1930 Massey Harris Motorbike

As mentioned in a previous post, I was pretty excited to have recently acquired a 1930 Massey Harris Motorbike. One of my two favourite bikes and one that I've been after for a few years. It was sitting buried in a garage since the 70s.  Overall everything looked to be in good shape other than a couple broken spokes, one punctured tire and the fact that it was completely covered in spray paint. Minimal rust on the handlebars. All other plated parts are really nice once the paint was removed.  Everything was moving freely and seemed like it wouldn't take much to make it rideable. The whole bike was spray painted except the bars and saddle and nothing was masked off. I started on it today to try and salvage the paint and as soon as I got it on the stand, I noticed that the frame is really bent.  Some of you might be into the challenge but it's too much work for me so my new plan is to use all the components on a 1935 delivery frame that I also got recently. Anyway, sometime in the near future, I'll have a wraparound Massey headbadge (Weston) for sale or trade  

  • Serial: P####
  • original paint is burgundy
  • 26" wheels
  • wraparound headbadge
  • triplex crank, oval pattern chainring 
  • Hercules hubs, made in Canada
  • pedals look like Gibson but don't have Gibson written on the rubber
  • Wrights saddle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 Comments

pics of the bent frame

massey-motorbike-07.jpg massey-motorbike-08.jpg massey-motorbike-09.jpg massey-motorbike-10.jpg

Good load of parts there for your delivery bike would take a lot of work to get that frame back in shape .

Pedals are not Gibson   .

Gibsons are cast aluminium 

Is the rear reflector intact?

Hello 

tbayjay

The pedals would be Phillips  type

thanks Greg

 

Thanks for the info guys.

 

I removed everything but the crank so far. I need to pick up the gear puller from Canadian Tire this week. I have all the paint off the headset, stem and handlebars. The headset looks brand new, some pitting on the bars but they look pretty good overall. I guess the spray paint acted as a protective barrier against rust on the plated parts. I was surprised that the headset didn't have loose bearings. I thought bearings in retainers came later on for bicycles.   The rubber on the pedals is decent. Still some tread/grip and no major cracks so I'll be able to reuse them as well. I was a little bummed out about the frame but am pretty excited to get the delivery bike built.  Still going to have to put in a lot of time to prep that frame though. 

 

The reflector plastic is good. It was attached by a long metal wire wrapped around the fender so not sure if that was the way they attached aftermarket reflectors or not but it doesn't look good in my opinion.