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On this "Sears" you'll never get dropped...armed w/ "photon torpedos"

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On this "Sears" you'll never get dropped...armed w/ "photon torpedos"

Old 10-09-19, 07:21 AM
  #26  
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That's five miles from my house. I could snap it up and ship it to any one. I'm sure shipping would be reasonable
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Old 10-09-19, 08:20 AM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by cudak888
"The rear triangle is so bent on this bloody thing that Khan must have taken a couple of runs on it with his own photon torpedo, Captain!"

But yes, the similarity with the refit Enterprise isn't lost...



-Kurt
I don't remember Khan being in a Klingon ship? Wasn't he in a stolen federation ship?

As far as shipping this:

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Old 10-09-19, 09:18 PM
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Originally Posted by KonAaron Snake
I don't remember Khan being in a Klingon ship? Wasn't he in a stolen federation ship?
No good GIFs out there of the Mutara Nebula battle, unfortunately. Had to settle for Kirk in his refit Sears Spaceliner battling Doc Brown in a Bird of Whale Transport.

P.S.: Here's a better look at what one of these over-hyped* Murray middleweights look like when their frames haven't been bent into a pretzel by someone backing into it with a truck:



Not the same year, given the tank, but you get the picture.

-Kurt

*Yes, overhyped. The frames are soft steel and ride like crap. So many people who think these look cool because of a tank and a chrome job (yes, they do look good, I'll grant you that) can't see past the glitter. There's not much difference between this and late-1980s Murray cruisers that get no love. They're bicycle shaped objects from the 1960's, with a bit of pizzazz, and they're barely adult-sized bikes in the first place.
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Old 10-10-19, 08:28 AM
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A question no one has asked yet.

Where do you get yellow bike chain?
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Old 10-10-19, 08:45 AM
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OMG, answered my own question, the mind boggles. And yes, this is 11 speed bike chain, guess with all the shades of grey/black, etc. single track bikes I see for sale this must be the only way to add any color at all.

Will LED bike chain be far behind?
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Old 10-10-19, 08:53 AM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by cudak888
No good GIFs out there of the Mutara Nebula battle, unfortunately. Had to settle for Kirk in his refit Sears Spaceliner battling Doc Brown in a Bird of Whale Transport.

P.S.: Here's a better look at what one of these over-hyped* Murray middleweights look like when their frames haven't been bent into a pretzel by someone backing into it with a truck:



Not the same year, given the tank, but you get the picture.

-Kurt

*Yes, overhyped. The frames are soft steel and ride like crap. So many people who think these look cool because of a tank and a chrome job (yes, they do look good, I'll grant you that) can't see past the glitter. There's not much difference between this and late-1980s Murray cruisers that get no love. They're bicycle shaped objects from the 1960's, with a bit of pizzazz, and they're barely adult-sized bikes in the first place.
Honestly, I view all of the cruiser style bikes as being more a toy.
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Old 10-11-19, 05:44 AM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by KonAaron Snake
Honestly, I view all of the cruiser style bikes as being more a toy.
Unfortunately, that's pretty much what they have been all these years - and I say unfortunately as I know of not one (I'm sure someone will quickly correct me here, now that I've said that) cro-mo cantilever frame ever made.

There's no reason the cantilever frame design can't be meshed with the idea of a sporty commuter, and there's been enough tire tech over the years for middleweight-sized tires to provide similar performance to a 700x28C.

Schwinn's "King Size" frames did try to take care of the size issue, but as we know, electroforged frames do nothing for weight:



The other thing is that Schwinn seems to be one of the few manufacturers to have made the effort of styling their frames with golden ratio proportions, ensuring that each curve of the frame is complementary. The top tube always has an even curve, the gradual increase of the seatstay radius is elegant, and the downtube and chainstays look like one unbroken unit, even though they're intersected by the BB shell.

By comparison, so many "beach cruiser" cantilever frames screw this up so bad that it's not even funny. This thing looks like the Hunchback of Notre Dame:



This one has been hit HARD with the ugly stick:



Unicrown forks haven't done them any favors in the looks department either. I'd bet most cruisers would look really nice with oversized sloping-crown forks too.

That reminds me - Schwinn proved that modernizing the flat-as-a-pancake Ashtabula fork can result in something purely awful looking:




-Kurt
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Old 10-11-19, 06:38 AM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by cudak888
Unfortunately, that's pretty much what they have been all these years - and I say unfortunately as I know of not one (I'm sure someone will quickly correct me here, now that I've said that) cro-mo cantilever frame ever made.
Maybe not Cro-Mo, but Black Sheep in Colorado will make you one in Titanium! This one was commissioned by a friend to work with an original Schwinn Phantom tank.



