Monark Silver King Inc. (formerly Monark Battery Co.) was perhaps best known for its bicycles made of aluminum such as the Flocycle and Hextube. One of the most popular models during the late 1940′s and 1950′s was the Monark Super Deluxe which was also sold as a Cycle King or Holiday. Monark also built bicycles badged as Hawthorne, McNamara, Spiegel, Ranger, and Firestone. Two of the distinguishing features of the Super Deluxe line are the ‘train’ headlight and the ‘cheese grater’ rear rack.

The Cycle King was a direct competitor of the Schwinn Phantom, Columbia Five Star, and Roadmaster Luxury Liner and did fairly well against the competition. In 1953 Monark introduced the ‘knee’ action springer and legend has it that Monark was going to be sued by Schwinn who held the patent for this type of springer so they discontinued using this type of fork after 1955. Effective 31 December, 1957 Monark was acquired by the Huffman manufacturing Co (makers of Huffy bicycles). The Monark name would continue into the early 1960s and then fade away. Formerly Owned by Shawn Sweeney