Old Bike Haul/Hoping for some Information

[joleothetall]

Hello all! I went to visit my late grandpa’s old farm yesterday and came back with four barn fresh bicycles. I’ve got a 26” Cleveland Welding Co. Roadmaster, a 26” J.C. Higgins, a 24” Western Flyer, and a 20” that I can’t find a brand or serial number on. I have serial numbers for the first three and I’m hoping for any information that anybody might have on these in terms of model, year of manufacture, etc. I’ll post pictures along with the serial numbers below. Thanks I’m advance!

Roadmaster: serial# G04598 CW (dated to 1948 from what I could find, no idea on the model)

J.C. Higgins: serial# 502 45161 335156 (I think)

Western Flyer: serial# H18630

 

[horsefarmer]

That 24" bike will look awesome cleaned up. Love that blue!

 

[hammer mechanic]

The blue Western Flyer looks an awful lot like a Schwinn to me. The frame looks electroforged. The kickstand and chainguaard mount looks like Schwinn also. If you run the serial # as a Schwinn, it comes up 1953. Maybe someone stuck that badge on there at some point.
The Higgins is a middle weight from the late 50s to early 60s.
All cool bikes.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I'm kinda "in like" with the CWC Roadmaster and the blue Whatever Flyer. With a little work, it could be love

 

[joleothetall]

That 24" bike will look awesome cleaned up. Love that blue!

It is cool looking for sure!

 

[joleothetall]

The blue Western Flyer looks an awful lot like a Schwinn to me. The frame looks electroforged. The kickstand and chainguaard mount looks like Schwinn also. If you run the serial # as a Schwinn, it comes up 1953. Maybe someone stuck that badge on there at some point.
The Higgins is a middle weight from the late 50s to early 60s.
All cool bikes.

That’s what somebody over on the cabe said too. I ran the serial number after you mentioned it, and you’re right it does come up is 1953. The only model that it really looks like from that years catalog is the Spitfire. I asked this over on the cabe as well and it may be a dumb question but did Schwinn ever produce bicycles for Western Flyer?

thanks for the info on the J.C. Higgins! It’s been fun to do a little detective work to try to dig into the history of these

 

[joleothetall]

I'm kinda "in like" with the CWC Roadmaster and the blue Whatever Flyer. With a little work, it could be love

Same! I love the lines on the roadmaster and the blue one is so sleek looking

 

[Oldbikeguy1960]

Schwinn produced bikes for a lot of chain stores and other companies until the mid 1950s. Too many of the non Schwinn dealers were not honoring the warranties so Schwinn took over and set up their own dealer network.

 

[joleothetall]

Schwinn produced bikes for a lot of chain stores and other companies until the mid 1950s. Too many of the non Schwinn dealers were not honoring the warranties so Schwinn took over and set up their own dealer network.

Interesting! Thanks for the info

 

[sandman]

What does the 20" bike look like ?

 

[joleothetall]

What does the 20" bike look like ?

It’s the one in the last two pictures. This one:

 

[Wildcat]

That's a great haul!

I think the 20" is a Huffman (Huffy). The serial number might verify that.

The 48 CWC Roadmaster is a 1947 by the serial number. Too bad you don't have the rear fender, but it's great as is.

The Blue one is a Schwinn DX. The serial number on the bottom bracket should be 1952 and earlier. But it should have 6 digits, so I'm thinking it was right before they switched to the dropout that used 5 numbers. The charts say they only went up to G on the bottom bracket, not H, but yours is a lower number, so I think it's a 1953. 1951 would have 6 numbers after the H. But it is definitely a Schwinn DX.

 

[Wildcat]

The JC Higgins is pre 1963, made by Murray. The 502 on the number indicates it was sold by Sears. The JC Higgins name was used by Sears until 1963, then they branded the bikes as Sears. The second set of numbers contains the stock number that may be found in the Sears catalogs from that era. It might have more numbers under the bottom bracket also. I had one like that that I gave to my brother, I believe it was a 58 model.

