grant40

My Ross with a Suntour corncob freewheel, Shimano Octalink MTB cranks, and a Dura Ace rear derailleur. This is one of my favorite bikes.

mitchito

Nice Ross. I just got a Ross Professional. needs a front wheel, maybe change them both to aluminum. Rides nice even with the bent front wheel

Wildwood 

Only a flat lander could love this thread.
Or appreciate heavy bikes with limited gearing options, poor brakes (if original), and crappy wheels.

Put a person in hills or mountains and most vintage, low end bikes do truly become obviously obsolete and/or possibly dangerous on the open road. Exceptions possible.

Regarding the hills & mountains - there are many cyclists who say all vintage bikes (including un-upgraded high-end frames) are obsolete. 11 speed Eroica bikes are cool with some.

mitchito

This thread is for people who like these bikes. i'm sure there are plenty of threads on BF for high end super light bikes that suit hilly areas for you to frequent. Why come here and denigrate our bikes?

repechage

[QUOTE=grant40;22260115]My Ross with a Suntour corncob freewheel, Shimano Octalink MTB cranks, and a Dura Ace rear derailleur. This is one of my favorite bikes.






QUOTE]
the bike from the mirror universe.

Wildwood 

I think you overstate my position,
but then - Does Brooklyn have hills?
High tensile Oria,
2500 Puch Chromoly
Falck unknown
I have and do embrace them all. Claw derailleur hangers, stem shift. And I used to drive them to a more level trail.

Maybe more miles and love when I move to more level terrain.

BFisher

The value of the cheap low end bike is its continued, almost infinite usefulness as a means of transport. I live in a hilly area, and have bikes for getting out into that varied terrain. But for errands, or appointments that are within maybe ten miles or so, an old beater can get you there for cheap, and a bike ride is almost always better than any other way. My current low end chariot from today's trip:

I wouldn't choose this to climb out and about, but for transport I will take this over the higher end stuff. It works. It rides fine. I'd rather not leave those others locked unattended.

repechage

Look up Ted Williams Sears bicycles. the lime green one probably has three tubes or even full Reynolds 531.

iab

Sounds like you and them need to adhere to rule #5.

madpogue 

Bingo, there's a clear shot of a 531 decal on the fork.

That gold/lime color is such an icon of the time.

Vintage Schwinn

Hey, if you wanna look up those old SEARS Free Spirits and older Ted Williams bikes, there is a site that has old SEARS catalogs, also some Monty Wards, & JC Penneys catalogs.

For example this one has the least expensive FREE SPIRIT 10speed 'sunbird' South Korean made, with Lugged Frame with nice BURGANDY paint (actually called Black Cherry) Unusually this has hand painted gold paint applied at factory at the lugs which looks really nice on this low end model. I converted a HIS & HERS pair of 1984 FreeSpirit sunbird models for my neighbors. By CONVERTED, I simply mean, removing the drop bars and installing 7881 SCHWINN handlebars and Weinmann Tourist levers from old Breeze, Collegiate,Suburban etc. Using the Bell Pitcrew 600 Cable Set...installed new cables for brakes since the tourist levers require the larger ASPIRIN tablet shaped cable ends....replaced all the other cables too. My neighbors wife decided that the BURGANDY PAINT was too nice to bear the FREE SPIRIT NAME, so those were removed by using her finger nail to pull the sticker decal away in several pieces and then she used Lighter fluid that I use to for golf club regripping to remove all excess sticker adhesive. On went a BENOTTO decal set which is really striking now with that blue decal design on the dark burgandy. At her request, I also removed the yellowish clear plastic dork disk and installed a vintage chromed old pie plate dork disk, to make it look vintage, because though the bicycle is from 1984, the Cottered crank looks like something out of 1967, and the Rigida Super Chromix <84> 590mm 26 x 1 3/8 steel wheels which came standard on that bike in 1984 look more like something from 1965. That model 'sunbird' FREE SPIRIT from 1984 came in only one frame size (21") from center of crank to the top of the seat post clamp.......standover is 30 3/4, and the distance from floor to top of seatpost clamp is 31 1/4.......center of handlebar stem to center of seat post is 20 3/4, SO YOU CAN SEE THAT THIS Korean Free Spirit sunbird MEN's Frame is a little SMALLER than a 21" LADIES FRAME Schwinn Collegiate from the SEVENTIES.
Both of these came from the SEARS Catalog in Spring of 1984 with Shimano RS rear derailleur, and a good design front derailleur, I can't remember the exact model but it was not a really ancient one. This frame also has quality welded areas where the tubes join at the drop outs, unlike some earlier KIA badged bikes that likely came from that same Korean factory which had crimped at spot welded tubes like an AMF from 1973. Kent also had several named ten speeds that seemed to be nearly alike with names like Concour, Diplomat but if I recall those came 40 years ago with knockoff no name copies of Shimano derailleurs while that Korean FREE SPIRIT has Shimano derailleurs. The shift levers on the womens bike are nice looking Korean copies of Suntour stem shifters and the mens bike had black plastic stem shifters which worked fine but we replaced them with vintage early seventies Suntour stem shifter. I don't know why, the women's bike came original with nice looking and functional, adjustable stem shifters while the mens model had black automobile dashboard plastic shifters. Both bicycles now have the MKS Sylvan Track Classic Pedals which bikesmiths sells #373551658187 on da bay, which are supposed to be a close knockoff to the ancient Campagnolo Pista Pedals. My neighbor said that installing those particular pedals would help to give it more of an authentic vintage vibe. The bikes ride nice enough, now in tourist form and they look really good.
(5) 26 in 10 speed 37 to 96 gear range.....top bar height 30.75 inches (HIS Model 6K47271N catalog number / HER Model 6K47272N catalog number)$149.99 in Spring 1984 Sears catalog.........there was a 27" inch wheeled 12 speed model that sold for $169.99

