found my girl a hawthorn

[roadmaster]

so the other day at work, i get a chance to talk to the maintenence man and tell him if he knew of anyone that had old bikes they didn't want, send em my way. he then said he actually had some he'd give me... and a long story short i ended up getting an old girl's 26" single speed cruiser. once i saw it, i knew it would be a great build for my wife and it was a hawthorn. once i get picks of it, i'll put it in fresh finds, but for now, i have a few questions ya'll might be able to answer.

now this bike has twin down tubes instead of one solid top tube, which looks rather cool. my question is:

1. what might the vintage be? how long did montgomary wards sell the hawthorn name tag? i thought it was till the early 60's. maybe one of you might be able to help.

i also got a few girls mountain bikes and twin 20" older kent bmx "track climbers" bikes. both identical.

 

[aka_locojoe]

The bike I did for my Daughter has twin top tubes. Photos here. I'm guessing it to be 60s/70s. It was a Monark "El Camino".

 

[roadmaster]

i think rollfast made bikes for hawthorn. can't wait to get picts up of it.

 

[Unchained]

Rollfast, I believe, did not make Hawthorne bicycles, but rather Rollfast and Hawthorne bicycles were made by the same bicycle manufacturer at one time or antother- I do not mean to say they were the same compnay or were under the same owner, they were not as far as I know, but I do believe some Rollfast and Hawthorne bicycles of the 1950's were both made by H.P. Snyder.

 

[roadmaster]

that sounds about right. i made the rollfast/hawthorn connection by something i read at a vintage bike site and the fact that her bike had the same chainring as i saw on early 60's rollfasts (similar to a murray). so how long did montgomary wards still badge them as hawthorns b4 putting their own names on them, like the mid 60's mw starliner girls cruiser i had a few years ago. didn't they switch names around the same time sears dropped the jch name plate?

anyways, gonna get picts by this weekend and can't wait for you all to check out what i am workking on. i see all of everyone elses fresh finds around here and know the feeling of coming up on a sweet find. her hawthorn is in rough shape and needs alot of work. allready swapped out the front rim for another truer identical one, the tires held air and it "rode" for a small test ride without falling apart. fenders pretty beaten up, may either try to reshape them and take out the dents or just buy a new set. :wink: