Lowco Liner (aka Sunday Best)

[Dr. Tankenstein]

It was a good day today!
I went to @Skydreamer ‘s shop and he did his thing to the fork.
First, for the pins, he ground the heads off and we just punched them through (I should have thought of that!). I’ll just replace them with new ones or grade 8 shoulder bolts and nylocks.

Then he lengthened the head tube with a section from a Columbia exercise fork that @kingfish254 gave for another ‘project’ the threads were cleaner on the donor, so it was a simpler fix. Mark sleeved the weld and BOOM!

Now I’ve got plenty of threads for the headset and truss rod bracket!
I’m pretty stocked about the way things turned out, now to strip off 70 years of paint!

Cheers guys!

 

[kingfish254]

Killer work by team LoCoMoFo!!

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Hey Dr T, if you want, I can throw a few BB parts in an envelope...

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Looks like the patent for that fork was filed on Jan 17 1948.
UPDATE: Found an older patent drawing in my pic collection, filed April 27, 1938

 

[Ravenshurst]

I am watching this build very closely. Can't wait to see this bike finished!

That fork is indeed very cool. Are the pins peened over on one side? Can you drill them and then punch them out?

 

[JA331]

I think the shockmaster came out in 39 or 40. My 39 Roadmaster Supreme had one fitted and I’m using it on my Twrekmaster build. Mine has shoulder bolts that thread into the fork legs which are then secured with nuts on the inside. I think only the very early ones are like that. There is also a little slop in the pivot points which I will fix with some teflon washers.

Doc, something I just noticed is your frame has forward facing dropouts. All the repop frames I’ve seen have rear facing dropouts. Does the frame have a serial number under the BB?

The Luxury Liner below is a 57 and has the same dropouts as yours.

The frame below is the repop one I missed out on and has the rear facing dropouts.

 

[OddJob]

Sounds like Team Savannah has this build back on it's feet!

Is there a couple coats of paint on that fork, Doc? If it was initially chromed, or has a solid base coat, the paint might come off with a stripper and light steel wool scrub.

RaT oN~!

 

[JA331]

No progress on the getting the fork apart, but I found another ‘issue’….when test fitting it. For starters, I’m a BIG fan of sealed cartridge bearings, in the headset, crankset, hubs, wherever I can use them, I do. There just isn’t any comparison to traditional caged bearings in terms of smooth, effortless rotation.
So, I bought this new sealed 1” threaded unit
Thing is, to accommodate the cartridges the cups are quite a bit deeper than traditional ones, which adds to the overall stack height.
View attachment 194820 View attachment 194819 View attachment 194821
Needless to say, this made the fork tube too short….which was going to a problem anyway, because I tried a regular headset. This fork looks like it may have been on a girls bike originally, because the threads have obviously been cut.
View attachment 194822
But, that’s cool, I’m gonna just get it lengthened.
I have made some progress though! I have this awesome sealed crankset (can’t remember who makes it, but it’s ’vintage’ BMX. As long as I had the frame out I went ahead and installed it along with a solid 36 tooth chainring (remember, this is gonna be a cruiser, so easy pedaling) and a crank from a 1956 JC Higgins (gonna either polish it or gloss black it to match the frame). Duuuuuuudes! It’s smoooooth as butter! So at least I had one win today!
View attachment 194823
View attachment 194825 View attachment 194824
Check out how smooth it spins, it even ‘falls’ backward once it stops


That’s it for now, if I get the fork fixed, I’ll let you know!

I love how it falls backwards. I aim for that too. That’s when you know you’ve done a great job.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

I think the shockmaster came out in 39 or 40. My 39 Roadmaster Supreme had one fitted and I’m using it on my Twrekmaster build. Mine has shoulder bolts that thread into the fork legs which are then secured with nuts on the inside. I think only the very early ones are like that. There is also a little slop in the pivot points which I will fix with some teflon washers.

Doc, something I just noticed is your frame has forward facing dropouts. All the repop frames I’ve seen have rear facing dropouts. Does the frame have a serial number under the BB?

The Luxury Liner below is a 57 and has the same dropouts as yours.View attachment 195023
The frame below is the repop one I missed out on and has the rear facing dropouts.
View attachment 195024

Hmmm….

