CWC Roadmaster

[Bodge Deep]

Having pretty much given up hope of finding a nice vintage balloon tyre bike in this country (UK), I was suddenly reminded (somehow) of a drunken conversation with a guy in military vehicle group from about 5 years ago who told me he had "an old American bike buried in the back of his workshop"...
Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago when i was drooling at all the lovely machines on here when the conversation unexpectedly popped back into my head and I called the guy to see if he still had it and if he wanted to sell it...
He did... and he did... so I went and bought it today...

My first 'real' bike

Its a ladies CWC Roadmaster 26inch tyres, a Morrow? hub and Persons? Saddle and reflector...
Sadly someone (not the previous owner) had hacked the crank arm off (no idea why). So it'll need a fresh one.

Aside from a spot of gentle cleaning and recommissioning it'll stay as it is. the tyres are poor but still useable (just).

The serial no. on the bottom bracket is pictured there's a funny little logo stamped which looks like two tomahawks then 5114 then N225 and 40

Can anyone point me in the right direction for some Roadmaster learnin' to find out what i've got...
Cheers

 

[deorman]

8) Quite possibly brought over by an American officer's family in WW2, it looks to be about that vintage. :|

 

[rms37]

Hi, I can tell you a few things about the bike.

Roadmaster was the house brand for the Cleveland Welding Company of Cleveland Ohio. CWC started business in 1910 but did not enter bicycle production until 1935. Your bike was manufactured by that company and that frame design was offered by them between mid 1937 and 1942. The fork crown with the tang on the back was in production from 1935 through 1937.

Taking those two ranges into account it is likely that the bike was made in late 1937 and could probably not be any later than early 1938 when supplies of the early fork would have dried up.

The biggest puzzle is that the serial number information stamped into the bottom bracket is unlike any I have ever seen on a CWC including the use of the hatchet symbol.

The bike is definitely of CWC origin and everything points to late 37 as the build date so my best guess is that perhaps the bike is an original export model and was numbered differently than the standard U.S. production models.

Other than the re-paint, the Schwinn grips, and perhaps the saddle, there is nothing on the bike that looks out of place or incorrect. It was probably a basic model and if there are no additional holes in the top of the front or rear fenders it probably did not have a factory installed head light or rack. If it did not have those then it also would not have had a tank.

 

[rms37]

Also check the numbers on the Morrow rear hub shell. There is probably a 36-13 for the spoke count and gauge followed by a code with a letter followed by 1,2,3, or 4. this will decode to the year and the quarter the hub was produced.

 

[thesuicideride]

looks like it had a laced chainguard at one time. did cwc run those?

 

[Bodge Deep]

Thanks very much for the replies chaps,
( esp' rms37 I was hoping you'd be able to help... on my wanderings around the site you seem to know your Roadmaster stuff )
I only got it home last night... had to fight bank holiday traffic all the way there and all the way back!!
It was apparently hanging on the wall of a restaurant for years (possibly the reason for the crank damage)
in very close proximity to Burtonwood (The largest USAAF Airbase operating during WW2...18,000 personell ) so possibly made its way over here through there?
I haven't had a chance to start cleaning yet but I'll keep you informed if i find any more numbers. Does anyone know where i could find a new crank to replace the chopped one? I have one original pedal (in rough condition) but a good pair would be useful too...

Thanks

 

[marcusthemoose]

you lucky bugger! such a rarity in the uk, especially a skiptooth! i live in hope of finding something like that over here, but, like you think it is quite unlikely! there were some american military personell posted locally so you never know- why, the other day me and my dad found a pannier bag of a wl harley (it had been in our shed/barn for years) good luck with finding parts- unfortunately i think UK bikes have very little in common with their US counterparts.

 

[Bodge Deep]

Yes it was a bit of a score
I nearly crawled down the phone when he said "It has a wierd chain and half its teeth missing off the chainring" :shock:
Hope to start the clean up in the next couple of days