New wheels for an old Hawthorne

[Ozark Flyer]

Hey guys. I've been hanging around the forum for a while but only posted rarely. I was afraid I would be burnt at the stake for heresy on the other forum for even suggesting the following.
I purchased a late 20's Hawthorne Flyer. It's a cool old bike complete with tank, rear rack, headlight, battery holder, and 28" metal clad wood rims. The wood rims is where the issue comes in. I want to build a rider and would like to hang the original wheels on the wall and build a set of 700c X 2.0 wheels (fat as I can get?) complete with a few gears so I can get my big butt up the hills. Can you get cream fat franks in that size? What hub and wheel combo would be dependable, carry my 220, but not break the bank? Will a Sturmey kickback or 3 speed work or will wheel size mess up the gearing? What would you do? Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Walker]

Velocity makes a faux woodgrain 700c that would fit with a low profile tire and would look the part. Watch your chainstay clearance with those old motobikes, there isn't a tremendous ammount of space back there. There are lots of nice internally geared hubs out there, just keep in mind that if it has cables you will need to route those somehow. cable clips from an english bike would work and keep the look clean. If you go kickback you're only going to get 2 speeds. And lastly, you will either need to shelve the front skiptooth chainring and go 1/2" pitch drivetrain or do some grinding on the rear cog.

I think Ohdeebee can also do faux wood finish and could build you up whatevery you want for rollers.

good luck and upload some pics!

 

[Ozark Flyer]

Thanks Walker. Never heard of the woodgrain finish rims. Very cool. Never owned one but I suppose of all of them out there Sturmey's internal geared hubs are solid? I have a 9 tooth skiptooth sprocket that should fit a sturmey hub. I'll get some pics up as soon as I can. I'm trying to finish my 40 Autocycle before I start on this Hawthorne. These things are sucking up the cash as fast as I bring it home! BTW, any thoughts on tires?

 

[Ozark Flyer]

It's in rough shape but here it is. Perhaps it can still be a rider.

 

[Walker]

Pardon my saying so, but it looks like you have a long line of things to suck up cash ! Is that a Guzzi back there? and what is the rig with the dirt bike tire / yellow fender?

nice bike, lots of potential there!

 

[Brentley]

Wow, that's a nice find right there. If that was my bike i would try to save that original paint, the patina is fantastic.

 

[Ozark Flyer]

Wow, that's a nice find right there. If that was my bike i would try to save that original paint, the patina is fantastic.

I'm right with you. There's still lots of good paint left on this old guy. It's taken 80 years to create that patina and it looks better to me than anything Dupont could mix up.

 

[Tailwinds]

Velocity makes a faux woodgrain 700c that would fit with a low profile tire and would look the part. Watch your chainstay clearance with those old motobikes, there isn't a tremendous ammount of space back there. There are lots of nice internally geared hubs out there, just keep in mind that if it has cables you will need to route those somehow. cable clips from an english bike would work and keep the look clean. If you go kickback you're only going to get 2 speeds. And lastly, you will either need to shelve the front skiptooth chainring and go 1/2" pitch drivetrain or do some grinding on the rear cog.

I think Ohdeebee can also do faux wood finish and could build you up whatevery you want for rollers.

good luck and upload some pics!

^ This, exactly. It's the Velocity Blunt model in Teak woodgrain finish. Good looking rim with the nice antique Lobdell half-circle rim profile. Also, Electra makes a very good looking 700c tire in cream, maybe black too that really looks the part on the motorbikes. Search here for the "Trail Blazer" build where the member used the black colored Velocity Blunts on a motorbike, looks PERFECT!

 

[Ozark Flyer]

Thanks guys! Found the post. Those Velocitys were just what I was looking for. I'm thinking the black P coated rims may work with the black accent on this machine.