I think the shockmaster came out in 39 or 40. My 39 Roadmaster Supreme had one fitted and I’m using it on my Twrekmaster build. Mine has shoulder bolts that thread into the fork legs which are then secured with nuts on the inside. I think only the very early ones are like that. There is also a little slop in the pivot points which I will fix with some teflon washers.

Doc, something I just noticed is your frame has forward facing dropouts. All the repop frames I’ve seen have rear facing dropouts. Does the frame have a serial number under the BB?

The Luxury Liner below is a 57 and has the same dropouts as yours.View attachment 195023
The frame below is the repop one I missed out on and has the rear facing dropouts.
View attachment 195024

While I would like to restore it using clevis pins, I’m not opposed to shoulder bolts and nylocks as the solution.
Now the frame……you may be on to something there.
The powdercoating makes it bit difficult, it looks like the serial number is: J14259 (it may be an 8)

another thing I noticed is the rear fender bridge, it looks more like the one on 1957

but the 1957 doesn’t have the long chainguard mounting tab attached to the chainstay

Does any of this help in dating this frame?

 

[JA331]

Hi Doc. according to this chart your frame should be a 59 as the frame number begins with a J.

 

[kingfish254]

That is cool if it's a 59 and not the repop.

From searching on the CABE, it may be a 59 AMF Roadmaster Royal Eagle

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

The Shockmaster was my favorite front fork until I got one on a Wester Flyer. I don't like the way it bobs up and down when pedaling, especially out of the saddle. I "fixed" mine by putting solid struts inside the spring and making it solid. Still have the look, but no bob.

 

[JA331]

The Shockmaster was my favorite front fork until I got one on a Wester Flyer. I don't like the way it bobs up and down when pedaling, especially out of the saddle. I "fixed" mine by putting solid struts inside the spring and making it solid. Still have the look, but no bob.

I haven’t tried the one on my rrbo17 Twrekmaster yet but feel i’ll come to the same conclusion you did. I had a springer on my 51 Schwinn Panther for a short time and couldn’t stand it for the same reason you mentioned. I may use your solution for the shockmaster. Thanks.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

That is cool if it's a 59 and not the repop.

From searching on the CABE, it may be a 59 AMF Roadmaster Royal Eagle

View attachment 195557

It’s definitely cooler to have a 1959 original than a late 90s repop frame! It’s a shame I can’t find that seat tube decal, it looks cool!

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

The Shockmaster was my favorite front fork until I got one on a Wester Flyer. I don't like the way it bobs up and down when pedaling, especially out of the saddle. I "fixed" mine by putting solid struts inside the spring and making it solid. Still have the look, but no bob.

I’ve never had this type of springer before, I plan spending most of my riding time in the saddle, let’s see what happens. I’ll hit you up if there’s too much ‘boing’ for advice!

 

[Wildcat]

It’s definitely cooler to have a 1959 original than a late 90s repop frame! It’s a shame I can’t find that seat tube decal, it looks cool!

Letter J was the last from they put the numbers on the bottom bracket. They went to the dropout after that. I didn't think they made the Arkansas made frame in a repop, just the earlier Cleveland frame. A 59 original is definitely better than a repop. Still has the laid back geometry of the original CWC frame.
The shockmaster springer I rode on gave a nice smooth ride, but I also stay in the saddle, since a long time ago.

 

[JA331]

It’s definitely cooler to have a 1959 original than a late 90s repop frame! It’s a shame I can’t find that seat tube decal, it looks cool!

The seat tube decal is available on ebay. It may not be the exact one but it will be close. Look for the one with AMF on it.

 

[JA331]

Letter J was the last from they put the numbers on the bottom bracket. They went to the dropout after that. I didn't think they made the Arkansas made frame in a repop, just the earlier Cleveland frame. A 59 original is definitely better than a repop. Still has the laid back geometry of the original CWC frame.
The shockmaster springer I rode on gave a nice smooth ride, but I also stay in the saddle, since a long time ago.

The repop looks to have the laid back geo too. Am I missing something?

 

[The Renaissance Man]

It’s a shame I can’t find that seat tube decal, it looks cool!

Try Gus Salmon Decals. He makes fantastic waterslide decals for lots of bikes. That might be who @JA331 is talking about on ebay.

 

[Indyjps]

Dr Tankenstein, I always enjoy your builds, you go all the way, can't wait to see this one.

Good save on the fork, those pins were swedged on the back, grinding off was the right move.