Hawthorne

[Jane says]

Someone came by my house this evening with two bikes that were in a scrapyard. I am officially the crazy bike lady of my town when people start randomly showing up at my house with old rusty bikes. One is a Hawthorne sold by Montgomery Ward. The other is a Raleigh Sports with a Brooks saddle that is crusty and dried out but no rips so I was wondering how I could clean it up and what to use to soften the leather and make it come back to life somewhat.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

I am officially the crazy bike lady of my town when people start randomly showing up at my house with old rusty bikes.

You have achieved the holy grail of the bike hobbiest...

Luke.

 

[Jane says]

You have achieved the holy grail of the bike hobbiest...

Luke.

That's just one step below bike hoarder right?

 

[LukeTheJoker]

That's just one step below bike hoarder right?

1 small step for the hobbiest, 1 giant leap for the collector.

Luke.

 

[Jane says]

1 small step for the hobbiest, 1 giant leap for the collector.

Luke.

And when God said "Be fruitful and become many" He was talking about bikes right?

 

[Wildcat]

The Brooks B72 saddle looks good, notice how there's no damage around the rivets. I think it will be fine after some treatment. I would use a moisturizing hand lotion, but I'm cheap. There are products made just for that kind of leather that will get it back in good shape.

The Hawthorne is a Rollfast (Snyder) made bike. The forks look like they are bent forward, as if they may have been bent back after hitting something. I would look at them closely to see if there's a crack at the crown.

 

[Nagant]

Oh my, I got a some smiles and chuckles from reading the posts in this thread.

 

[Wildcat]

I just noticed another problem with the Hawthorne. The seat tube is bent. Step through frames are susceptable to that from design. All the stress is right in the middle where the downtube connects and any collision may bend it, making it hard to ride.

 

[Jane says]

Thanks. I will have someone take a closer look at it. I guess I better not try to ride it since I seem susceptible to colliding with things like poles and such .

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

CBL (crazy bike lady), that head tube reflector is really cool.

 

[Nagant]

Agreed, that is a cool head tube reflector. I had not noticed it until itisfreeitsforme mentioned it in his post.

I guess the only issue with being dubbed a CBL (Crazy Bike Lady) or CBD (Crazy Bike Dude) is running out of space for all the free bikes. But I believe most of us on the forum love free bikes and you got two with some great potential there. Besides it looks like you still have a fair amount of space yet.