But back on topic, I took one of those Spaceliners (actually the Western equivalent, the "Stratoflyer") and made it more "dangerous" with ape hangers and a sissy bar. Very comfortable for cruising around the lakes here in Minneapolis.


I've also got one of the women's examples, but I had to stash the photon torpedo launcher somewhere the Federation weapons regulators won't find it.

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Old 10-11-19, 06:57 AM
  #34  
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^^^^^ Is that a battle-quarry Romulan disruptor on the helm... er... handlebar?
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Old 10-11-19, 07:11 AM
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Originally Posted by madpogue
^^^^^ Is that a battle-quarry Romulan disruptor on the helm... er... handlebar?
You've got a sharp eye, Lieutenant!
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Old 10-11-19, 07:15 AM
  #36  
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Merlin did that with the News Boy.
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Old 10-11-19, 07:31 AM
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^^^^ But @cudak888 is right. Both the Merlin and the Black Sheep have a "flat spot" in the stays where they intersect with the top tube and seat tube. Of all the above pics, only the old Schwinn retains a smooth curve to the stays (and yeah, Kurt, I wouldn't be surprised if the golden ratio works in there somewhere). It's those subtle visual cues that make a difference; a cantilever frame should remind one, even if not consciously, of an artfully architected old bridge.
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Old 10-11-19, 08:43 AM
  #38  
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This was a golden age of design swept up in the performance fighter aircraft, jets and rockets, soon to be space ships, influencing design in almost all areas of consumption. I volunteer at a car museum and each time I walk by one of our 57 Chevy's I always flash on the twin .50 caliber machine guns mounted on the engine cowl of the P-40 Tomahawk.





Both classics and in many ways these Sears, Murray, etc. bikes shared the same. If you could not fly a Tomahawk, you could drive your 57 Chevy, and if you could not explore space, you could ride your space bike a long ways in imagination and fact.

It was the age of gravel roads past most city limits followed by dirt, and these 50lb. behemoths with wide balloon tires ate these roads up and with a 3 speed rear hub took me into the foothills on game trails until you had to get off and push (but man what a kick descending), single track and mountain biking before anyone knew.
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Old 10-11-19, 08:01 PM
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Originally Posted by Hudson308
Maybe not Cro-Mo, but Black Sheep in Colorado will make you one in Titanium! This one was commissioned by a friend to work with an original Schwinn Phantom tank.
Originally Posted by KonAaron Snake
Merlin did that with the News Boy.
That's exactly what I was hoping would pop up. Taking it up to TI - no objections there.

Originally Posted by madpogue
^^^^ But @cudak888 is right. Both the Merlin and the Black Sheep have a "flat spot" in the stays where they intersect with the top tube and seat tube. Of all the above pics, only the old Schwinn retains a smooth curve to the stays (and yeah, Kurt, I wouldn't be surprised if the golden ratio works in there somewhere). It's those subtle visual cues that make a difference; a cantilever frame should remind one, even if not consciously, of an artfully architected old bridge.
*golden ratio. Thanks. Screwed that up.

As @madpogue pointed out though, these TI art pieces still don't quite hit the aesthetic sweet spot. I know that both Merlin and Black Sheep were probably more concerned about geometry when designing these - and that's a fair point. Curving the chainstays - especially for the News Boy, which appears to be a purpose-built MTB - wouldn't make any sense for clearance and would require some seriously funky dropouts.

The Black Sheep does get the overall look better though. I dare say the Schwinn tank probably forced them into it. The seatstays have the right curvature and transition and they meet the top tube absolutely perfectly: All tubes level with each other at the bottom edge.

Coincidentally, this junction is also where the Merlin gets it wrong beyond belief and becomes an aesthetic **** show. Kinking the stays at the seattube? Was that really necessary to distinguish the frame? It looks more like a half-arsed fix during fabrication after someone set the tubing bender to the wrong radius. Merlin did nail the downtube S-curve though - it meets the BB even nicer than the Black Sheep's shallower curve.

One could still argue the cro-mo point though - both of these bikes are over the top enough that there's still no option for a relatively affordable, lightweight cantilever frame that has the right look. After all, if someone wants to go through the effort of choosing a frame that has zero purpose over a diamond frame other than aesthetics in the first place, why isn't there anything out there that has ever nailed it?