https://christmas.musetechnical.com/...r-Catalog/0509

here are some of the similar KIA and Kent versions:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/373127883184

https://www.ebay.com/itm/185094583819




This link below should get you to the list page where you can select to view any one of the available catalogs currently there. You likely will have to wade through many pages to find where the bicycles are within those really fat 700 page catalogs, or to locate the index that tells you which pages.

https://christmas.musetechnical.com



https://www.ebay.com/itm/373551658187

non-fixie 

It's worse. All non-electric bikes will be obsolete very soon. Looks at these - flatland! - figures:

Wildwood 

A bike is a bike is a bike. Low end, high end, middle end.
Ride them, repair them, upgrade everything…….
Have fun, enjoy, get outside, exercise.
Possibly all equally capable in the eyes of Mr&Ms Average Citizen.
But, I can only ask:
If people love these bikes so much, why would someone re-decal a South Korean Free Spirit as an Italian Benotto? And be proud of it. Pride, ego? Consummate snob?


no response needed.
any answer is self disparaging.

YMMV

Wildwood 

@non-fixie - As this thread is in C&V, most ‘old bike owners’ are likely used to being told we ride inferior, obsolete 2 wheelers by other cyclists.

Some people have trouble differentiating between technological advancement and progress toward purpose. I will ride my manually operated pedal bikes for the purpose of better health and bigger smiles - until I change my mind.

BFisher

The answer is already in the question.

Ride on.

nlerner

That site is a great resource, but I'll just cut to the chase (these are scans from paper copies of the 1973 and '74 catalogs):

The Trashman

I suspect I might be cursed, as it seems the further time goes on, as well as the more I spend, I end up with worse and worse examples.
The white trek is from 15+ years ago when I was younger, lasts thing that was bought new (not my money).
The gold multitrack was bought earlier this year for perhaps $20, the crankset and pedals on the shogun were originally on it as I bought them to try to make it a 1x, and the bars/stem were from the white one to try to make it more mtbish, but I really didn't care for the overall package with the suspension fork and seat. I'd like to sell both after getting them working again, but I was lazy and I doubt they would be worth much of anything if they were rideable.
The shogun and zebrakenko were bought for $10 each. I ended up making the shogun into more of a mtb than a hybrid since I already had the components I was using for the mulitrack and got a deal on the tires that suprisingly fit. I swapped some parts around and the levers and brakes are from the multitrack because the components were nicer than the 200gs plastic junk on the groundbreaker as standard, basically the only thing left from the original stem up is the handlebars, stole the saddle from the bianchi for it too.
In retrospect if I had not had those components and I didn't lose track of the cantilever brakes, I'd probably have turned it into a gravel bike, which would have saved me quite a lot of trouble as I am still looking for a nice road bike frame with forged dropouts to make one out of.
The zebrakenko originally had suicide levers, but's also had many parts swapped around front wheel, crankset, new levers as I noticed issues or wanted to upgrade as I had a shogun 300 that is junk, which ironically was originally bought the zebra for parts to fix but it worked the other way around.
The Peugeot I bought recently for $25, which I was less than thrilled at after seeing it in person. Swapped the spare rear wheel from the shogun 300 onto it because the original was quite out of true, it's just going to be as is for now as unfortunately it is late in the year and has the french threaded cranks, so I need to spend $40 on the puller, I might wait to find another Peugeot before buying it. It was and is very filty, so I am less than thrilled to work on it right now.
The Bianchi is the nicest frame/components, which is why invariably with my luck it was both free and does not fit me at the same time. I was going to part it out, but due to the lack of a nice frame to put them on, I decided to just put new tubes in it and replace the brake cabling to try to sell it,to pay for the new tires and pads I bought for the zebra, as well as another project but no luck on that yet.
The blue trek was also free, and just needed a tube, and is in great mechanical condition, but with my luck, my mother wants it for herself, so not only can I not benefit from the parts or funds from sale, I also must store it here.
And to top it off, as I pulled them all out today, the wind knocks half of them over a few times .

