What is this?
 

Can you please tell me what kind of bike this is. I would like to restore it to original condition. Any and all help is greatly appreciated. I'm totally new to bicycle restoring and think this project may be a little intimidating to me. Thank-You. :)

http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/2/5/0...6024974_tp.jpg

Post pics of the headbadge or just read it, it might be right there :)

Looks like a Monarch. 40's, 50's. eBay has lots for sale in the Collectibles -> Bicycles category

Headbar
 

Here are some additional photos.

http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/2/5/0...6024993_tp.jpg

http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/2/5/0...6025720_tp.jpg

http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/2/5/0...6025066_tp.jpg

Western Flyer were sold by Western Auto stores. Think Auto Zone in the 1940/50s. Most of their bikes were made by I believe Murray. Roger

Thats a pretty unique print on that tank! I have never seen one like it! Not to say that its "one of a kind" as Im sure someone else might have seen it before, just not me ;) if you decide to restore it first be sure that you can copy that "rocket/plane" on the tank first! be a darn shame if you were to loose that!

Copying Tank
 

How would I go about copying it?

1951 ad for that bike in a boys version. I can't post it as an img, sorry.
http://www.goantiques.com/scripts/images,id,952208.html

In the add I dont see that plane on the tank?

How would I go about finding the exact year of the bike? The bike I have is a womens version. Not sure if that has anything to do with the plane not being on the tank, or is it a rocket.

On another forum someone had this to say :


"If it says western flyer, its because it was sold by western flyer, but its a JC Higgins Bicycle"



Does that statement hold any water?

That bike actually looks a LOT like a women's J.C. Higgins I saw last weekend. It had different graphics, of course, but the tank, chain guard, and rack are just about identical.

I would bet the jet was added by the owner. Western Flyer was definitely the store brand of Western Auto. In Texas, Western Auto was THE store in most small towns, in the 50's. They sold a lot more than auto parts.

For some years. Several companies made bikes that were badged as Western Flyer, including Murray and Columbia.

Aaron:)

the JC higgins brand was also manufactured by several differenc companies, so really that statement could be true in some cases, but it generally would also be wrong.

It does look very murray-ish though.

It's probably a 1950s vintage machine- jet aircraft didn't really become a mainstream fixation until a few years after WWII (the jet having come of age during the war as a fighter/bomber). On a prewar or early war vintage bike you wouldn't see a jet at all I would imagine (unless it was custom added by someone later).

The "rocket plane" image looks similar to the Bell X-1/XS-1 experimental aircraft that first flew in 1947- I 'd look in that late-40s period...