1952 hawthorne - "Tales from the Crypt"

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Joined
Jul 8, 2012
Messages
10
Reaction score
3
Location
Rotherham, UK
ok so heres my build off, starting with a 1952 Hawthorne found in San Antonio TX, then shipped by the perils of UPS and aircraft all the way to the United Kingdom - Sunny Rotherham!

original.jpg



The bike had been found quite rusty and had been stripped and re-painted to get it ridable again. Note that the fork is not the springer which comes later.

mockup.jpg


Once in the uk I "dry" assembled the whole thing to check condition. The forks were bent, the fenders crumpled, the tanks were dinted - all due to the shipping process. But never mind I soon stripped the whole thing back to bare steel and hammered and filled the bad bits. My plan was for a light custom, which entailed paintwork, tail dragger fender and high bars. Also the leading link arms for the springer fork were missing so I made some out of mild steel strip hanging about in the garage.

mockup2.jpg


It was clear a trip to the chromers was on the cards, so the front chain ring and springer fork (shipped with the bike instead of the standard fork) were polished and dipped in the chrome vat. I was thinking about art for the tank, thats when my favourite 50's americana "Tales from the Crypt" came to mind. The front cover taped to the tank indicates where things were going.

mockup3.jpg


The next door neighbour is very handy with the airbrush so over the tank piece went, a few weeks and a four pack of beer later resulted in this:

photo1.jpg


Back into the garage the full assembly takes place, coupled with some Wald high-rise bars

finished.jpg

h4.jpg


Enjoy! and know I have, probably the only Hawthorne in the UK. Front light yet to wire up, and possible seat re-cover but for now I'm riding.
 
Great story and wicked ride!
I have those same beehive forks. Look at my build thread for information about using a nylon nut to make the springer fork work properly without the springer fork scraping on the outside of the stationary fork blades.
Welcome to BO7.

WP_002011.jpg
 
Amazing lookin ride you got there mate !! Didn't think there were bikes like that over here ! :lol:
I love riding round my home town on my bikes ! People always stopping me to ask questions !!
Gotta love ape hanges :lol:
Take a look at my bikes if you look through my posts
Keep up the cool builds pal 8) 8) 8)
 
thanks for all the positive response on this guys!

kingfish254 - seems we both had the same problem with these forks, I ended up drilling out a aluminum spacer to do the same.
 
52hawthorne said:
thanks for all the positive response on this guys!

kingfish254 - seems we both had the same problem with these forks, I ended up drilling out a aluminum spacer to do the same.

Once you get it taken care of the work great.

I also swapped out my spring for something stiffer. The old spring was made for an 80 pound boy.
 
Once you get it taken care of the work great.

I also swapped out my spring for something stiffer. The old spring was made for an 80 pound boy.
Bringing back an old thread, but what kind of spring did you use as a replacement?

-J Wolf
 

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