Recent content by M38A1

Thank you all for the help! I'm not sure which direction this will take me, but I'll surely keep you informed.

Thank Thank you for the information! For sure I'll need to do something with the wheels as they are a bit wonky. I've not yet re-spoked a wheel yes so this might be the opportunity to give it a try! From there who knows where it will go. I've built up one drop-bar-knobbie bike and this...

I've thrown a lot of $20 bills away in my lifetime and this might be another one. But for $20 I decided to take the plunge and build some sort of fun bike (or turn it into yard art). All I can see is a Western Flyer head badge and a serial number on the left dropout of either R263400 or...

I was able to ask Dad a bunch of questions last night at Easter dinner and he provided some good information. I also got to show him a few pages of content from RRB, specifically the "Hawthorne" thread and he was impressed with the quality and quantity of information. I think that was a great...

OK, first hicup in tearing it down. I got the handlebars off and the top head-tube capture nut off as well. But there's a serrated ring next in line and I can't tell if that's threaded on to hold the steering tube in place or if it's a press or some other attachment. I'm thinking if I get...

The tires are old and beyond service life. Yet is there any way to determine the age of them by markings or date codes? That would be sort of fun to know what's coming off of it. The front is marked: Goodyear All Weather Airwheel G3 168375 26x2.125 Made In USA Keep Inflated 22-35psi NB and...

So after talking with Dad, he has an idea I'm 'working' on his old bike with all the questions I'm asking.... So much for a surprise in the end. I think I'll try to break this down in logical chunks first, then attack each one in order. Does that sound about right? I've sort of penciled in...

Well, I suppose it's time to give this bike a new lease on life and I will chronicle that here as well as lean on everyone for guidance and support. I'm new to the old bicycles but somehow have managed to hang on to a few with more than passing sentimental value. I'll use this thread for...

Wow, thanks for the lesson. I sort of figured that but to see how it's been used over the years is nice to know.

lol.... Thank you. I carry a letter from BATF in the glovebox saying it's been adequately 'neutered'. They say once a machine gun, always a machine gun. Well, not when you strip the internals and weld a block of steel inside. .

I'm sort of new to this bicycle thing so what's a "looptail"? Is it the curved radius where the rear stays meet up instead of hard angles? And here's the M38A1... :D

A few years ago I came across a pre-war Colson frame that was this: And turned it into this: .

A couple notes I've pulled from my emails with dad to include: The bike had no chainguard It had what was referred to as Longhorn bars There was no tank between the two top bars The bike had painted fenders, not chrome. And the rims were shiny, but not chrome from what he recalls. So I think...

I'm not sure this is a 'fresh' find or not, but it's new-to-me. On my dad's 10th birthday in 1935 his parents asked what bicycle he wanted for his special day. He poured over the Montgomery Wards catalog and picked out a Hawthorne, specifically with the longhorn bars as he recalls. He rode...