So my wife loves my new Electra Relic I got a couple of months ago, but it's a little too big for her, and she's not the type to want to go out and spend $XXX on a second bike anyway. Regardless, she keeps talking about the style and how much she likes it, so I got to thinking about putting one of my cantilever frame bikes together for her. She absolutely loves her Electra Amsterdam Balloonie (with the Fat Franks), so I tried to incorporate some of that feel into it for her, too.
In the interest of safety and reliability for her, I decided on the Schwinn Del-Mar I bought new a couple of years ago instead of one of my old '60s Schwinns, and added an Electra leather cruiser saddle and a set of matching ergo grips that are a lot like the pieces on her Amsterdam. This bike has already been through a few different iterations in the time I've had it (some of you guys have probably already seen them), so I included the ape-hangers (which she loves - gotta love her, huh?), the red Weinmann rims with black spokes and 3-speed Nexus hub with Twist-Grip shifter, bent seat post and fat Bontrager whitewalls from it's last "build". She loved it. The only part she wasn't thrilled about was the black leather wrapping I put on the top tube to cover the "DelMar" graphic, so that's got to go, but other than that, it fits her perfectly, and she loves the way it looks, rides and feels! Score with the first effort! 8)
Now that I've got her hooked on two bikes, maybe she'll start to understand my 24 bike obsession! :mrgreen:
I know it's not exactly "ratty", but I was catering to her more refined girly tastes here!
And how it originally looked, just for reference:
In the interest of safety and reliability for her, I decided on the Schwinn Del-Mar I bought new a couple of years ago instead of one of my old '60s Schwinns, and added an Electra leather cruiser saddle and a set of matching ergo grips that are a lot like the pieces on her Amsterdam. This bike has already been through a few different iterations in the time I've had it (some of you guys have probably already seen them), so I included the ape-hangers (which she loves - gotta love her, huh?), the red Weinmann rims with black spokes and 3-speed Nexus hub with Twist-Grip shifter, bent seat post and fat Bontrager whitewalls from it's last "build". She loved it. The only part she wasn't thrilled about was the black leather wrapping I put on the top tube to cover the "DelMar" graphic, so that's got to go, but other than that, it fits her perfectly, and she loves the way it looks, rides and feels! Score with the first effort! 8)
Now that I've got her hooked on two bikes, maybe she'll start to understand my 24 bike obsession! :mrgreen:
I know it's not exactly "ratty", but I was catering to her more refined girly tastes here!
And how it originally looked, just for reference:
