Wards Hawthorne

[Mongla]

This is my first post on the forum, so maybe I will do an intro too. Anyway, I bought this at an estate sale this past Saturday for next to nothing. It’s a Wards Hawthorne and what is there appears to be original to the bike. The fork, tank, rear rack, grips, and fenders are missing, but I do have the other wheel. I plan on restoring and using some of the parts for a build. I've done some research on it, but I cannot find a bike that matches it exactly. Does anyone have any information on this bike (year, model, etc.)?
Thanks!

 

[dougfisk]

Phil is the resident authority and if he weighs in he will know everything.

Until then, here is what I "think" I know: Prewar, "about" 1940, and built by Snyder or Cleveland Welding, most likely Cleveland Welding who is best known for it's Roadmasters. He calls them the "bent tank" frame series to distinguish it from the "3-gill" frames.

This is my first post on the forum, so maybe I will do an intro too. Anyway, I bought this at an estate sale this past Saturday for next to nothing. It’s a Wards Hawthorne and what is there appears to be original to the bike. The fork, tank, rear rack, grips, and fenders are missing, but I do have the other wheel. I plan on restoring and using some of the parts for a build. I've done some research on it, but I cannot find a bike that matches it exactly. Does anyone have any information on this bike (year, model, etc.)?
Thanks!

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

That's awesome

 

[Walker]

So your first score also has a rare 2 speed New Departure rear hub, good going!

 

[M.Martian]

Based on the Synder built frame that I have I don't think it's a Snyder due to the seat post clamp style.

I don't think that the 2 speed shifter mounted on the top bar allowed for a tank to also be there. It may not have actually come with a tank. But it does appear to also be missing the drop stand.

 

[Road Master]

That is an excellent find, parts missing or not. Cleveland Welding did have an "X" Series in their numbering and it appears you have the top half of the Shockmaster springer. Find the needed parts and be the envy of fellow rat riders! Have fun!

 

[65rat]

http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad32 ... opy2-1.jpg
Looks like mine . We dated mine as a 38. Garagegoon found one of these in a 38 wards catalog. Mines missing the drop stand too and has incorrect fenders. It looks like this now.
http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad32 ... 213611.jpg

 

[Mongla]

Thank you for your replies, everyone! I looked up pictures on Google and saw that some with the shifters mounted that way do have tanks, but who knows. I have a few other bikes, but this is the first one I paid so little for. I'm really looking forward to finding more parts for it, and more bikes this summer.

 

[rms37]

This bike is a Snyder built Hawthorne and dates to between mid 1938 and late 1939

While it doesn’t show in the photos this frame will have a curved upper rear fender bridge, which is the easiest way to separate Snyder built Hawthornes from CWC built Hawthornes when you know the bike is one or the other.

Both companies made a wide range of frames for MW and others, and beyond the shape of the bridge (and several other differences that are generally harder to see,) it would take a long list to try to sort what is what and who is who as most of the “rules” have exceptions. For example, the seat pinch-bolt through the stays was used by Snyder on some frames but they also produced frames with a standard clamp, similar to the ones used on all prewar CWC.

For dating the bike, MW introduced bicycles with this style frame (the Bent-Tank frame (my name)) in the summer 1938 catalog. MW replaced the paisley sprocket that is on this bike with the throwing star design around the cusp of 1939/1940 so that dates this bike as 1938-1939 which is also within the time that Springer equipped Hawthornes all used the CWC supplied Shockmaster fork.

The serial number should date the bike more closely except that information to decode Snyder serial numbers has yet to appear in the public domain or to be fully decoded. The serial number pattern on this bike also is in line with the years I give for production and to take a stab, appears more like the numbers I currently attribute to 1939 than those for 1938. A very different style stamping was used beginning in 1940.

In addition to the two manufacturing sources for these bikes, they were produced in a number of trim levels, which makes it next to impossible to be certain how a bike was originally equipped once pieces have been lost. The 2-Speed Hub and the Shockmaster fork were standard equipment on some of the deluxe versions but were also available as catalog options on lesser models. The bike could have been equipped with a tank and the two-speed drive but the intermediate pulley would need to be repositioned to clear the tank. If the cable broke and was shortened it might explain the current pulley location.