A BEAUTIFUL ROADMASTER
- Thread starter Rat Rod
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It says it's a 41 model. It's got the same chain guard and curved fender braces as my 47. I wonder if mine might be an earlier model?
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Now that's a classy looking bike!
Wildcat said:
This bike is a "1941 model" spec. Roadmaster (although technically it could have been produced between late 1940 and the beginning of 1942.) The "Bent-Tank" style frame was not produced after the war so any bike with this frame is a prewar bike (or again, technically, a wartime bike if it were produced between 12/7/1941 and Feb. of 1942.)
On the other hand.that chain guard stamping and curved braces were used on both sides of WW2 and would not alone define a bike as pre-war, wartime, or post-war.
Good info, thanks!
was that crankset original ? I noticed it has an offset to accomidate a rider with wider hips or a toe out condition like me . I have seen similar cranks in schwinn parts catalouges . I was wondering who would ride a bike with a wider crank track and adjust the seat forward ? On mine I would flip the seat post around for a lay back position.
onex29er said:
Chain guards were not commonly fitted to boy’s bicycles until the mid thirties. The bend in the drive side crank arm is referred to as a dog leg and is there to give clearance for the chain guard. In spite of the bend, the crankset was designed to center the frame between the pedals when installed.
The cranksets used on prewar CWC bicycles have a pronounced dog leg while some other manufacturer’s designs are smoother looking but with the same side deflection for the same reason. Murray-Ohio is generally credited with developing the first non dog leg crank arm with chain guard clearance and most other companies followed suit postwar.
The forward extension seat post direction is the standard positioning for seat posts of this type and is the direction they are virtually always depicted in period literature and photographs. These bicycles were originally designed for 10 to 12 year old boys for whom the forward orientation of the post provides more appropriate positioning. In the day some manufacturers did offer reverse, rear oriented seat posts but the angle between the vertical and horizontal portions was greater than 90 degrees so the extension would be parallel to the ground when facing backward.
