Mystery Murray 24"

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xvespamarkx

xvespamarkx

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Hey, I've been a lurker on this site for a long time and decided I would set up an account and post my latest creation. It's a Murray of some kind, I'm leaning towards a late fifties Wards bike. It's 24" and I saved it from the dump last fall. Frame is Krylon clear, fork is a 26" $5 eBay find, handlebars are home-bent and stained wood, rims are Krylon red alloy mountain bike rims laced to a Sturmey Archer 3-speed coaster brake hub and a generic alloy front, seat is a used Brooks, stem shim is a grape Crush can, and everything else was found in my basement bike pile.Hope you enjoy!

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Thanks guys, glad you like it. I intend to start selling those bars someday, but I'm still figuring out the process of steam bending. I've made a few good ones and a lot of kindling. :?

And yeah, I guess that frame is pretty unique. I found a 20" version in a 1959 Wards catalog, but I'm still trying to find an example of a 24".
 
Hey welcome friend......Your one of us now.......Haha.......But really your ride is sweet......Nice/clean lines.....Rad handle bars.......Just all around a cool bike.......Awesome work.....
 
Hey, that's really cool! If I am not mistaken, it is not a Murray as you believe... the Murray dropouts typically were either pointed/triangular or otherwise unlike those on your frame. Murray dropouts never had those funky elongated holes or "ears". I have a 52(?) Hawthorne badged frame with the distinct dropouts yours has, and it was made by H.P. Snyder.

My frame:

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Yeah, those look like my dropouts all right. It had the same sprocket as yours too, but it was too big for my desired gearing so I swapped it for a repop 36t sweetheart. I thought that sprocket was just a Murray thing since I have the same one on an Eliminator and my girlfriend's Missile. Oh, and the rear rim had the Murray "M.O. MFG" stamp. Of course anything on this bike could have been swapped out before it ended up on the curb. I actually ran across the son of the person that "restored" this bike 20 years ago. His dad worked at a local sanitation company. Someone was throwing this bike away back then, but he saved it and painted it with their dumpster paint!

As far as the wooden bars go, I have not been able to get much of a bend in them yet. I have seen old pictures of wooden track bars with pretty impressive bends, but I am still figuring out the specifics on how to achieve that. If I sell them I would definitely have a range of prices depending on how finished they were. Right now they're so ugly and basic that I wouldn't want to take any money for them. :D

Here's a before if anyone was wondering...

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You are correct about the chainring being a Murray ring- I traded the original crank from mine out for the Murray type that look nicer than what was there. It's interesting that the rear rim has the Murray stamp, but I'd say it was swapped, I definitely think yours is an H.P. Snyder made frame like mine.
 
The dropouts looks like rollfast and its looks like it has double top bars if it does its a rollfast nice bike Tony
 
Another possible clue: There was no headbadge on it, but the mounting holes for it were horizontal. There is one hole on either side of the headtube centered top to bottom. So whatever it was did not have the top and bottom screw holes like most Murrays. I found some Wards headbadges that mounted sideways like that on eBay, so I thought that might explain it.
 
The dropouts looks like rollfast and its looks like it has double top bars if it does its a rollfast nice bike Tony
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Rollfast was exclusively made by Snyder. I saw your bike on a spring/summer 1960 Ward's catalog page, they called it a "swept-V twin bar design". The deluxe version w/a rear rack and a headlight was $37.95. Boys' was finished in 'gleaming red' w/black fenders. Girls' was in 'sparkling blue'. There was also a junior model that was available in 26"/24"20". ~Adam
 
I have a '59 Wards catalog and it has an identical bike, but only in a 20". I assumed they added or dropped a 24" somewhere around there. SO, looks like it's not a Murray. The main things I was going off of was the Murray rim and sprocket.

What's the final verdict then? Snyder? Rollfast? Hawthorne? So many different companies made so many different brands back then that I can't keep it all straight. I used to be a strictly Schwinn guy. They're a lot easier to decipher, but getting expensive!
 
What's the final verdict then? Snyder? Rollfast? Hawthorne? So many different companies made so many different brands back then that I can't keep it all straight.
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OK, Snyder was the actual co./factory that built the bikes. D.P. Harris was the distributor of the bikes; They owned the Rollfast name. You'll also find 'dph' stickers on later Rollfasts, and "H" sprockets in the 30s. Snyder also built many Hawthornes for Ward's, Firestones in the late 50s-early 60s, and the occasional Elgin for Sears. Phew! ~Adam
 
Wow, thanks for that! I guess I'm going to assume it's a Wards brand bike built by them. The Murray sprocket and rim threw me off, but the frame does look like a Snyder or whatever frame. Although I guess it really doesn't matter. It was free and I ride the crap out of it.

Well the headline should now read, "Mystery Mystery 24""

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