Late 30’s Silver King Wingbar-speechless
 

A fellow bike addict stopped by and invited me over to see his Father In-Laws bike. He had described it before, and I had no luck searching for it on the internet with just a discussion.
Well I went to look at it and it left me speechless. I am hardly ever short on words, but I just stammered looking for words for this. I was just amazed at the construction.

They asked me if I knew what it was and I was stumped. I have found a few pictures of a similar one on the Cabe. It sure looks like a late 30’s Monarch Silver King Wingbar but they would like more information. I said the C/Vers would have information or know where to find it, so I am going to send him a link to this thread.
Some of his questions were : how to adjust the seat post, How durable is the cast aluminum, should he ride it or just hang it on a wall

Well a pictures worth a thousand words:

Outstanding !!! luv it -- I say Hang it !

I too am thinking that is a hang it on the wall bike. I don't know details, but I think that is pretty valuable.

Yes,this is a Monark Siver King Wingbar.I believe monark used a model number to refer to it,wingbar is the collector's name for it.I do not know how fragile this model is but it is not uncommon to see cracks and breaks on the more common aluminum Silver Kings.
I would polish it up and carefully ride it!
They are worth some bucks when complete.This one is missing some important parts and looks to have Wald? replacement fenders.Still a valuable bike though.

Doesn't the patina deserve preservation?

Isn't something like this suitable for a museum?

Oxidized aluminum has no place on a bike. Let the furniture collectors keep their patina to furniture.

-Kurt

That is an awesome bicycle. It looks like it has been repaired at some point. It may be tempting to hang it on the wall, but I say shine it up and ride it.

That thing is sooooo Flash Gordon !

You can't ride that thing. In the first place, one of the fork "stays" is broken. In the second place, if you did ride it and, God forbid, you had an accident (remember, accidents are not planned), you'd lose a piece of history.

I would be very. very worried about galvanic corrosion between the steel and the aluminum. That electrchemical couple can eat your aluminum and turn it into dust.

They are one of the coolest prewar bikes,
but they were made for 24" wheels.
So if you're under 5'6" its ok!

That said,
whoever will ride it won't ride it long or far enough to cause any serious damage.
(once its made rideable anyway...)
Remember those bulletproof aluminum tricycles in preschool?

Cool though, very.

TP

The owner said the seat stay repair had been done, for as long as he could remember. Well before TIG welders were around. In aviation they welded aluminum with oxy-actalene torches, so I am assuming that this is how the repair was done. I only gave it a quick once over, but It looked as if quite a bit of filler rod of some sort was added, giving the welds a convex shape.

A couple of questions still remain:

Seat post, where is the release/binder bolt? The owner says it will move side to side but not up (I was real suprized by that -assuming it would be frozen solid).

Are the hexigonal tubes on the front fork structural or are they just a faux springer fork?

fantastic bike. be careful with it.

post the pictures here:
http://www.thecabe.com/vbulletin/index.php

folks are VERY well versed in prewar bikes and can tell you plenty about it. It will be sure to attract some attention there!

If you look under the seat, you might find an expander bolt like the one on the stem. That might be how you adjust the seat height.

Very beautiful! I had a few Alluminum Silver Kings but never the Wingbar! :love: They also have a Silver King with Hexagon tubes!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ngSpringer.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...SilverKing.jpg

In theory the truss rods are meant to strengthen the front end. Whether and how much they actually do, I don't know as I've never snapped them. But as intended they were meant to increase strength. The truss rod should be the last thing put on before the axle nut on most bikes (goes outside the fender stay mounts right under the nut). The truss rods on the wingbar have a streamlined design that flows to the outside where it mounts to the axle.

ww

1937 monark silver king m137. hex truss rods and handle bars. retractable center stand.

aluminum alloy frame (durallium). pressed fit tubing. sand the small scratches out and leave the big ones alone - don't over polish gthe frame.

should have: blast horn/lite, rear tear drop electric lite, aluminum rack, aluminum speedo housing (some had the art deco winged stem), leather troxel tool box seat, 24x2.125 tires and straight-side rims, torrington 10 pedals, and mudflap front fender.

slverking 1937 m137 monark
 

the frame will last forever if not abused. i weigh 175 lbs. and ride my 1936 silver king m1 boys deluxe and 1937 flo-cycle all the time. wow! an aluminum bike in the mid 1930's - must of had schwinn and other manufacturers scratching their heads!

Tubes were actually 1/1000th to 10/1000th of an inch larger than the lugs. The lugs were heated to 300 degrees (higher would ruin the heat treating and weaken the aluminum) and the tubes were placed in dry ice to shrink before "expeditious assembly". So while german engineers were using "durallium" to build zeppelins and other war machines, we were making state of the art bikes. Patent # 1998994... http://www.google.com/patents?id=ysp...998994&f=false

that thing is incredible. threads like these really make me realize the amazing wealth of knowledge that this forum provides.

Just started working on my little Monark. Bought it with black/rainbow metal-flake paint covering the whole bike including the rims. Had no idea it was aluminum when I bought it for $20. Just liked the lines. Should be a good summer project.http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=156413http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...1&d=1277174706

Do you still have this frame?
Did you build it?
I just bought one like yours.
How do you date it?
This one has the number 7988
Thanks,
Rodgell

I sent an e-mail to my friend, to let him know the thread had expanded, and more information was requested. Hopefully he will show up to answer.