1953 Columbia

try1897 · #1 12-30-2009, 01:13 PM

This is my Columbia that I ride most of the time . It's a work in progress type thing that seems to change with the tidesI'm really not sure if the pic's will come out as I've never done pic's before....EVER... So I hope you get to see all the work I've done....Tom Woha it worked... Ok Thats a Chriss Hill 70cc , the wheels are Worksman H/D with 11g. spokes ,front end is a Monarch springer remake the fenders are Planet Bike kinda ruberized plastic with mudflaps , lights run off a battery thats curently in the trailer this thing pulls . It runs a 36 tooth rear sprocket and easy does 30+mph....It's got coaster brakes and a backup hand brake on the rear wheel that also makes the b/lite come on....It has an overstuffed huge seat from a stationary bike that I recovered leather and mounted kicked back and braced to the rear axel.....It has a leather seat bag as well as leather handlebar bag not in the pic...Our local tatoo artist Dave did the ghost flames on the tank and will work for a reasonable price.... Well thats all for now Thanks for being into bikes too ....Tom

silverbear · #2 12-31-2009, 08:24 AM

Nice bike. I bet that's a really solid ride.
SB

try1897 · #3 01-01-2010, 09:43 PM

Well Silverbear THANK YOU for saying anything at all about it . I put alot of work and sweat and tears into this bike . and I did it all on a NO budjet. With only a handfull of bucks and the help of a gifted gab and a few friends... Thats a 20 dollar yardsale bike to start. I WAS very proud of the wholething until I finally figured out how to post a picture of it and then Boy Was I LET DOWN to realize that 122 people looked at it and not one person even had a coment. What a DRAG!!! Almost enough to cause me to give up the hobby and sell it cheap and go back to a boring life of driving a car......Then again it's SO FUN TO RIDE..... I think I'll keep it...Maybe just paint it grey like the mood it left me in.....Tommy the 58 year old kid with the blue bike...(and the blues)

silverbear · #4 01-01-2010, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by try1897

Well Silverbear THANK YOU for saying anything at all about it . I put alot of work and sweat and tears into this bike . and I did it all on a NO budjet. With only a handfull of bucks and the help of a gifted gab and a few friends... Thats a 20 dollar yardsale bike to start. I WAS very proud of the wholething until I finally figured out how to post a picture of it and then Boy Was I LET DOWN to realize that 122 people looked at it and not one person even had a coment. What a DRAG!!! Almost enough to cause me to give up the hobby and sell it cheap and go back to a boring life of driving a car......Then again it's SO FUN TO RIDE..... I think I'll keep it...Maybe just paint it grey like the mood it left me in.....Tommy the 58 year old kid with the blue bike...(and the blues)

Tommy,
Try not to let it get you down. If you notice most of the threads there are a lot of looks, but few comments unless it is a spectacular high bucks custom board tracker or chopper type bike. I happen to like old bikes like your Columbia, am real partial to old Elgins and like step through bikes, partly because they are easier for me to mount and generally they're cheaper to buy. I just go my own way with things and always have. Where I live most of the year I'm the only one with a motorized bike and am the old guy with the weird little moped/motorcycle/bicycle thing towing his dog around. Some of the other old people seem amused and tolerant and others I sense just think it is either weird or childish. Who gives a ....! It gives me pleasure and that's enough. Don't let your sense of accomplishment and pleasure be dependent on what others think. Sometimes I'm disappointed when I have made something for the bike or figured out the solution to a problem and my brother or neighbors don't quite get what I'm excited about.
And I like blue on a bike. Riding just about always gives me a smile. The naysayers don't know what they're missing. And I think a lot of older people are just scared to do something different. I say, "ride with pride". You aren't all that far away from where I am for the winter. I'm up about fifteen miles north of Frderick, Maryland. Wish the weather would warm up so I could ride. You have anybody else out your way with the same interest?
SB

Cannonfish · #5 01-01-2010, 10:35 PM

Try1897, don't sweat the lack of comments - a lot of people on this forum are probably just like me, they look at all the new posts and those posts make them happy and inspired to do new things to their own builds - but they don't ever post much in the way of a reply unless they happen to be drunk at the time. Which I am now. But I think your bike is very cool, and I'm happy when I read that it makes you happy to ride it.

