Roadmaster RusticleNeed Help On Year

HotRodRob · Nov 28, 2009

Not sure how to tell the year on this ladies Roadmaster. I want to say prewar, but doesn't everyone :lol: I have tried searching with no luck yet. The serial# is A31868.

I was going to steal some parts off of it but now I think I might just freshen up the bearings and any other moving part, new tires and ride it as it looks :shock: Thats my thought for today anyway, things could change next week

Road Master · Nov 28, 2009

Attention Phil!

Phil (rms37) is not only a bike genious he also catalogues Roadmasters in particular. When he sees this he will probably be able to give you the information you need. Have fun.

rms37 · Nov 28, 2009

Hi, I would have gotten here sooner but I was in a phone booth changing into my bike genius costume. The bike is post-war. A lot of people use the rear drop/inch pitch factor to determine if a bike is pre or post war but it doesn’t work for CWC products. CWC introduced ½’ pitch drive trains on a few models in 1941 but used it sparingly and most of their bikes used 1” pitch until 1953-54. All CWC bikes had rear exit drops until front exit drops were introduced on some models in 1954.

As for the exact date of your bike, from what I can see of the rear drop outs, they look like the pattern that was used from roughly 1949-1953. Look to see if the serial number is followed by Cw (a large C with a w in its mouth), ACw, or 52Cw through 56Cw. CWC ran the same serial number sequences repeatedly and the suffix is needed to date the bike further.

Markm · Nov 28, 2009

"Hi, I would have gotten here sooner but I was in a phone booth changing into my bike genius costume."
:lol:

:mrgreen: :lol:

:mrgreen:

HotRodRob · Nov 28, 2009

Thanks for the help. The serial# is followed by 530 or it might be 53c but its hard to make out.

rms37 · Nov 28, 2009

The Suffix is often hard to read but it is probably 53Cw. That would indicate the bike is a 1953 model. That agrees with the drop-outs and the shape of the truss rods and the stamped fork cap. There isn't enough information yet to determine if the suffix stampings are for model year or calendar year so it is possible the bike was built before the beginning of 1953 but a safe range is fall 1952 to early 1953 for the date.