This is a pretty mild, casual customizing job that I did a few days back, and I really liked the way it turned out.
Bought this cool old '61(?) Sears Flightliner from fellow Huntington Beach resident and member BlakeC. Great guy, and had a lot of fun discussing bikes during the transaction.
From the moment I saw this bike, for some reason it reminded of a World War II fighter plane - not real sure why, except for maybe the finish, but it does, so that was kind of the way I headed in doing my own customizing.
Blue 26x2.125 Cheng-Shins, added truss rod set, new riser stem, swoopy Electra Amsterdam bars (I know the flipped bars thing is getting old, but I really wanted a "bent-wing" effect to the bars in the style of a WWII F4U Corsair fighter's wings), matching blue Scott grips, a great old NOS chrome chainguard I scored on Ebay, new aluminum kickstand (the old one was tweaked), old "Army Air Corps" sticker for the head and small WWII era "8th Air Force" decal for the seat tube, and of course, no fighter would be complete without bullet valve caps! :mrgreen:
I tried a couple of different Brooks saddles on it, but even though I love 'em, they just didn't give the look I wanted, so I ended up using the great old Persons saddle that Blake had on there in the first place. It ended up being perfect for the style I wanted.
The shape of these drop-outs is one of the main reasons I love these frames - and what better for something airplane-ish? :wink:
It rides great, and I'm lovin' the looks. I'm definitely diggin' it.
Bought this cool old '61(?) Sears Flightliner from fellow Huntington Beach resident and member BlakeC. Great guy, and had a lot of fun discussing bikes during the transaction.
From the moment I saw this bike, for some reason it reminded of a World War II fighter plane - not real sure why, except for maybe the finish, but it does, so that was kind of the way I headed in doing my own customizing.
Blue 26x2.125 Cheng-Shins, added truss rod set, new riser stem, swoopy Electra Amsterdam bars (I know the flipped bars thing is getting old, but I really wanted a "bent-wing" effect to the bars in the style of a WWII F4U Corsair fighter's wings), matching blue Scott grips, a great old NOS chrome chainguard I scored on Ebay, new aluminum kickstand (the old one was tweaked), old "Army Air Corps" sticker for the head and small WWII era "8th Air Force" decal for the seat tube, and of course, no fighter would be complete without bullet valve caps! :mrgreen:
I tried a couple of different Brooks saddles on it, but even though I love 'em, they just didn't give the look I wanted, so I ended up using the great old Persons saddle that Blake had on there in the first place. It ended up being perfect for the style I wanted.
The shape of these drop-outs is one of the main reasons I love these frames - and what better for something airplane-ish? :wink:
It rides great, and I'm lovin' the looks. I'm definitely diggin' it.