This past summer I happened to be driving by an antique shop and saw an old beat up Townie that deserved a closer look and subsequent make-over. I picked up the bike on the cheap and promptly went about stripping the hideous home paint job that was on it. It was in pretty bad shape but I really like the frame shape and the potential.
The frame had been coated with red paint - to the paint where rims, seat posts, handlebars, forks, etc were all coated with a sloppy paint. Whoever tried painting it failed miserably as they did not prep or prime it and it showed because paint was not sticking and it was in sad shape.
I was able to salvage the frame parts of the bike but had to swap out the wheels. I was able to cannabilize an old front wheel that we had sitting around but had to order a new cheapie rear wheel with a coaster brake (the kind that you can spin freely but once you put pressure on the back-pedal is engaged the brake on the rear wheel).
After some good old fashioned elbow grease and a lot of paint stripping and rest removal, I got it back to a raw metal color which brought back the bike's personality. I ordered a couple of white wall tires, new seat and voila, a cool looking townie with a little character. I should put it on the scale to see how much this lead weight of a bike weighs - just for giggles
a couple of pix from the finished product (will have to swap out pedals because one of them does not rotate evenly - a lumpy pedal stroke on the left). I left the fenders off too - giving it more of a beach feel....
a little beverage holder up front to hold...
The frame had been coated with red paint - to the paint where rims, seat posts, handlebars, forks, etc were all coated with a sloppy paint. Whoever tried painting it failed miserably as they did not prep or prime it and it showed because paint was not sticking and it was in sad shape.
I was able to salvage the frame parts of the bike but had to swap out the wheels. I was able to cannabilize an old front wheel that we had sitting around but had to order a new cheapie rear wheel with a coaster brake (the kind that you can spin freely but once you put pressure on the back-pedal is engaged the brake on the rear wheel).
After some good old fashioned elbow grease and a lot of paint stripping and rest removal, I got it back to a raw metal color which brought back the bike's personality. I ordered a couple of white wall tires, new seat and voila, a cool looking townie with a little character. I should put it on the scale to see how much this lead weight of a bike weighs - just for giggles
a couple of pix from the finished product (will have to swap out pedals because one of them does not rotate evenly - a lumpy pedal stroke on the left). I left the fenders off too - giving it more of a beach feel....
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