Monday, June 20, 2011

Old is New...New is Old

I noticed this super cool old cruiser bike while driving by an antique store on Saturday.  It immediately caught my eye and of course I heard its little voice calling out to me.  After closer investigation, this bike was going to require a lot of work but for the fine price of $40, it was worth the risk!

It is a Coast King and I have not been able to figure out the model or the timeframe because everything was painted over (including the rims).  I stripped the frame down to raw metal and am thinking of just clear coating it so it maintains a 'raw' look.  It took about 8 hours of chemical stripping and drill sanding to get it down to metal, but some things just can't be rushed....

The front wheel is toast  - not salvageable, and I am hoping to salvage the rear wheel...it has one of those cool coaster brake hubs where you can spin freely but then you can step backwards and it brakes.  I have ordered a couple of cheapie whitewall tires and the building up will have to wait until I get back from the BC bike race in a few weeks...It should come together relatively quickly though - the only thing left to procure is a saddle because it is time to put a fork in it and call it 'done'...put butter on it, it be toast!

What drew me to the frame was that the top tube is made of two smaller tubes - cool lines...it weighs as much as a sherman tank though:



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