55 Womens Columbia

[tikiharl]

My older sister (57) has been wanting me to find her an old tank bike. For the last week we have been scouring ebay,CL and the classifieds on the RR forum.We let a few go by to get this one, a 1955 Columbia. It says that it is all original except the top of the light.There was only 2 other bidders, I waited till there was 1 min. left to submit max bid. The other bidder was furiously trying to get bids in but ran out of time.Hopefully It was no one on the Rat Rod Forum.Winning bid 79.50

 

[Markm]

Nice!!! :mrgreen:

 

[Slick Rick]

Military trained you well!Just sniping bids now!Congrats, looks like a good find and price. :wink:

 

[sensor]

nice score :mrgreen:

 

[user 135]

Great bike. Even better that it needs very little fixing up.

 

[GodHatesCleveland]

Looks like a great deal. It's not easy to find a 50's bike with everything, fenders, tank, rack, etc.

 

[Uncle Stretch]

Hey Tiki does that mean you have 56 other sisters if she is 57???? :roll:

 

[tikiharl]

Thats a good one Uncle Stretch :lol: Don't even ask about my brother (60) hehe
The reason I put her age down was to reinforce to our younger members that us old timers still like to ride. 8)

 

[TheDuke]

Great Score! Looking foward to seeing what you do with it!
L8 EM

 

[tikiharl]

Im so happy. The bike just got dropped off about an hour ago and of course I couldnt help but kinda mock it up in the living room. I'll post pics tommorow.This bike is in great shape for its age no dings, very minor rust dots. If the rust cleans up ok she will just get waxed and called good.I know what Im gonna be doing this weekend This bike is going to my sister but Im more stoked about this one than any of mine. :wink: 8) :lol:

 

[tikiharl]

OK, so I assembled the bike today,aired up the tires rode about 20' and popped the rear tire.The Goodyear tires still look good ,the tube blew. I am basically going to semi restore this one,keep everything original and no modifacations. It is missing the rear reflector and it may not be the original paint,but I like the colors(robins egg blue and royal blue)so thats what it will be painted.I am currently looking for decals and have found a couple of leads. Maple Island Sales has them but I dont know what colors or size.It has Torrington pedals,Messinger seat,I dont know what these type grips are called but I like em. Im sure one of you can tell me.I like that it has bullet type tips on the end of the truss rods still intact.There is also a chain oiler. I tried to remove the surface rust w/ WD40 and000. steel wool but the paint is so weathered it wanted to come right off.Later I will start a builds thread on this project

 

[ratina]

is that some sort of chain oiler mounted on the chainguard??

 

[tikiharl]

Yes it is a chain oiler. I have seen them on a couple of other older bikes. Basically just a couple of brushes/pads above and below the chain.Flip up the filler lid and add oil. :wink: