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Pulled this bike out of an old shed on a property we just purchased. Believe it to be an aluminum frame but was more intrigued with the locking steering column. The badge is not on it; can anyone tell me more about it? enter image description here

Additional Info:

The home is located in MS and was built at the turn of the century. The young girl who rode it would have been 12yo in '38. I had moved the bike to a garage and took this photo. Regarding the badge, I looked at the head tube and saw two holes (vertically spaced ~2-3 inches apart) and an outline. We were visiting over the holiday and unfortunately don't have the opportunity for more detailed photos at this time. enter image description here

Argenti Apparatus
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Andy
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    Normally "identify my bike" questions get closed here, but this one is fairly unique. Can you post some better quality close up pictures - especially headset and Bottom bracket areas, brakes and rear hub. – mattnz Nov 29 '18 at 02:41
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    It is rather unique looking, and it's intriguing that you think it's aluminum, as the style suggests a bike from the 60s, before Al was a "thing". (Actually, the skip-tooth front ring suggests the 40s or 50s.) I would be suspicious that it was converted from a motorbike, but I see no evidence of provisions for a motor. Please post some more detailed pictures. Also would be good to know the diameter of the wheels, as accurately as you can measure them. – Daniel R Hicks Nov 29 '18 at 03:13
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    You should examine the bike carefully for any evidence of a head badge or other markings. – Daniel R Hicks Nov 29 '18 at 03:15
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    It would be interesting if you could find an amateur metallurgist to test the frame material -- if it's 40s or 50s it may well be magnesium. Would be quite a find and might even be worth something. – Daniel R Hicks Nov 29 '18 at 03:19
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    Those lugs, that look almost like they were cast, are unusual, and the lack of rust on the frame does suggest not steel. It looks almost like the tubes were inserted into the lugs then fastened with a steel pin (above the rear dropout and near the chainring, theres a very round, very well aligned rust mark). I wonder if it was designed for field assembly. – Chris H Nov 29 '18 at 06:50
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    Many of the prewar Schwinns had a similar four-circle chainwheel. The locking frame, though, is not like any I've seen. Usually it is a cylinder on the fork, not on frame. – Jeffrey Bell Nov 29 '18 at 06:56
  • Sounds like you found the place that the head tube badge has fallen off of! – David Richerby Nov 29 '18 at 16:18
  • Immediately post WW2, steel was in short supply while aluminum was relatively abundant and cheap. If it is aluminum, I would start my search using late 40's - early 50's as a date. – mattnz Nov 29 '18 at 20:34
  • My mum had a bike with a locking front fork. She always wiggled the bars before taking off to make sure the lock hadn't engaged - apparently it was vaguely possible for the steering column to become fixed while stopped and you only realised after 3 metres when you're in the middle of the intersection and can't get the bike under you. – Criggie Dec 04 '18 at 20:08
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    Is MS "Minnesota, United States" ? SE is global, and MS means many things elsewhere. – Criggie Dec 04 '18 at 20:09

1 Answers1

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Could be a Aluminium Monarch Silver King. Good luck!

C.Strange
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  • Do you have any info or references to back that up? – Argenti Apparatus Jan 07 '19 at 22:46
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    @ArgentiApparatus Google shows me this: https://picclick.com/Aluminum-Monark-Silver-King-Ladies-Womens-Frame-1936-37-273516414862.html Definitely a possibility. – Andrew Henle Jan 07 '19 at 22:54
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    Let me re-phrase: can you add evidence or references to your answer to improve it? – Argenti Apparatus Jan 07 '19 at 23:05
  • @AndrewHenle 's picture find is certainly a great match - the reinforcement aft of the BB, and the kink in the upper-down tube are strikingly similar. If the frame turns out to be aluminium then its astonishing it survived so long.
    Andrew, feel free to either add your own answer with the pics from the remote site (with citation of course) or edit them into this answer.     – Criggie Jan 08 '19 at 10:32
  • @Criggie I'd hate to swipe credit from this answer - all I did was find that image based on what's been posted. And the frame in the question's pictures certainly looks like it could be aluminum as it's certainly not steel given the level of rust on the steel parts. It'd probably be better to just edit this answer with the image, but I'm not certain of the usage rules. A link to the image isn't good, but I don't have time right now to research if it's OK to upload a copy of the image into this answer. – Andrew Henle Jan 08 '19 at 11:09