Need to identify (prewar?)Wetern Flyer

[tikiharl]

I picked this bike up yesterday. It is a Western Flyer, I was told it was a 40s model.First does anyone recognize the frame ? Murray perhaps? The serial # is on bottom of crank J60863. It is a skip tooth w/ a New Departure hub, model D. It has chain tensioner screws at dropouts.Other clues may be the grips,seat,paint scheme(paint is not original but looks like it was brushed on over the original lines).It has curved fender struts and a clean headbadge which I have seen on other bikes late 30s -40s. I am guessing that it probably had a tank ,I have seen others w/ truss rods as well. Any help would be appreciated. :wink:

 

[roadmaster]

sweet flyer!!! ok, so western flyer bikes were made by murray, cleveland welding co (makers of early roadmasters;pre 56'), murray and huffy. her curves look like a cwc bike, but it could be any of the above makers listed. late 40's or pre 56' is my guess.

p.s. cwc= cleveland welding co.

 

[rms37]

Both of the girl’s bikes were produced by the Cleveland Welding Company. The black bike has the full size girl’s frame and the blue Western Flyer has a smaller juvenile size frame. The black bike will accept the standard CWC 26” girl’s tank. The smaller frame probably never had a tank and will not accept the standard girl’s 26” tank but may (or may not, I don’t have the later brochure handy as reference at the moment) accept the later juvenile girl’s 24” juvenile tank.

As far as dating the Western Flyer, The serial number indicates it is from the end of the first postwar serial number series and was probably produced in late 1946 or early 1947.
If you post the serial number for the black bike I can give you an estimated build date for it also.

Phil

 

[tikiharl]

When were skip tooths out of production? The curved fender struts make me think it is older because all of th late 40-50s bikes I have seen have straight struts.Did Huffman build for Western Flyer as well? :?: :?: :?:

Edit...... WOW ,Thank you for all the info.Phil, It is really appreciated.
The serial # for the black bike is B38446

 

[rms37]

Cleveland Welding used curved braces on some models at least as late as 1947-48 and predominantly used 1” pitch drivelines through 1953.

CWC was one of several independent companies that supplied bikes to Western Autos. Other Western Auto bicycle suppliers included Huffman, Shelby, and Murray at various times.

B38446 is an early number from the second postwar serial number series and was probably produced about a half year later than the Western Flyer, in mid to late 1947.

 

[tikiharl]

Thanks again. One last question. Is there any way to tell what kind of bike the black one is by any of its characteristics? The guy I got it from said probably a Hawthorn, maybe a monark.
Here are a couple of pics of the black one.

 

[rms37]

CWC’s in house brand was Roadmaster but the same bikes were also marketed to several second tier distributors such as Montgomery Ward (Hawthorne), Gambles (Hiawatha) and Western Autos just to name the larger ones. (Monark was a manufacturer in their own right so that is not a possibility)

Some second tier variations included special sheet metal or components but in the case of the black bike all the original parts are generic to most versions. Unfortunately, about the only way to narrow the field on how the bike was originally badged is the badge hole location and spacing. Even this will only limit the possibilities as many of the different badges used the standard Roadmaster badge spacing.