Late 30's Wards Hawthorne Silver King

[sandmangts]

This project began when another forum member from MTBR.com saw this frame in a local craigslist ad. I had hooked him up a long time ago with some parts and he knew I was into older bikes because I had posted my Mercury and my Schwinn Excelsior and my Elgin. He offered to buy it and ship it to me and the price was right. Here it is as it came to me.

The frame had been painted at some point and the steerer tube had part of a stem permanently stuck in it. When I started to try to fix it the whole steerer separated from the fork! Luckily I had an old damaged pre-war fork with a good long steerer. I just hacked it off and milled it and it worked perfect. After several days of wet sanding and polishing:

I toyed with the idea of putting a modern fork on it after the old fork gave me trouble. I polishied this Bomber, turned out good but it was not right for this bike.

After I fixed the fork I began getting her together:

All I need now are a longer chain and the correct seatpost and some cool handlebars and I will be rolling.

 

[Unchained]

That. Is. BEAUTIFUL.

Pm sent about handlebars.

 

[masterpoop63]

:shock: so prettyful :shock:

 

[scott brownsey]

i just bought one i have all but wheels and fenders im gona polish n buff mine also yours looks great awsum job

 

[Skipton]

SO BEAUTIFUL, SO SHINY! :mrgreen:

 

[Graylock]

You made the Silver King look like it had something missing and gave it what it was meant to be. Stunning. Nice work that needs nothing but pictures in a setting fitting of this bike 8).

Graylock

 

[FOUND OBJECTS]

That thing is King.

 

[texasbigjon]

those frames are pure works of art! :mrgreen: your a lucky man to have such a pristine example to work with. and the knobbies look killer on there too!

 

[ratina]

Looks great! It looks like its chrome its so shiny!

 

[OUTLAW]

AWSOME



Outlaw

 

[yewhi]

I'll be honest with you Aaron. This is your best one yet. Freakin' Beautiful!

 

[sandmangts]

Made some progress today. All I need is a chain and a post and I willl be rolling. I still have some choices to make, I am not sure I like the stem but I like the handlebar which is a pre-war original from an Elgin. I got almost everything mounted and sat on it for the first time.

 

[masterpoop63]

:shock: SOOO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock: 8) :shock: :mrgreen: 8) :shock:

 

[Fireproof]

Man, that’s like a big piece of jewelry! 8)

 

[lobsterboyx]

damn - i didnt see this thread - i saw it on the other fourm - you should charge some money for doing this... id be your first customer. :mrgreen:

 

[dogdart]

FREAKIN GORGEOUS

 

[Gold Street Customs]

I have been waiting to see one of these done like this,WELL WORTH THE WAIT...gorgeous :mrgreen:

 

[Tater]

How did I miss this thread?
That bike is gorgeous and tastefully done. I'd love to get my hands on one of those frames.

 

[sandmangts]

The expanding seatpost was either too expensive or too hard to find so I made one out of an old 1 inch quill stem. It has about the same insertion as one of the original posts.

I did not care for the big black clamp on the brake lever so I stripped and polished it. Everything must shine on this bike.

And I changed the handlebar:

Next will be some red brick tires and some amber shellack for sealing the cork grips.

 

[masterpoop63]

what about a chain? just saying :mrgreen: