was built in July of 1957.
I understand what you mean, but it doesn't match the bikes I've seen. I haven't seen a suffix on any bike built after 1957. I don't doubt some could have had a suffix in 1958 but if you have one later than that I want to see pictures. In my Pleasure Liner thread I posted pictures of serials from three Roadmasters, a 1957 Pleasure Liner, a 1958 Pleasure Liner and a Sky King, and you can see neither later bike has a suffix. The cantilever frame on the Sky King wasn't introduced until 1958 and the first advertisement I've seen is from 1959, so I take the "J" as 1959. The Pleasure Liner I take as 1958 by the badge, but it also has a "J" serial number, so that badge may have been used into 1959. But I also have 1958 and 1960 Flying Falcons with "H" and "K" serials, and neither of those serials has a suffix. I don't have pictures of the F.F. serials, but I'll get them if you want. One bike not having a suffix could be an oddball, but four?
In this thread you can see the hub on my 1958 Flying Falcon is dated "57 10", so the hub was built Oct. 1957.
 
I understand what you mean, but it doesn't match the bikes I've seen. I haven't seen a suffix on any bike built after 1957. I don't doubt some could have had a suffix in 1958 but if you have one later than that I want to see pictures. In my Pleasure Liner thread I posted pictures of serials from three Roadmasters, a 1957 Pleasure Liner, a 1958 Pleasure Liner and a Sky King, and you can see neither later bike has a suffix. The cantilever frame on the Sky King wasn't introduced until 1958 and the first advertisement I've seen is from 1959, so I take the "J" as 1959. The Pleasure Liner I take as 1958 by the badge, but it also has a "J" serial number, so that badge may have been used into 1959. But I also have 1958 and 1960 Flying Falcons with "H" and "K" serials, and neither of those serials has a suffix. I don't have pictures of the F.F. serials, but I'll get them if you want. One bike not having a suffix could be an oddball, but four?
In this thread you can see the hub on my 1958 Flying Falcon is dated "57 10", so the hub was built Oct. 1957.
J at the end of the serial number is 1959. I have personally seen 2 or 3 H's and about 3 G's at the end of the serial numbers in the last 8 months or so. I didn't save pics but if I see the posts again on Facebook, I'll get pics to you. Keep in mind if the hub was built in October of 1957, it would most likely been laced into a rim in 1958 at the earliest. And, it could be possible to be laced in a rim in early 1959 as well. They used different brand hubs, not just one, so that would be a variable there.
In the early CWC days, they offered 3 different brand rear hubs Musselman, Morrow, and New Departure. In early 1946, Bendix introduced their original coaster brake rear hubs. They took until into the 3rd quarter of 1946 to show up on some 1946 CWC bikes, as they then offered Bendix and New Departure. More of them are found on 1947 bikes, etc. So, the build date on hubs would be earlier than when the bike was assembled.
I also know that with 2 plants building the bikes, one plant was doing some things differently. That's been documented in the literature already.
 
I understand what you mean, but it doesn't match the bikes I've seen.
So, it seems that you are not asking for a word explanation of a theory, but asking what the basis for that theory might be, or how a rule is demonstrated, (besides an “industry standard” thing).

And about what years was the industry standard started; about when did following the industry standard fall out of favor.

Who highjacked this nice project thread to discuss serial numbers stamping(!).
 
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So, it seems that you are not asking for a word explanation of a theory, but asking what the basis for that theory might be, or how a rule is demonstrated, (besides an “industry standard” thing).

And about what years was the industry standard started; about when did following the industry standard fall out of favor.

Who highjacked this nice project thread to discuss serial numbers stamping(!).
Look back to post #17 in this thread.
 
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