mitchito

Nice bikes, I don't think any of them were low end bikes when they were new. The thing is, old low end bikes and old middle end bikes sell for about the same money. It takes a special sort to preserve and repair them. here is my Murray with wheels, tires and handlebar off a Giant that was dumped behind a LBS. total investment: $0

The Trashman

I suppose you are correct, I mostly ignore bikes I see for sale if they have ashtabula cranks or stamped brakes, so that somewhat filtered what have to the the second from the bottom tier in product ranges. Then again there are some pictures posted here of ones with three piece cranks and frames that looks pretty decent, so I think at least the zebra might pass for the thread. I didn't mean to imply all of those were low end, I was pulling them out anyways and remembered the thread, so I ended up taking pictures of them all since most have had parts swapped around and from a monetary investment standpoint it's pretty low or at least in acquisition costs .
The zebra is definitely lowest spec components wise stock with the steel wheels, the shogun's frame is nice, but those 200gs plastic components were junk too.

albrt 

[QUOTE=nlerner;22264005]That site is a great resource, but I'll just cut to the chase (these are scans from paper copies of the 1973 and '74 catalogs):

Thanks, great job finding these. I thought that the two models would be at least a few years apart.

We sold the silver, lower-end Racer at the Farmers Market today for more than the original retail price. That one actually rides better than the more expensive model, probably because straight bars are just better for those heavy old ten speeds than drop bars. Also, we put a pretty nice old Rigida wheelset on it.

mitchito

I don't buy any my low end bikes, I get them for free. in fact, I never refuse a free bike no matter the condition. There is always something of value on any bike. I fix the ones that can be fixed and sell them for what I spend or $25 if i don't spend anything but my time. the Murray is my ride to the supermarket bike because no one would give me $25 for it. I don't even have to lock it. this os my Shed O' Free Bikes. wait

ing for spring

VtwinVince

For every bike, there is a collector. I have a bunch of vintage mountain bikes, some of which most people would toss in a dumpster. I like working on them and riding them.

Velo Mule

All my bikes are low end. That wasn't always the case, I did have a hand built club racing bike when I was in college. If I sold all the bikes I own, I probably couldn't buy that bike back. This fleet fits my needs better nowadays.

The Trashman

Okay, I can now with confidence say that this does exactly fit the conditions of low end, a Huffy SunCountry.
My streak of questionable decisions is still ongoing, but it has a 3 speed hub,back swung bars and has fenders/chain guards, all things I have never worked with, and it was $10, so it's a opportunity to mess with other mechanisms. Looked much nicer in the pictures before I bought it I swear, not thrilled with the amount of handle bar rust but I bought it just to leave outside for the once a week late night beer run up around the corner. The shogun and Zebrakenko are to the point with the work I've done to them I don't want to gamble them walking away.
For now, I think I might just delete the rear brake and swap the cabling for the front brake over to the right lever as the left one is a bit loose, and the rear brake has no obvious way to keep the cabling there without a ziptie, and it doesn't work particularly well anyways.

If this is representative of the quality of typical consumer american bicycles of the 70's, I can certainly see why the Japanese took the market by storm,
Though it is not a really fair comparison as I have no lowish end US road bike to compare to the Zebrakenko, or a low end Japanese 3 speed to compare to this so it's apples and oranges.
Did the Japanese make many of this style of bike, or was it mainly the English/US style? I wouldn't mind finding a Japanese version that is a bit nicer.

mitchito

If this is representative of the quality of typical consumer american bicycles of the 70's, I can certainly see why the Japanese took the market by storm,
Though it is not a really fair comparison as I have no lowish end US road bike to compare to the Zebrakenko, or a low end Japanese 3 speed to compare to this so it's apples and oranges.
Did the Japanese make many of this style of bike, or was it mainly the English/US style? I wouldn't mind finding a Japanese version that is a bit nicer.
[/QUOTE]

Don't forget that you are comparing or assessing a 50 year old bike that was probably just ridden and never maintained, left out in the weather etc. I have a similar Huffy, kind of a 1990s retro version of your bike with a Shimano internal hub 3 speed. It was kept indoors and not ridden much and it seems quite nice. The Japanese 3 speeds of the time were sold under the Royce Union brand and by all accounts were not great. I'm always on the lookout for one so I can confirm or refute that