Vista Bike : Curious about it

[Svennie Marrante]

Hi all,

Living in France, i found an old american bike in my father' garage. During the sixties and seventies, my father's house has been rent to US military families.

If you have any information about this bike, thanks to advise me. I'm curious about this bike i have used when i was child myself end of seventies. It's an uncommun bike here and i plan to restore it for my own use.

Thanks a lot if you have any information about it.

Sven

 

[RustySprockets]

Good info in the attached thread. Is that a BMA/6 label on the tube under the saddle? That would help narrow down the age of the bike.

http://ratrodbikes.com/forum/index.php?threads/anyone-know-about-vistas.20320/

 

[Schwinnspastic]

Vista like several other brands were bicycles built by other manufacturers and sold under the Vista brand, yours appears to be Columbia built and also looks to have a Schwinn fork on it. You will find there is not to much info out there on Vista bikes in general though some of the kids bikes are popular in the muscle bike world. Your bike appears to be early to mid 70s .
Mark

 

[Wildcat]

I agree, it's a Columbia made bike. That's a good solid bike to restore and ride. The chrome might be good enough to shine up, it looks like just surface rust. The seat looks like a mesinger seat from back then, you may want to upgrade for riding. They get hard to ride on at their age.
Definitely a good bike to fix up, no front fender?

The Columbia serial number list I use only goes to 72, and the BMI sticker went on bikes starting in 71, so the best guess is early 70's.

 

[Svennie Marrante]

I confirm that's the seat is a Mesinger one. Yes i found the front fender but need to restore all that.

I'll post in few evolutions of my own restore.

Thank's all for information and friendly spirit here.

Sven