 

[joleothetall]

That's a great haul!

I think the 20" is a Huffman (Huffy). The serial number might verify that.

The 48 CWC Roadmaster is a 1947 by the serial number. Too bad you don't have the rear fender, but it's great as is.

The Blue one is a Schwinn DX. The serial number on the bottom bracket should be 1952 and earlier. But it should have 6 digits, so I'm thinking it was right before they switched to the dropout that used 5 numbers. The charts say they only went up to G on the bottom bracket, not H, but yours is a lower number, so I think it's a 1953. 1951 would have 6 numbers after the H. But it is definitely a Schwinn DX.thanks

That's a great haul!

I think the 20" is a Huffman (Huffy). The serial number might verify that.

The 48 CWC Roadmaster is a 1947 by the serial number. Too bad you don't have the rear fender, but it's great as is.

The Blue one is a Schwinn DX. The serial number on the bottom bracket should be 1952 and earlier. But it should have 6 digits, so I'm thinking it was right before they switched to the dropout that used 5 numbers. The charts say they only went up to G on the bottom bracket, not H, but yours is a lower number, so I think it's a 1953. 1951 would have 6 numbers after the H. But it is definitely a Schwinn DX.

Thanks! I’m pretty excited about them all. I’ll have to give the little one a good scrubbing and look for the number again. I couldn’t see a number on the bottom bracket or the dropout but I’ll give it another go over.

Thanks for the info on the Roadmaster. I’m in love with that thing. I looked all over the barn for the fender but I couldn’t find it. I’ll have to keep my eye out for one I guess.

The Western Schwinn Flyer is a mystery. I’m not sure why it has that badge on it but I agree, it does look like a Schwinn DX. That serial number is also weird. It seems to bring up more questions than answers. Somebody over on the cabe said they think it’s earlier, like early post war, but I have no idea. Most clues seem to point to the 1950’s.

 

[joleothetall]

The JC Higgins is pre 1963, made by Murray. The 502 on the number indicates it was sold by Sears. The JC Higgins name was used by Sears until 1963, then they branded the bikes as Sears. The second set of numbers contains the stock number that may be found in the Sears catalogs from that era. It might have more numbers under the bottom bracket also. I had one like that that I gave to my brother, I believe it was a 58 model.

Interesting. Thanks! I’ll have to do some more digging on that one

 

[sandman]

It’s the one in the last two pictures. This one:

That looks my 38 Rollfast that I just completed in the last build off ?

 

[joleothetall]

That looks my 38 Rollfast that I just completed in the last build off ?

View attachment 179127

Oh that thing is cool! Beautiful work on that little buddy. My little one does kind of look like it. I just realized I didn’t get a good picture of the crank on it so I’ll have to snap a new picture and post it up too

 

[joleothetall]

Got some post-initial-scrub glamour shots for y’all. Not a whole lot of new revelations but a couple little things.

it appears the roadmaster was re-painted at some point (which tracks because my aunt told me that grandpa re-painted one blue for her a long time ago). There’s some gray and maroon paint peeking out from underneath where the white and blue has chipped.

still no luck finding a serial number on the little one but I’m posting a better picture of the crank in hopes that it might give some clues. There is also a brass color where the frame welds into the bottom bracket for what it’s worth.

The Schwinn flyer remains a mystery. It has Western Flyer grips and the seat seems to match the grips but the springs on it are also painted The same blue as the rest of the bike so whatever the case it’s been like this for a pretty long time.

All in all they don’t look too bad for having spent several decades covered in animal poop.

 

[sandman]

The chainring on the little one should be a skip tooth looking at the dropouts .

 

[joleothetall]

The chainring on the little one should be a skip tooth looking at the dropouts .

Interesting. Why do the dropouts dictate whether or not it’s a skip tooth?