Hawthorne Bicycles

For the most part Hawthorne Bicycles were sold in Montgomery Ward stores with a variety of different patterns and models although most of them were pretty standard and lacked a great deal of originality except for a few such as the 1939 Hawthorne Zep which was an exclusive design along with the Hawthorne All-American which was designed by the famous industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague. Aside from very original models like these most of the models were just placed with various retailers and most of them could be purchased by the company that actually produced the bikes and was more than likely identical to the bikes you could purchase from Ward stores.

Hawthorne bikes produced their bikes from 1934-1960 and sold them through catalogues for the Montgomery Ward stores in two yearly editions. In the 1930’s most of the bikes that were available featured the moto-bike frame style along with the new balloon tires or standard single tube tires. They also had a kick stand, headlights, and guards but there was no chain guard.

In the later 1930’s bikes there were some changes as far as design and function went and Hawthorne began to favor more of a sport look with curves and some streamline effects as well as using a “paisley” pattern chain ring instead of the earlier “snowflake” style. During this time the Senior model didn’t have any relevant changes made to it.

The 1936 Duralium bikes did have minor changes done to them though. The men's model loses the chain guard, brace handlebars and head light. The frame was designed to be less streamlined at the head tube. The girls model loses the head light and braced handlebars but keeps the chain guard. The top model with the large motorcycle tank gets a Persons speedometer and a new tubular carrier that follows the lines of the rear fender. There is also a new large streamlined saddle which was an interesting feature for Hawthorne at the time.

Throughout the rest of the 1930’s Hawthorne continue to produce new models and with each design that surfaced there were new features and design aspects that pervious models hadn’t had. Things like new swept back handle bars, lower legs, new headlights,  dual kickstands, models that had more than one speed and so on. The colors began to get brighter and the design became more edgy as well up until the war began.

It is noted that during the war very few bicycles were made and after the war the production continue to suffer because of the lack of materials, supplies, and so on which contributed to the lower quality of the bicycles that Hawthorne made in their post-war production lines. Many who have owned bicycles from both time periods have complained about the bikes inability to ride as well, the decrease in comfort level, and the general lack of good craftsmanship when it came to building the bicycles. It was a disappointing turn for Hawthorne but they still continued to make bicycles until the early fifties.