ROYAL FLYER

[tucker]

This was in the same barn. It is a Royal Flyer serial no B5531. It has a tiller handle bar and cottered cranks. Again I do not know the year or who made it.
There was also a 1940 Hercules

 

[deven_science]

That's a cool one!

 

[tucker]

Apparently this is a D P Harris (rollfast) bike. and the cottered cranks are wrong as well as the tiller handle bar and the weird fender mounts. I guess the only thing left to do, is rat it out. There was a deluxe model made with a tank. I do not think there is a snowballs chance in Hawaii that I would find a tank. Any body out there got a guess on the year serial no B5531?

 

[Wildcat]

From what I can see of the Rollfast frame, it was made for cottered cranks. Hard to tell from the pic. I've seen a few old frames that would normally be made for the standard cranks, but were made for cottered, like an English bike. Unless it has a standard bottom bracket with an adapter installed, it might be correct, along with the strange handlebars.

 

[tucker]

Thank you Wildcat for the info. All the pictures I have found show a one piece crank. After looking at it again, it looks like it came with the cottered cranks. None of the pictures I have seen have tiller bars. The way the fenders mount is also a mystery. I have not seen them with the tab that extends from the fender like that. Thanks Tucker

 

[SSG]

Royal Flyer is a DP Harris badge, but I think the bike is late 50's European made based on the cottered crank and dropouts. Many big name manufactures tried importing European bikes and badged them under their own name.

 

[SSG]

Here is a lightweight mens "Royal Crown".
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61092549@N07/5564117493/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61092549@N07/5564693026/in/photostream/
And a ladies "Royal" also made in England for DP Harris.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sparklej/4631880715/in/set-72157624197307542

 

[tucker]

Thank you SSG for the pictures. The plot thickens, Most of the Royal Flyer head badges that are the same as mine, say Made in USA under Flyer on the badge. Mine does not. Also the Chain Ring on the ladies bike looks like the one on my bike. So, Wildcat says it looks like a Rollfast frame, but it has English stuff on it. So the Question is -WHO private labeled for Rollfast in England and what years did they do it (Raleigh , Hercules, Phillips, BSA)???????????? Somebody out there knows the answer.

 

[Rustinkerer]

The RF badge does look like the one used on Snyder built bikes. But, this one is an oddball, made by Daimler/Puch/Steyr. They were a collective, with factories in Germany and Austria. Stelber imported bikes from them in the 50s-60s, and Sears bought their 3 speed touring bikes from them (made in the Puch factory) from the early 50s into the 70s. They also made some strange euro JCH ballooners during a '56 US strike, presumably at Murray.

They made their own versions of middleweights in the late 50s-60s, sold under a bunch of badges, including President, Bauer, Royce Union, Parkliegh, Black Knight, and also some Fleet Wings, a store brand usually associated with CWC. -Adam