Spiegel Airman

[Road Master]

I previously bought a Columbia 5 Star from this very pleasant guy in the west Chicago area and when I asked about this Airman he said it was his boy's. The boy eventually decided to sell it so now I have the pleasure of riding it for awhile. It's not what I would call a beautifull bike but you can definitely tell it was made by Monark. To me it has kind of an Armoured Car look to it. I have a few pics of a bike club somewhere in CA and many of the members had ratrodded their Monarks and they look TUFF! I know Monark was building bikes for Spiegel for a few years and I've I've seen catalog pages of prewar Airmen bikes but I haven't found any data for this model as yet. If anyone knows how to date this bicycle I would greatly appreciate the help. To ride it any amount of time will mean a saddle change. I'm like kind of big so when I sat on the seat the springs bottomed right out. However, the short trip that I did take around a couple cul de sacs I was surprised by how smooth the ride was even with the single spring. I love my Roadmasters and I can feel them absorbing the shocks but I didnt feel them with the Airman. I'm just going to have to ride them both more. Looking forward to cruising with my new "boy's" Monark.

 

[Markm]

Very Nice!!!!!!!

 

[Unchained]

I'd call it a beautiful bike Pretty sharp looking.

 

[WhiteShadow]

id love one of those, being in the airforce and all

 

[Road Master]

Now that I think about it I was an Airman once - I was an Aviation Ordnanceman (USN) during Vietnam - worked on Grumman A-6A Intruders. Guess it does fit after all. Thanks for reminding me.

 

[SimpleMan]

That bike has beautiful lines.......nice acquistion!

 

[gitarzan]

It's very Deco looking. Nice.

 

[Rustinkerer]

Sweet! If it has the aluminum plate under the BB, it *should* have a regular monark serial # that can be year dated. ~Adam

 

[lobsterboyx]

so THATS what they are supposed to look like! i found a airman frame a few years ago and made a motorbike out of it!

 

[stretch]

awesome find! keep it as is!

 

[Road Master]

I did change the seat just so I could ride it. The tires are all cracked on it so now I have to decide what color combination would look good. I plan to keep the bike as is except for a little cleaning & a little tuning up. The faded whitewalls on it now blend really well with the finish & trim so I'm leaning towards a creme color - maybe Fat Frank's in creme. Something with creme sidewalls would work but brown is all I've found - brown maybe? I need to find the name of the spray I read about here on RRB for the inside of the tank so it stops sounding like a tin can. I seem to be stuck on these shades of red to brown thing because the next one coming up is also like burgandy/brown. I'm going to be ready for something nice and bright after these three.

 

[Fang]

FAB PIcs
Look like you hadan amazing time!!!