Flyte forks

Submitted by Geronimo09 on Fri, 04/12/2019 - 18:27

I have just purchased a 1941 "economy" Flyte built in 1941.  This is the one with the straight forks, not the iconic "gazelle leaping" style.

Do the iconic curved forks ever come up for sale?  Would it be blasphemous to change the originally supplied forks for the iconic curved ones? The headset has two truncated verticle bars that appear to have been front fender stabilizers, but I have not seen this on other pictures of Flytes. Ay ideas?

I believe that i have the corrrect triplex crank and I have a nice sets of Gibsons to help the crank go around.  

Can anyone tell me what are the correct rims for this year of Flyte, and which hubs should be fitted?  I understand that the rims and hubs are year specific.  

The bike is without fenders which isn't a big deal to me, however if I was made aware of some correct ones for sale I might bite.   The saddle is not the tool box Troxel, I have been told that the economy Flyte in 1941 was not fitted with that upscale Troxel.  Confirmation of this would be welcome.

Thanks to anyone with information and possible leads to a set of forks, possibly.

 

3 Comments

Submitted by jdwillia on Fri, 04/12/2019 - 19:31.

The fork on the "Flyte Eight" can be swapped for the curved fork. However, it would be almost impossible to find a curvrd fork for sale separately. I made a curved fork for a Flyte frame a few years back but I would not recommend it. Most of the parts on the Flyte Eight with the straight fork were the same as the Flyte with the curved fork. The rims were the Dunlop 28 X 1 3/4 W.O. rims that were chrome plated with a large red centre stripe that had 2 small white stripes on the edges. These were the same rims that were used on other high quality CCM bicyles offered at the same time. The rear fender was the same elongated type that was used on the flyte wth the curved fork. The front fender for the curved fork was also elongated. A rear fender of the correct length can be made from 2 fenders using a TIG welder. The front fender can be cut from a regular rear fender. Parts such as the crank, pedals, a seat, and handlebars and stem should be relatively easy to find.

John Williamson

Submitted by gtflyte on Fri, 04/12/2019 - 21:28.

http://vintageccm.com/content/rims-ccm-flyte

 

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Submitted by Geronimo09 on Thu, 04/18/2019 - 20:27.

Thanks very much, folks, your experience is most appreciated.  I read the story of how you made curved forks, John, and having done a bit of metalwork myself can appreciate the amount of work you must have put into it.

A friend recently shared the same parts catalogue page as GTFlyte kindly submitted, above,  and it seems that many of the bits on my Flyte are correct (handlebars, seat and post, hubs, crank and sprocket etc.) , however somae are of the economy platform (seat and forks) that were stock with the series 8.

If anyone hears of a set of the iconic forks, or if need be, frame and forks, I would appreciate knowing. 

Thanks again.