Incidentally, the Schwinn stays are part of the Golden Ratio (think NDS when you look at this):




-Kurt
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Old 10-12-19, 04:43 PM
  #40  
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very cool
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Old 10-13-19, 02:03 AM
  #41  
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Originally Posted by since6




Isn't it a lovely thing, probably somewhere nearing 50lbs., but the way the frame is made, sure industrial, but look at all the curves in that tubing.

A dream bike from my grade school years.

On auction at Goodwill for the next day and some hours, too far away and really what would I do with it???

LOL ride it!

Check out the tank, to me it looks like the opening on the U.S.S. Enterprise for it's "photon torpedo" launcher.

Pass me will you, "Sooloo" (sp?) lock on and fire".
Somebody badly tortured a Murray built early to mid 60's Space or Flightliner type girls bike GRRRR.

At least the light tank has a HORN.

I have the male version in 26", a 1962 J.C. Higgins Flightliner.




There was a wicked rack for that bike and somebody butchered it.

Some skilled repair work might repair that seat tube but I'd trust a splice more.

It's a sad thing, this grand old lady. She deserves better.

The chain is way too big as well.
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Old 10-13-19, 07:58 AM
  #42  
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Originally Posted by Rollfast

It's a sad thing, this grand old lady. She deserves better.
I empathize, as bikes like that are what were purchased by parents for kids back then. Heavy and strong. Those steel racks were strong enough to carry passengers. Somebody got that one for twelve bucks. Maybe it'll show up on the local CL.
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Old 10-13-19, 08:04 AM
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Originally Posted by Rollfast
The chain is way too big as well.
Chain is the correct length. The chainstays and seatstays have an equally massive bend in them that's caused the axle-to-BB length to shorten. The entire rear triangle is heavily, heavily damaged.

With any luck, one might be able to straighten the seattube (using some hellish force and a long solid rod the ID of the seatpost) and then sort out the stays with the Park frame tools. If one's lucky, not too much chrome will crack off.

My guess is someone bought it for the tank as a donor. Might be the best course of action. Frame is pretty much toast.

-Kurt
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Old 10-13-19, 06:39 PM
  #44  
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Originally Posted by cudak888
Yes, overhyped. The frames are soft steel and ride like crap. So many people who think these look cool because of a tank and a chrome job (yes, they do look good, I'll grant you that) can't see past the glitter. There's not much difference between this and late-1980s Murray cruisers that get no love. They're bicycle shaped objects from the 1960's, with a bit of pizzazz, and they're barely adult-sized bikes in the first place.
Ouch! You couldn't be more correct but I still have fond memories of my old Murray Missile even though it weighed more that I did, hence the user name. It was too big for me when I got it and now I'm too big for one, probably just as well.
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Old 10-13-19, 07:16 PM
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Originally Posted by USAZorro
I think it once looked more like this. (not my photo. For illustration only)


That's the Wonder Stuff!
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Old 10-13-19, 07:20 PM
  #46  
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Originally Posted by FBOATSB
I empathize, as bikes like that are what were purchased by parents for kids back then. Heavy and strong. Those steel racks were strong enough to carry passengers. Somebody got that one for twelve bucks. Maybe it'll show up on the local CL.
I'm not so sure about the strength of that rack, we had issues when the bike was being assembled, but then again it is fenderless in my case, by choice.

I would hope that I can get a couple LEDs into the two red doohickies at the back and light them

And I bought a brand new pair of tires with siping like a motorcycle tire in ways, they look HOT.
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Old 10-13-19, 08:02 PM
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Originally Posted by Rollfast
I would hope that I can get a couple LEDs into the two red doohickies at the back and light them
I've had surprisingly good luck with these cheap button lights. Just unbolt the original button reflectors, unscrew these from the band and screw them in pace of the reflectors.
The replacement batteries cost more than the lights however, so I just buy more lights when they wear out.
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Old 10-13-19, 08:31 PM
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Originally Posted by Hudson308
The replacement batteries cost more than the lights however, so I just buy more lights when they wear out.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/122863450256 - Bonus: they're not on the slow boat from China.
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Old 10-13-19, 09:18 PM
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Originally Posted by madpogue
https://www.ebay.com/itm/122863450256 - Bonus: they're not on the slow boat from China.
This. Or harvest them from outmoded computer motherboards.

-Kurt
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Old 10-14-19, 06:05 AM
  #50  
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Originally Posted by madpogue
https://www.ebay.com/itm/122863450256 - bonus: They're not on the slow boat from china.
nice!!!
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