Silverbear, go Frederick!! Happy to see another Marylandite on the forum. I'm glad the snow here is melting, hopefully it'll get warm enough to take a spin soon.

Now back to the beer...

Elmo · #6 01-01-2010, 10:46 PM

Nice ride Try. The sense of accomplishment is enough reward to do a job like his. I am 5 years older yhan you and just got into motorbikes. Most of the folks around here think that I have finally lost it. As far as I know I am the only motor bike in town. The other guy got run over by a truck. Good to have you on the forum.
Elmo

try1897 · #7 01-02-2010, 12:16 AM

Well thanks you guys for pickin up the pieces a bit. I had some time to think about it and it's pro/ly just the winter blues got to me for a few minutes there. I'm so sick of winter and cold and all that goes with it. If I was one of the first to come to this country what was it the pilgrims . At the first sign of spring my vote would have been we got the h*ll out of this God forsaken dismal place and head south....I need to get out and ride... Well enough ranting ... I'm from Rockville Md. And moved up here to aford to live ..I've only seen one other motorized bicycle in the area and not had the pleasure of meeting the guy yet. I was the only one for two summers and got alot of questions about the bike (still do ) We do have the moped scooter guys and I ride with them on ocation but there all way younger than me and still into massive beer drinking etc. So I'm kinda out of place... If any of you guys want to get together I'm all for it . Maybe a ride when it warms up to it....Tom

fasteddy · #8 01-02-2010, 01:04 AM

Tom, just saw your thread and understand how you feel but if you had all those people look at your bike and not say, what did you do this or that for or you should have done this, you have built one heck of a great bike properly.

A great job Sir, very well done.

Steve

silverbear · #9 01-02-2010, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by try1897

Well thanks you guys for pickin up the pieces a bit. I had some time to think about it and it's pro/ly just the winter blues got to me for a few minutes there. I'm so sick of winter and cold and all that goes with it. If I was one of the first to come to this country what was it the pilgrims . At the first sign of spring my vote would have been we got the h*ll out of this God forsaken dismal place and head south....I need to get out and ride... Well enough ranting ... I'm from Rockville Md. And moved up here to aford to live ..I've only seen one other motorized bicycle in the area and not had the pleasure of meeting the guy yet. I was the only one for two summers and got alot of questions about the bike (still do ) We do have the moped scooter guys and I ride with them on ocation but there all way younger than me and still into massive beer drinking etc. So I'm kinda out of place... If any of you guys want to get together I'm all for it . Maybe a ride when it warms up to it....Tom

Hey Tom,
I know about the blues thing as it is something I struggle with. The motorbicycles are a major effort on my part to drive away the darkness, but of of course it is always there. I can spend time thinking about my brain trauma from surviving lightning, focus on the tingling and pain in my feet and lower legs from Guillane Barre Syndrome (like polio) or play with my bicycles and be twelve again but with a lot more knowhow than when I was actually 12 and stared at pictures of friction drive motors you could buy for your bicycle (Bumblebee was one of them) advertised in the back of Boy's Life and Popular Mechanics... but were way too much money for a kid whose spending money came from finding pop bottles to return for deposit money. Took me a long time to get my motorbike and I'm not going to let anybody pee on my Cheerios!
I think a ride in a little warmer weather is a great idea. Maybe we can start a new thread later this month for something next month or in March. Beginning of April is about the last it could be to include me as I expect to return to Minnesota in mid April in time for the beginning of spring thaw there. I wonder if someplace like Harper's Ferry would work? I don't know what the laws are in Maryland... maybe a state park or someplace like that. A Marylander needs to weigh in here. I'd drive about a hundred miles max as otherwise I'd be too tired to ride the bike once I got there. Think about it.
SB

try1897 · #10 01-02-2010, 05:02 PM

I'm all for a get together , ride , cookout ,anything ya like when it warms. There are a few nice rides in this area. My problem is hauling my bike to a ride site. Too far to ride all the way there and then ride.Hopefully by spring I'll have the old van running again and can haul both bikes to a good ride area. We have some asphalt bike paths that are open to us at least no one has said anything to me so far . Also lots of country road park type areas to cruse around but you have to know the area and plan in order to avoid the mountains and huge hills. But there are some nice vally runs for sure.... Anyway we got time cause winter is here for awile.....Tom