I have my Ventura back again after 3 years.
I gave it to my brother in law before I moved away to Hawaii. After sitting for three years, it has been returned to me again. I was expecting a 1959 DNB Folder but it must have looked better than this one, so this is it, a 24 inch ten speed originally. I bought it for my fiance at the time in 1982 at an Alameda bike shop. It was used then with a thick layer of dust from sitting in a garage somewhere. The serial IDs it as a 76 from my guess, which is about right for this Japanese made cottered bike. It had almost no signs of wear so I cleaned it up and gave it to her when my ship stopped at her home in the Philippines. The locals say this is the bike delivered by the Enterprise. I redid it when I retired here in 2015. It hadn't been ridden in years, having been worn out a couple times in the 80s and 90s. I only have the frame, no forks or anything left from the original bike. I could only find 26" forks before and crappy cranks and other parts. They rusted up nicely! The wheels were built by a friend here and are good, although I see rust on the stainless spokes! The 2 speed Sram still works fine. The tires are cheap and still aren't round.
So the plan is to get parts: better tires and cranks, 24" fork, clean and paint. Upright or bull bars and decent seat. It should be a nice looking little bike when I'm done.
I gave it to my brother in law before I moved away to Hawaii. After sitting for three years, it has been returned to me again. I was expecting a 1959 DNB Folder but it must have looked better than this one, so this is it, a 24 inch ten speed originally. I bought it for my fiance at the time in 1982 at an Alameda bike shop. It was used then with a thick layer of dust from sitting in a garage somewhere. The serial IDs it as a 76 from my guess, which is about right for this Japanese made cottered bike. It had almost no signs of wear so I cleaned it up and gave it to her when my ship stopped at her home in the Philippines. The locals say this is the bike delivered by the Enterprise. I redid it when I retired here in 2015. It hadn't been ridden in years, having been worn out a couple times in the 80s and 90s. I only have the frame, no forks or anything left from the original bike. I could only find 26" forks before and crappy cranks and other parts. They rusted up nicely! The wheels were built by a friend here and are good, although I see rust on the stainless spokes! The 2 speed Sram still works fine. The tires are cheap and still aren't round.
So the plan is to get parts: better tires and cranks, 24" fork, clean and paint. Upright or bull bars and decent seat. It should be a nice looking little bike when I'm done.
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