Elgin Twin! Update 10-22 IT'S FINISHED!!!

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Danimal

Danimal

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So here is my most recent purchase. This is one of the bikes I've always wanted and it is for my dad. He had one when he was a kid and I want to fix this up for him. It's a little rough for sure, but I can bring it back to life. What's wrong with it? Fork is wrong, fenders are wrong, seat is a new vinyl piece of junk, chainguard and rear rack missing, bars are junk, and it's had a really bad paint job all around. What's good? It exists! Plus, the shrouds are both there and complete!

First, an inspiration photo...my dad and his little brother back in the day. Now at first glace this looks like an Elgin Twin, but it just isn't right. Maybe it was repaired with some other bike back then? His uncle was a welder so anything is possible. In any case, it's a cool picture...


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Now, here is the Twin:

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Re: Elgin Twin!

Looks like a fun project Dan! :D I'll be watching :wink:
 
Re: Elgin Twin!

Cool looking frame!!
 
Re: Elgin Twin!

I got 2 of these bikes in a trade.. got me started on the whole skiptooth thin .. I love them..
 
Re: Elgin Twin!

I remember looking at the photograph of your father in front of his bicycle some time ago and discussing it with you. Studying the photo again I believe the bike is an early postwar Murray frame with the seat tube removed.

It is a hard photo to read clearly but all the tube shapes, joints, and configurations along with the chain ring pattern and the fender bridge align with that candidate.

The rear dropouts are particularly hard to separate from the film grain/surrounding pixels but they do look like the second series postwar Murray dropouts that were still rear opening but had lost the earlier drop stand tangs. Those dropouts have a distinctive shape which appears to match those in the picture. The second series dropouts were used from about late 1946 through 1947.

Another relevant point is that it was during the time the second series frame was being produced and sold by Sears that the branding was changed from Elgin to J.C. Higgins. If the bike in the picture is an early postwar Sears bike it would still have been branded as an Elgin.

If your Father’s first bike was an earlier Elgin Twin Bar this is not a picture of that bike. It is possible that a fondness for the first bike and unsupervised access to a hacksaw led to the removal of the seat tube from the bike in the photo.

The Twin Bar you purchased is a Westfield built Twin 20 and it should have a Westfield serial number stamped somewhere along the underside of the drives side chain stay that will date the production of the frame. It looks like a great start for a Twin Bar Project as the frame does not look like it has been crash/bent as so many have been.
 
Re: Elgin Twin!

Thanks for the input Phil! I too remember our discussion of that photo some time ago. You convinced me then that the bike was not a Twin. I asked my dad about it after that and he doesn't remember for sure. He does remember having a Twin though. He suggested that the pictured bike may have been put together from several bikes as he did have access to a welder (his uncle). The daredevil ramp may have claimed the lives of a few frames. The multi-color rear tubes suggest that is possible, but your "hacksaw" theory also has creedence. :lol

Either way, I just love that photo. And I have a cool bike to build that I know he will really dig.

Thanks for the info too on the manufacture of my frame. I will look for the serial number and try to determine the year. Can you offer me any input on what type of chainguard and/or rack may have come on that bike? I see 2 different guards (the thin chrome one and the large Gothic type) and several different racks on these. I would like to make it as correct as possible.

Dan
 
Re: Elgin Twin!

So an update for you Phil...

My parents were over the house today for Easter and I showed my dad the bike and we discussed his old Twin as well as the old photo. He tells me the bike in the photo was indeed a hacksaw special. He remembered it after seeing the color combo. Says it was black and yellow. Wanna guess what happened to it? :?:

One too many jumps off that ramp and the frame snapped into pieces. :shock: :lol: :lol:
 
Re: Elgin Twin!

Very,very kool,Dan...I love the "backstories" almost as much as I love the bikes...P 8)
 
Re: Elgin Twin!

Where's the after photo ? :lol:

Sorcerer
 
Re: Elgin Twin!

Boooooooo...Sad news on this build.

Took the bike all apart last night and started to strip it. Found some nasty frame repairs done previously to the front headtube area. Gonna have to finish stripping the bike and bring it to a welder for further evaluation.
 

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