just discovered this site. I may have seen it a few times before in researching other bikes I've had/sold, but never took any great interest. anyways. a brief history.
My driver's license got suspended a bunch of years ago(4 or 5?) for reasons that go beyond the scope of this introduction. That lead to my obsession with bicycles. I built my first one mostly from new parts shortly thereafter and it got stolen less than a year later. Since then I've been going through craigslist and garage/yard sale bikes pretty steadily. riding and selling them in nyc to all the hipster kids. I recently happened upon "the motherload." Saw an ad on craigslist nearby for a truckload of old bikes. the picture was blurry and the description was bad, but the price was right. I hesitate to say what I paid, but I got 25 old cruisers (mid 40s-early 70s), all in pretty respectable shape. one of the last bikes that got unloaded into my garage really caught my eye. its a colson flyer that appears to have been someone elses project before me. it had banana seat and monkey bars, no racks or fenders or chain guard. everything had been sprayed red and I had to carefully scrape the headbadge just to figure out what I was working with. the truly unique feature here is a 2-speed bottom bracket. its got a lever on the top tube that connects to a steel arm down to the bottom bracket and appears to switch from direct drive to about 3/4 speed. Once I find my camera I'll post some pictures.
I haven't really inventoried everything yet, but there will be plenty for sale as soon as I pick all my favorite parts out of the bunch. A few of the bikes I'm going to keep for myself for future builds.
has anyone ever seen a bike with a bottom bracket like I'm describing? couldn't find any reference to it on any forums online. from what I gather the colson flyer was primarily a pre-war model.
I probably won't be incredibly active in the community here, as my work schedule barely permits me to sleep sometimes. but I'll certainly update the build as it comes along.
Shady Neal
My driver's license got suspended a bunch of years ago(4 or 5?) for reasons that go beyond the scope of this introduction. That lead to my obsession with bicycles. I built my first one mostly from new parts shortly thereafter and it got stolen less than a year later. Since then I've been going through craigslist and garage/yard sale bikes pretty steadily. riding and selling them in nyc to all the hipster kids. I recently happened upon "the motherload." Saw an ad on craigslist nearby for a truckload of old bikes. the picture was blurry and the description was bad, but the price was right. I hesitate to say what I paid, but I got 25 old cruisers (mid 40s-early 70s), all in pretty respectable shape. one of the last bikes that got unloaded into my garage really caught my eye. its a colson flyer that appears to have been someone elses project before me. it had banana seat and monkey bars, no racks or fenders or chain guard. everything had been sprayed red and I had to carefully scrape the headbadge just to figure out what I was working with. the truly unique feature here is a 2-speed bottom bracket. its got a lever on the top tube that connects to a steel arm down to the bottom bracket and appears to switch from direct drive to about 3/4 speed. Once I find my camera I'll post some pictures.
I haven't really inventoried everything yet, but there will be plenty for sale as soon as I pick all my favorite parts out of the bunch. A few of the bikes I'm going to keep for myself for future builds.
has anyone ever seen a bike with a bottom bracket like I'm describing? couldn't find any reference to it on any forums online. from what I gather the colson flyer was primarily a pre-war model.
I probably won't be incredibly active in the community here, as my work schedule barely permits me to sleep sometimes. but I'll certainly update the build as it comes along.
Shady Neal
. maybe it was the same listing but put in all the diff areas congrats on the find i bet you have some neat bikes there
