Today, collecting and/or making money on high-end vintage road bikes of the 30s to 80s is trendy and fashionable, but I think all of history is equally important, the history of the lower classes is as important as the history of the elite and winners isn't it? My first road bike in the 1970s was a cheap heavy thing my parents bought for me at a hardware store, a USA-made "Columbia" ten-speed racing bike with steel drop-bars, and steel just about everything except for the brake calipers. I rode it like a maniac, as young people do, until I finally succeeded in crashing it into dust, and getting a concussion and amnesia in the process. Teenagers heal well though.
So a few years ago I stopped at a garage sale I chanced upon, and there was an early 1970s ten-speed road bike, a really low-end cheapo as I had ridden in my youth, and it had a rare tall frame size, 61cm. I asked about it's price and when they said $3 the deal was done. I took the bike home and completely stripped it down, cleaned it and put it back together with fresh lube, tires, chain etc.. Then I started riding it all the time, every chance I could get. It weighed in at 35 pounds on a friend's scale, every part of the bike is steel except for the stem and shift levers, even the brake calipers and seat pan are steel. The bike handles very poorly, if I ride it hands-off I better be on my guard and have my speed up a bit or it will lunge towards the side of the road and whatever ditch etc. is there to greet it.
In 2022 I entered it into a local 20km time-trial, and got it to go 19.5mph average, when I was 60 years old. The next year I found some longer pedal crank arms for it, and put some Continental Ultra-Sport tires on it, and was able to go 20.5mph average over a 20km distance. There is a time trial this year, but they want $50 to enter it, over 16 times what I paid for the bike, so will have to think about it.
The bike was made by a company in the USA called "Huffy", which at one time was one of the largest USA manufacturers of lower-end bicycles. I do not think any low-end consumer grade bicycles have been made in the USA for close to 40 years now. By the serial numbers this bike is from 1973, and was sold through a hardware store chain. Anyway, it is one of my favorites, it is a time machine that takes me back to the 70s and what most of the general population rode back then, and I like keeping it on the road so the flag of cheap heavy road bikes continues to fly. Also it was funny in the time-trial to pass up a few who were mounted on high-end and/or modern racing bikes with it. Peace.
So a few years ago I stopped at a garage sale I chanced upon, and there was an early 1970s ten-speed road bike, a really low-end cheapo as I had ridden in my youth, and it had a rare tall frame size, 61cm. I asked about it's price and when they said $3 the deal was done. I took the bike home and completely stripped it down, cleaned it and put it back together with fresh lube, tires, chain etc.. Then I started riding it all the time, every chance I could get. It weighed in at 35 pounds on a friend's scale, every part of the bike is steel except for the stem and shift levers, even the brake calipers and seat pan are steel. The bike handles very poorly, if I ride it hands-off I better be on my guard and have my speed up a bit or it will lunge towards the side of the road and whatever ditch etc. is there to greet it.
In 2022 I entered it into a local 20km time-trial, and got it to go 19.5mph average, when I was 60 years old. The next year I found some longer pedal crank arms for it, and put some Continental Ultra-Sport tires on it, and was able to go 20.5mph average over a 20km distance. There is a time trial this year, but they want $50 to enter it, over 16 times what I paid for the bike, so will have to think about it.
The bike was made by a company in the USA called "Huffy", which at one time was one of the largest USA manufacturers of lower-end bicycles. I do not think any low-end consumer grade bicycles have been made in the USA for close to 40 years now. By the serial numbers this bike is from 1973, and was sold through a hardware store chain. Anyway, it is one of my favorites, it is a time machine that takes me back to the 70s and what most of the general population rode back then, and I like keeping it on the road so the flag of cheap heavy road bikes continues to fly. Also it was funny in the time-trial to pass up a few who were mounted on high-end and/or modern racing bikes with it. Peace.
