- Location
- Never Far From Nowhere
Amazingly my wife, Tomi, is not a car person. This is quite strange due to the fact my obsession with cars is practically a sickness. She doesn't like to drive, takes public transit to work and walks whenever she can. Earlier this month I thought, "I wonder if she would like a bike?" So I set about looking for a bike to get her to and from work, the store, park ect.
Staying with my mantra of not getting new vehicles, I started looking at older cruiser bikes. I felt like a cruiser bike would work well for her because every where she is commuting to is pretty flat from our house. So the cruisers comfy seat and wide handle bars would be nice. In my research I decided to find a cruiser from the late 60's or early 70's because these seemed a little lighter than the older ones.
I ended up buying a late 60's Columbia Sports III from a floppy hat, skinny jeans wearing hipster. I was drawn to this bike because of its size, weight and the fact that it had a three speed hub, which I really liked. The hipster had claimed he had gone through the whole bike and it was in great running order. Like most things hipsters say, it was an overstatement. But the price was right and I knew, like most things I buy, I'd have to go through and fix and replace parts.
Classic style.
Strumy-Archer three three speed hub.
Hand grip shifter.
After riding the bike I decided right away that the hub would need to be rebuilt. But, like so many things, rebuilding the old hub quickly surpassed the cost of a new one. Since the bike is meant to be a daily commuter and not a show piece I decided to replace the 40+ year old hub with a brand new Shimano Nexus three speed hub built into a new aluminum wheel. I also decided to get a hub with a coaster break and get rid of the rear hand break.
Nexus Hub.
Nexus Shifter.
Next up, the original handle bars were quite pitted and somewhat narrow for a comfortable cruiser. So I replaced the 22" wide bar with a new 27" wide set. Also, the hard plastic grips were replaced with some nice squishy ones. To complement the handle bars a bottle cage was mounted so Tomi can enjoy her morning coffee on the way to work. Finally I added a nice wicker basket with a Lotus disconnect so she can haul stuff.
The old rawhide seat was replaced with a comfy gel seat.
The original fenders were nice, but tweaked just enough that they didn't look right. Additionally, with the replacement of all the white accents with black, chrome fenders seemed to make more sense. And finally, I added head and tail lights.
So thats it. Pretty nice transformation. The only original parts are the frame and fork, main crank and pedals. Tomi is super excited and I'm looking forward to hearing how it rides for her.
Staying with my mantra of not getting new vehicles, I started looking at older cruiser bikes. I felt like a cruiser bike would work well for her because every where she is commuting to is pretty flat from our house. So the cruisers comfy seat and wide handle bars would be nice. In my research I decided to find a cruiser from the late 60's or early 70's because these seemed a little lighter than the older ones.
I ended up buying a late 60's Columbia Sports III from a floppy hat, skinny jeans wearing hipster. I was drawn to this bike because of its size, weight and the fact that it had a three speed hub, which I really liked. The hipster had claimed he had gone through the whole bike and it was in great running order. Like most things hipsters say, it was an overstatement. But the price was right and I knew, like most things I buy, I'd have to go through and fix and replace parts.
Classic style.
Strumy-Archer three three speed hub.
Hand grip shifter.
After riding the bike I decided right away that the hub would need to be rebuilt. But, like so many things, rebuilding the old hub quickly surpassed the cost of a new one. Since the bike is meant to be a daily commuter and not a show piece I decided to replace the 40+ year old hub with a brand new Shimano Nexus three speed hub built into a new aluminum wheel. I also decided to get a hub with a coaster break and get rid of the rear hand break.
Nexus Hub.
Nexus Shifter.
Next up, the original handle bars were quite pitted and somewhat narrow for a comfortable cruiser. So I replaced the 22" wide bar with a new 27" wide set. Also, the hard plastic grips were replaced with some nice squishy ones. To complement the handle bars a bottle cage was mounted so Tomi can enjoy her morning coffee on the way to work. Finally I added a nice wicker basket with a Lotus disconnect so she can haul stuff.
The old rawhide seat was replaced with a comfy gel seat.
The original fenders were nice, but tweaked just enough that they didn't look right. Additionally, with the replacement of all the white accents with black, chrome fenders seemed to make more sense. And finally, I added head and tail lights.
So thats it. Pretty nice transformation. The only original parts are the frame and fork, main crank and pedals. Tomi is super excited and I'm looking forward to hearing how it rides for her.
