I recently picked up a couple of bikes to fix up for my Mom and Dad. My Dad said something a while back about wanting a 1937 bicycle so I put the word out and ended up with what you see below. I also figured since im building up a bike for Dad.... Mom is gonna want one too!
I did PM RMS37 and he took a quick look and said it appears to be a 1936, Maybe a Hawthorne? Not a Zep though. It has a unique collet style seat post. It also has a hodge podge of different parts on it, the crank and chainring is wrong, handlebars and stem are probably wrong too, Wheelset is J.C. Higgins. Wrong seat. I think the fenders and braces are original? It has a Carlisle Lightning rear tire and a Davis Deluxe front tire, I think both are pretty dry rotted and probably not safe to ride on.
My plans for both... blast and repaint, and hopefully duplicate the original graphics, rebuild the wheels, new tires, replace what I can afford to replace, and turn them both into a nice rider, not necessarily restored.
Things I wil be looking for: maybe a chainguard, headbadge, crossbar type of handlebars, maybe a stem, tires, seat, grips, Drop stand, etc.
Any idea if this is really a Hawthorne? it is my understanding that the frame was made by D.P. Harris, could it be a Rollfast?
on to the pics...
I did PM RMS37 and he took a quick look and said it appears to be a 1936, Maybe a Hawthorne? Not a Zep though. It has a unique collet style seat post. It also has a hodge podge of different parts on it, the crank and chainring is wrong, handlebars and stem are probably wrong too, Wheelset is J.C. Higgins. Wrong seat. I think the fenders and braces are original? It has a Carlisle Lightning rear tire and a Davis Deluxe front tire, I think both are pretty dry rotted and probably not safe to ride on.
My plans for both... blast and repaint, and hopefully duplicate the original graphics, rebuild the wheels, new tires, replace what I can afford to replace, and turn them both into a nice rider, not necessarily restored.
Things I wil be looking for: maybe a chainguard, headbadge, crossbar type of handlebars, maybe a stem, tires, seat, grips, Drop stand, etc.
Any idea if this is really a Hawthorne? it is my understanding that the frame was made by D.P. Harris, could it be a Rollfast?
on to the pics...