Scored a buider today.....

Took a little trip over to a small town called Comanche today, about 15 miles from where I live, as I was driving in I happen to see what looks to be a new little used odds and ends store putting in, out on the sidewalk I see this interesting looking older bike, figured on my way back out of town I'd drop by and have a closer look, I stopped ask a lady what it would take to get it bought and after going inside to ask she came back out and told me $75, I told her that was a bit much considering the front wheel is ruined with deep rust and... blah blah blah....

told her Id give $50, after another trip inside she returned with a thumbs up on the $50, some may think that is to much but this frame is unique and in excellent condition, rear wheel is a keeper, fenders on this bike are thick, its got a nice beefy weight to it.

Looks like this frame was built for the china girl almost.

By the way it's a Western Flyer, Sears used this frame as well as Western Auto for the Western Flyer, I believe that it was called a Golden Flyer and the Sear bike I found with this exact frame was a 1963 model, so I'm not sure how old this bike is, I also read that most of the Sears and the Western flyer frames were built by either Murray or Huffy back in the day, not sure on all that, just what I read.







Tell me what you think fellas.

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Heres a couple images I found of the frame.





I'm thinking that mine could have been like the pic below, I can see Red paint under the blue someone put on it at some point.

Here is a beautiful bike... IMHO

Yes its gonna be a nice one when I can get it done, maybe 24" rear wheel with 30T sprocket, Springer Front with a disc brake, nice green paint on the frame, laid back seat post, not sure on the bars, could be low board tracker style or some medium height apes, round tank on good bracket behind seat, wont be a tank on this frame, that will only take away from it in my opinion.

Thanks for the compliments on the score fellas, I'm dang proud of this one, may score some more at that place, lady told me they wont actually open the doors until Sep 6th and that they have several older bikes that will be put out for sale.... might be a little goldmine for some more nice frames or at least a few good parts like bars or wheels etc....

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Scott.D.Lang said:

any way you look at it that is a cool looking frame I think you stole it at that price lol. the only way Id do a tank if not a keg style would be in frame IMO. I cant wait to see more of this bike as you build it.

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I thought it was a good deal also, I would have paid more but I figured Id hit them with a figure and see where we went, they agreed on $50 so I was pretty dang happy with that price.

I cant wait to get working on this one when I have the time, may be a winter project once I get my shop done.

I have an idea for a tank that will hold somewhere around a half gallon that will be a behind the seat tank, haven't checked to see if anyone else has used what I plan to use for it, but I'm not gonna reveal all that just yet, I will take several pics in the process of the tank build, not sure on mounting yet but it will need to be strong but simple.

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chainmaker said:

That's a nice looking bike, they were also Labled by Sears as The Spaceliner.

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Yes I seen one Spaceliner by Sears when I was searching for pics and info on this bike, something about the frame on this one just catches my eye, I actually like many of the older frame designs but this one is a bit unique and I guess thats why I like it, it's not a Hot Rod looking frame but it isn't lame looking either, it kinda has the classic look like Tom has mentioned, this frame has got to be crazy strong middle through the back with all that extra bracing as well, so much could be done with this one, hope I can come across another one of these at some point, I'd love to have multiple builds on this frame.

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2door said:

Nice find, Shan. Those twin top and cantilever bars are unique and I agree that a tank would ruin the classic lines of that bike.
Keep us posted on the build. That should make a great ride.
Whatever you do, reinforce the fenders if you keep them

Tom

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Thanks Tom,

On the fenders I haven't decided how I will go, the front is in pretty bad shape, it is still solid but the rust toward the front has completely destroyed the chrome and its pitted real bad, I do have an idea for keeping them but it would require painting them, Id kill the rust on the front with some naval jelly and then prime it good after using some glazing putty to smooth out the roughness, might even go with a textured finish on them, after reinforcing the mounts, might give them a coat of the spray in bed liner and then sand it down a bit, this would give them a very durable finish and something good for the paint to adhere to.

who knows at this point what I will do for sue, may just hang the fenders on the wall and save them as original parts and do the build without them, if I do go with the 24" rear wheel its for sure I'll ditch the fenders, it would look kinda silly with all that clearance between the tire and fender IMO.

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bairdco said:

it's a middleweight bike. sears called it the spaceliner, i think. there was at least 3 different companis that offered it under their own brand. sears, murray and western flyer. i think western had the high end one that was chrome with a weird little tank and lights.

good deal for 50 bucks.

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Yeah I found all this info when I was looking the bike up, mine is for sure a Western Flyer, can clearly be seen under the paint on the chain guard, seems Western Flyer used this frame for several models as well, the Strato Flyer was one, the Golden Flyer was one and then I found a few pics of a real basic cruiser with none of the fancy stuff on it, mine was originally Red in color best I can tell since there is Red Paint showing through under the blue that someone sprayed on it.

Head badge is missing which it a real bummer, maybe I'll get lucky and come across one at some point.

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2door said:

"Badges, we don't need no stinking badges"
You should have known that was coming.

However there was a member here who was making custom head badges. Don't know if he's still doing it but here's a link > http://motorbicycling.com/f23/custom-reproduction-headbadges-19584.html

Tom

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Lol........!

Thanks Tom....!

Well, I been tinkering with the Western Flyer a bit in what little spare time I have right now, just throwing stuff at it to see where I might want to go with this frame, got two new 12ga 24" spoked wheel master wheels on itand a set of suspension forks from a 24" mountain bike, with the drag bike style moutain bike bars, ya'll tell me what you think about the drag bike kinda look, I like it and am likely the go this direction with the acception of the type of tank I plan to build for it which is a SECRET for now, all I will say is that it wont be mounted up front on the upper tubes, I love the unique look of the quad tubes flowing back to the rear drop outs and I'm gonna do my best to preserve that look and not botch it up with anything that will cover it.

Here are a couple of pix to show what it's looks like with what I threw on it yesterday.

Then....



Now....







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