When the sun comes up, I'm going to take a picture of my carport/shop, because this may be the only time I have the models I call my Chevy, Buick and Cadillac cruisers in one spot. I just checked Amazon.com, for comfort cruiser bikes, read the reviews, and advise potential GEBE customers to BUY LOCALLY.
Find a friendly bike shop, the $20-50 you save on-line, or money you waste upgrading a rusty bike on craigslist....Skip the headaches, understand your first bike and get fancy when the MBaddiction hits.
So, buy new, start fresh, spokes are true and brakes pads are squeekingly loud, (which is a good thing).
Rocinante has over 10,000 miles on her, has the original front wheel, my bike shop expert Justin checked the bearings on my $35 12 gauge rear wheel and spotted ZERO defects.
Back to my general bike shopping advise, with prices for you to ponder/ask questions. All the bikes have general modifications, which I'll spell out as the thread goes along.
They are, from the left, a modified Schwinn Point Beach 7 speed ($154 retail). When standing next to Rocinante ("my buick" a Sun Retro Alum 7 speed, now over $340 thanks to the falling dollar), it looks like a pony versus a mule.
Continuing the analogy, my Cadillac/stallion is a Sun Comfort Rover Sport 21 speed, ($370) the fastest/sleekest bike I build, the engines never seem to be able to outrun these bikes, you actually gain speed going up most hills. Except for the decals, it is identical to a $500++ Diamondback.
There are also 2 Next Suspension bikes, and 4 bikes tied to the rafters, what I call "barn bikes".
According to the books, I'm approaching 100 bikes built, don't fiddle with derailleurs at all, I avoid single speed cruisers (but we've locally built a stretch model with coaster brakes that can hit 52 miles per hour! Can you say "Bonneville Salt Flats"!!?)
A doctor in Birmingham once brought up a $1,000 French bike to modify, my under $400 bikes are twice as comfortable, look to be 10 times as sturdy....
My winter project is going to be a $700 steel recumbent with $100 windshield, to which I'll be putting on the now discontinued 25cc Zenoah (my Denver engine), and see if it can hit 300 miles per gallon.
I also will be doing a Tandem this winter, (as soon as my son in San Diego ships it out of his mother-in-laws storage shed).
Let me post this before the breeze breaks my connection again......
Find a friendly bike shop, the $20-50 you save on-line, or money you waste upgrading a rusty bike on craigslist....Skip the headaches, understand your first bike and get fancy when the MBaddiction hits.
So, buy new, start fresh, spokes are true and brakes pads are squeekingly loud, (which is a good thing).
Rocinante has over 10,000 miles on her, has the original front wheel, my bike shop expert Justin checked the bearings on my $35 12 gauge rear wheel and spotted ZERO defects.
Back to my general bike shopping advise, with prices for you to ponder/ask questions. All the bikes have general modifications, which I'll spell out as the thread goes along.
They are, from the left, a modified Schwinn Point Beach 7 speed ($154 retail). When standing next to Rocinante ("my buick" a Sun Retro Alum 7 speed, now over $340 thanks to the falling dollar), it looks like a pony versus a mule.
Continuing the analogy, my Cadillac/stallion is a Sun Comfort Rover Sport 21 speed, ($370) the fastest/sleekest bike I build, the engines never seem to be able to outrun these bikes, you actually gain speed going up most hills. Except for the decals, it is identical to a $500++ Diamondback.
There are also 2 Next Suspension bikes, and 4 bikes tied to the rafters, what I call "barn bikes".
According to the books, I'm approaching 100 bikes built, don't fiddle with derailleurs at all, I avoid single speed cruisers (but we've locally built a stretch model with coaster brakes that can hit 52 miles per hour! Can you say "Bonneville Salt Flats"!!?)
A doctor in Birmingham once brought up a $1,000 French bike to modify, my under $400 bikes are twice as comfortable, look to be 10 times as sturdy....
My winter project is going to be a $700 steel recumbent with $100 windshield, to which I'll be putting on the now discontinued 25cc Zenoah (my Denver engine), and see if it can hit 300 miles per gallon.
I also will be doing a Tandem this winter, (as soon as my son in San Diego ships it out of his mother-in-laws storage shed).
Let me post this before the breeze breaks my connection again......
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