Bike Forums - New member from Chicago, IL, USA

Hello Bicycle Forum members,

I'm an older person who has recently gotten back into bicycling. About 5 years ago, I got back onto two wheels in the form of a motorcycle, something I had enjoyed riding when I was younger. In April, however, I was on the motorcycle when I was struck by a new driver, who made a left hand turn into me. This left me relatively unscathed, but the bike was badly damaged. Rather than immediately buy a new motorcycle, a friend suggested that I get back on two wheels by fixing up one of the room full of vintage and classic bicycles that I had collected over the years, and I did.

I started biking in the 1960s, on a three speed "english racer", (a misnomer I know). Over the next couple of decades, I transitioned to 10 speed road bikes, and was already losing interest in bicycles by the early 90s, when mountain bikes were up and coming.

Now, I'm back and interested in renovating some of my old vintage bikes. I've started commuting to work (I'm a mechanical design engineer) on my bicycles. So far, I've got the following machines going:

A 60's era, made in England Huffy Sportsman, 3 speed Sturmey Archer AW, rim brakes

A 50's - 60's Hercules Tourist, 3 speed, Hercules branded AW equivalent hub, rim brakes

and my favorite ride; a '71 yellow Schwinn Speedster. This bike has a single speed Bendix 70 equivalent hub with a coaster brake installed and 26 x 1-3/8 Schwinn S6 rims, but I'm looking to lace up a wheel for it with a Bendix Yellow Band hub I have laying around and adding a front wheel rim brake.

I'm also interested in converting a few bikes to motorized (both electric and gas) power. I have a few middleweights and balloon tire bikes that I am considering trying this with, none of which are very collectable, in my opinion. I joined the forum mainly to discuss ideas around these conversion projects, how to best implement improved braking, where to buy batteries for best value, and so on.