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1974 Charles Roberts racing bike. Made in London England. #196 of who knows how many bikes he made. Charles passed in 1979 and his sons carried on production. This bike was purchased new from Michael's Cyclery in Ames Iowa by a friend of mine (Jim H) who passed away during the pandemic of...

build thread: https://ratrodbikes.com/threads/all-american-varsity.119750/

This lousy year continues. I stopped by my storage unit yesterday to get my tool box only to discover someone got in and stole about 15 bikes, my tool box, a good tire pump and a bunch of my really old race wheels and some boxes of parts. Taken sometime between June 19 and July 9. Their...

Still have my 1969 CB 350. Been in storage for about 10 years. I hate riding it here. Every car tailgates me and that drives me nuts. they just pass me when i'm on a bicycle but they get right on my rear when I'm on the motorcycle.

hah. nice perspective.

1989 Fuji Ace wrapped up. new pedals & grips. used tubes, chain, crank, bars, stem, brake levers, all cables. rode it 44 miles yesterday. enuf.

1988 Fuji Ace 2 year only model in the catalogs. The crank arms didn't match and the right pedal threads were trashed. So I replaced the crank with a similar age road crank. It had presta valve tubes but I replaced those before they blew our around the stem in the shrader size holes. Rusted...

Universal road brake caliper with cam brake pad adjustment. On an Italian Gios Torino race bike.

Here is the only Sears catalog page I have found so far. It's from 1968 that I got from Wishbook. I don't know how many years Sears had the Tote Cycle listed. Wishbook is an internet attempt to scan all the department store catalogs. A rather monumental task considering the sheer number of...

Whoa, locked to a gas pipe? I had a school yard type bike rack locked to a gas pipe behind our shop. One day I noticed the chain was cut. Next week the rack was gone. It later appeared in a used bike shop. One of our business partners went to confront the other shop owner but the rack...

That coppertone Sears with the 20" wheels is called a "Tote Cycle". Sold in coppertone or brown. 1 speed coaster brake or 3 speed with coaster brake (Sachs or Sturmey Archer depending on the year). The 3 wing bolts in the middle allow it to separate. Not a folder as there is no hinge. Just...

44 miles today on a Lemond Tourmalet. Caught in the rain 4 times. Wait 5 minutes it will change.

July 4 rides. Schwinn Varsity & Murray Squirt. Both coaster brake conversions. 8 to 9 pounds lighter than stock.

Small turnout due to the constant rain threat. 14 miles. 1976 Schwinn Varsity green 1978 Schwinn Varsity blue 1991 Murray Squirt red 1974 Schwinn Super Sport orange

Murray Squirt #1 is my 50th completed single speed conversion! Well, counting those I've photographed. There might have been more that I missed or forgot about.

For the flags.. These are the mounting rings salvaged from broken grip shift shifters. Since so many of those cheap plastic parts break, I've saved a bunch of the rings. The flag pole needs to fit. FYI, those little flags come in any diameter of wood sticks. Bigger than the hole on the ring...

Ground off the rest of the top & down tube cable stops. Touched up the paint a bit. There were 3 shades of blue already so I added some blue metallic on the bare metal (yeah, primer first). Stars & flags added. Shorter kickstand (from a Collegiate) installed so it won't try to fall over...

Murray Squirt #1 done. More photos on the 4th.