Hi everyone,just like to say this is a great forum and feel at home.My name is Fred and live on the east coast.I never really took to the Schwinn forum,ratrodbikes seems more down to earth.I would like to apologize for not getting my intro done sooner.Growing up in the 60s and 70s we had some really nice new bikes around,just couldnt afford them.The biggest thing I remember about those days was making choppers by cutting forks off from other bikes and slipping them over your forks to extend the forks out.Yeah that was safe!Also jumping wooden ramps was a biggie.I remember going down to the local Schwinn shop to finally get the Stingray I always wanted,only to have the salesman talk my parents out of it.This was the time safety issues about Stingray style bikes was in the media and the banana bikes were on the way out.So I ended up with a 26" Columbia cruiser.Which was a nice bike and a lot better for my paper route anyway .But what did I do to that Columbia,I put high handlebars and a banana seat on it.Like many people did to 26" bikes.This is a reason why I love to build 26" banana bikes.As soon as I received my drivers license the bikes where history,replaced by my first 1969 Camaro.I have spent many years restoring old cars and building hot rods.I always painted cars on the side,and some of the streetrods I have painted won awards at car shows.After all the old cars where gone from peoples back yards the classic car hobby has gotten very expensive.So life goes around in circles,Im back to building bicycles.This whole kustom bike scene has grown into something really neat and fun.I was never really one to restore back to original.I love to take a vintage frame,sand it down and paint it with base coat clear coat auto paint.I paint my bicycles the same way you would paint a classic car.To fuel my passions about a year ago I started a retro bike business.I get a lot of fun out of it and enjoy making other people happy by building them their own cruiser bike.With my website I offer parts for bike builders and keep my prices fair.Dealing with the miserable high cost of shipping is not fun.So as the world keeps spinning for now anyway, lets keep building ratrod bikes and kustoms and ride like theres no tomorrow. Here is a pic of my 1957 Schwinn
I must say that I like the look of that banana seat and apehanger cruiser much more than the Stingrays! Nice looking bike! Hope to see more of your bikes!
