Anyone know about Vistas?

[meezonweelz]

Whats up everybody? Picked this bike up a couple of months ago from some survivalist/militia looking guy. Anyway, it's on it's way to being prettied up (more). I've searched this interweb thing, but can't come up with much info on Vistas. Just wondering if anyone had some back story. It's got some neat touches; bottom bracket sits on the down tube, horizontal rear dropouts... Oh, the wheels, chain ring, crank, and seat are replacements- boken spokes, no seat, chain ring was warped, crank had one pedal welded to it. Thanks in advance- Mike.

 

[SSG]

I think your bike may be Columbia made. Vista seems to have also sold some fairly generic 70's road bikes too, according to the internet these road bikes were made in Taiwan or Japan. From what I've found it seems Vista was an American company just stuck their name on the bikes they sold/imported.

 

[meezonweelz]

I think your bike may be Columbia made. Vista seems to have also sold some fairly generic 70's road bikes too, according to the internet these road bikes were made in Taiwan or Japan. From what I've found it seems Vista was an American company just stuck their name on the bikes they sold/imported.

Cool, thanks! All I could pull up were pics of newer road bikes, nothing like this. It's a sturdy ride, feels solid.

 

[NLCTVWguy]

Information about Vista bicycles is elusive.

I'm lucky enough to have received an owner's manual with one Vista 10-speed I picked up last year. It was a yellow men's bike very similar to a Varsity, called an "Esquire".

The bikes were produced by the N I D A, Nat'l Independent Dealers Association. This industry group formed somewhat in objection to Schwinn's efforts in the late 60s to eliminate the small-town dealer who sold feed and fertilizer, or tractors, or cars, or hardware, or whatever alongside Schwinn bikes. Schwinn's "model store" approach made them a signature brand and a lot of money (50% of the bikes sold in America were Schwinns, right up to the Bike Boom of the 70's)... but it left out the small dealers who couldn't or wouldn't make the investment to give them a separate showroom.

So a group of investors got together, apparently with Columbia (Westfield MA) and numerous other suppliers, and put together a line of bikes. There were bikes in all popular categories. 20" bikes for little kids as well as teenagers (Stingray type bikes called Torino for boys and Colleen for girls)... 3-speeds like a Speedster or Breeze, 10-speeds like I mentioned above.

There were sales catalogs offering their products both to the public and to entice dealers to carry the line in their stores. Seem to have been sold in smaller-name chain stores. Some shops surely sold Vistas as their other brand, separate from the Schwinns. They were American made, with a lot of Columbia design features to the frames. They used parts from all the same suppliers as Schwinn or Columbia would have: (Wald, Shimano, Sturmey, Huret, Persons, Araya, Union, and most likely Goodyear for the tires.)

There is a Vista Torino 500, the top-of-the-line boys 5-speed model on my website: http://www.bareiss.net/bikesale.html

I have a couple of NOS Vista brake cables, for what that's worth. The logo is crude but kind of cool.

I don't know how late they were in business, but they seem to have gone away by 1980 or so.

Hope that helps.
--Rob

 

[Graylock]

Last weekend I talked to Rob ( and he beat me to the post) and he had told me things he knew of Vista. I thought they were a not bad of a bike. Mine was remade into a swing bike from a ladies 5-speed.

GL

 

[WhiteShadow]

first bike i bought when i found this site was a vista cruiser. looks like it's a straight up schwinn knockoff.

 

[benz]

Hmm, I know of a local artist that might be looking for a bike like that. INterested in selling?

Put a chain on it already!

 

[meezonweelz]

Awesome, thanks Rob. You've got a lot of sweet bikes btw

Graylock, White Shadow- Hopefully I'll have this one transformed soon too.

Ben- The only one that'll be arting this bike up is this guy right here. Oh yeah, I got me a chain and pedals. Vistas ready to roll. Now where did I put my filligree....

 

[noodlenoggin]

SWEET! I have a Vista right now with that exact frame! (link to my topic here is in my signature) I agree, info is hard to find, but they do appear to have been made by Columbia. I have more pics of a more-or-less stock "Vista Workhorse" in my Flickr account, here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sunliner500/sets/72157594271225419/

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

Vista mountain bike turned into the louver bike. it has a neat head badge with a crown and was made in Taiwan.

 

[Miles Long]

Whats up everybody? Picked this bike up a couple of months ago from some survivalist/militia looking guy. Anyway, it's on it's way to being prettied up (more). I've searched this interweb thing, but can't come up with much info on Vistas. Just wondering if anyone had some back story. It's got some neat touches; bottom bracket sits on the down tube, horizontal rear dropouts... Oh, the wheels, chain ring, crank, and seat are replacements- boken spokes, no seat, chain ring was warped, crank had one pedal welded to it. Thanks in advance- Mike.

 

[Miles Long]

Information about Vista bicycles is elusive.

I'm lucky enough to have received an owner's manual with one Vista 10-speed I picked up last year. It was a yellow men's bike very similar to a Varsity, called an "Esquire".

The bikes were produced by the N I D A, Nat'l Independent Dealers Association. This industry group formed somewhat in objection to Schwinn's efforts in the late 60s to eliminate the small-town dealer who sold feed and fertilizer, or tractors, or cars, or hardware, or whatever alongside Schwinn bikes. Schwinn's "model store" approach made them a signature brand and a lot of money (50% of the bikes sold in America were Schwinns, right up to the Bike Boom of the 70's)... but it left out the small dealers who couldn't or wouldn't make the investment to give them a separate showroom.

So a group of investors got together, apparently with Columbia (Westfield MA) and numerous other suppliers, and put together a line of bikes. There were bikes in all popular categories. 20" bikes for little kids as well as teenagers (Stingray type bikes called Torino for boys and Colleen for girls)... 3-speeds like a Speedster or Breeze, 10-speeds like I mentioned above.

There were sales catalogs offering their products both to the public and to entice dealers to carry the line in their stores. Seem to have been sold in smaller-name chain stores. Some shops surely sold Vistas as their other brand, separate from the Schwinns. They were American made, with a lot of Columbia design features to the frames. They used parts from all the same suppliers as Schwinn or Columbia would have: (Wald, Shimano, Sturmey, Huret, Persons, Araya, Union, and most likely Goodyear for the tires.)

There is a Vista Torino 500, the top-of-the-line boys 5-speed model on my website: http://www.bareiss.net/bikesale.html

I have a couple of NOS Vista brake cables, for what that's worth. The logo is crude but kind of cool.

I don't know how late they were in business, but they seem to have gone away by 1980 or so.

Hope that helps.
--Rob

I had a Vista 10 speed years ago. A Detroit factory rat buddy had a (much lighter and nicer) Peugeot 10 speed. We had never gone more than 20 miles in one day on our bikes, but got the notion to take a week vacation and ride across the state of Michigan and back. We rode over 100 miles each day except one (heavy rain and headwinds) where we still managed 85 miles. We competed the trip in six days.
The Vista was heavy (steel frame), but adequate and reliable. The side-pull brakes weren’t great and had a tendency to drag a bit on one side of the rim, but they worked when I needed them. Never had a problem with the gears.