1971 Roadmaster Skyrider Deluxe

[FreddyS]

Picked this up today. Sweet tank bike in excellent condition. All original with the exception of the tires. Front tire needs to be flipped as it is the read is wrong side right now. Seat has some seams which are coming apart which I can fix with my leather repair kit. Seat is a Troxel and leather. This bike is a beauty. Wish I new where this bike was built, Little Rock or Illinois. Only identifying numbers are 638 on top of bottom bracket. Very solid bike which rides like a cream puff

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kingfish254]

Sweet score

 

[Wildcat]

AMF moved to Olney, Il in 71, so it could be either Little Rock or Olney. Any batteries in the tank? They may have a date code on them.

 

[FreddyS]

I just dropped off bike at my brothers. I will look for batteries or something else that might give me a clue. Bike looks solid and rides well. I’m betting it is Little Rock but I will see. From what I read the quality really started going downhill in late 1970s and early 1980s and forward in the plant in Illinois. Also from what I have read the really crappy bikes were the ones with gears especially derailleurs. Hard to screw up a single speed cruiser.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Wildcat]

My first brand new bike was one of the Olney made bikes, a 24 inch piece of junk. One speed, but it lasted a month longer than my brothers 3 speeds. None of the bikes lasted through one summer. I think all the bikes after Arkansas were very low quality, I should have stuck with my old Evans second hand bike from the late 50's.

 

[FreddyS]

My first brand new bike was one of the Olney made bikes, a 24 inch piece of junk. One speed, but it lasted a month longer than my brothers 3 speeds. None of the bikes lasted through one summer. I think all the bikes after Arkansas were very low quality, I should have stuck with my old Evans second hand bike from the late 50's.

This bike has a bendix rear hub and really nice chrome that has held up nicely for the past 47 years. Vintage Schwinn like chrome not the crap you see on new Bikes. The old dude took care of it and had it regularly serviced at bike shops is what he told me and from the condition of the bike he wasn’t lying. Like I said it’s hard to screw up a single speed cruiser.

If you were like me you tore up Bikes pretty regularly. Me and my buddies from the neighborhood would absolutely abuse our bikes. We had a bike bone yard at one of the houses and would junk our broken down bikes there and use them for spare parts. I don’t think any of my bikes lasted more than a year or two. Most of our bikes were single speed muscle bikes. We got to where we could put three guys on a bike. A guy sitting on the Handlebars, another standing on pegs in the back and of course the rider. Needless to say most of our tires were warped with missing or broken spokes. Good times though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FreddyS]

Found the serial number. It is M460440. Can anyone help me date this bike?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RustyGold]

I don't think anyone has successfully cracked any code in the AMF serial numbers. Looking through pics, I would guess a '67, or '68. That guard looks fairly unique to just a couple of years, and the squared headlight tank would be towards the end of the tank bike era.

Jason

 

[FreddyS]

I don't think anyone has successfully cracked any code in the AMF serial numbers. Looking through pics, I would guess a '67, or '68. That guard looks fairly unique to just a couple of years, and the squared headlight tank would be towards the end of the tank bike era.

Jason

I emailed the original owner of the bike and he said he bought it new in 1971 but it has been there on display for a while so I think you may be right. After looking at bike and seat carefully I am pretty sure it was built in the late 1960s. Cool bike anyways!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk