Any ideas on how to retro-pimp a modern cruiser?

[Cool Mint]

I just bought this bike on ebay and I'll be picking it up on the weekend:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120482695141&_trkparms=tab=Watching

I probably paid way too much for it but all the new cruisers are very modern styled and this was the only bike in the whole of the UK I could find that has a bit more of a retro look to it. BTW, can anyone tell me what it is? I just bought it because it looked pretty!

I'm not sure if it's possible but I'd like to add one of those "tanks" to the frame and an old fashioned carrier on the back - depending on how strong the frame is

 

[lewis1641]

cool bike.

if it were mine i'd ditch the mud guards, fit some lower rise bars. paint the frame satin/matt black and flick some matt gold around the welds to make it look rusty

 

[Cool Mint]

Gold paint as rust? I've never seen that before but it sounds interesting.
But removing the real rust to replace it with imitation rust.. I'll have to wait and see how it look I guess.

I was thinking of buying one of those old fashioned sprung Brooks saddles but I'm a vegetarian so the only workaround for me is to buy a secondhand one (sort of excusable) but I'm not sure where to find one, people don't give up leather saddles very often.

edit* I see what you mean about the bars, lower ones would look much closer to the 1950's era bikes. Definitely a good idea.

 

[lewis1641]

if it has real rust already then leave it where it is

 

[Tel]

Agree with the bars I love upside down Northroad bars but it gives a racy look which wouldn't suit this. Personally think I would add some italic graphics to give a retro feel, perhaps change the bars and grips for brown...stem and pedals scream modern too.

Really I think it's just crying out for some colour.

 

[tiboltrider]

Good find. Deffinately needs a bit of colour! It'll probably be really straight forward for a fabricator to weld a bit of sheet in the gap under the top tube to make it look like a petrol tank, and that would be a nice big area for suitable graphics after you choose the theme / colour!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CRANK-MAGAZINES-1 ... 45eecad015

These mags on ebay are well worth buying before you make any puchases. Loads of ace pictures and ideas (60+ pages, each, at 6" x 8"). They're half in English and half in German but you're only going to look at the pics anyway!!!

Here's a couple more sites:

http://2009.feltracing.com/09-catalog/cruiser.aspx

http://www.shopfun24.com/beachcruiser/x ... /index.php

 

[Cool Mint]

These mags on ebay are well worth buying before you make any puchases. Loads of ace pictures and ideas (60+ pages, each, at 6" x 8"). They're half in English and half in German but you're only going to look at the pics anyway!!!

I just bought them.

I'm not sure where to get a tank made up, it's probably a very simple job but some engineering workshops charge and arm and a leg for any job because they charge by the hour not by the complexity of the job.

I like the idea of getting the frame resprayed in black but I expect that would cost close to £100 unless I take the bike apart myself. I can take the forks off but I'm not so confident about removing the crank.

 

[J i m s t e r]

You could do with some brakes.

 

[Cool Mint]

You could do with some brakes.

I was thinking the same thing. It's got coaster (hub) brakes but I'd like to have proper hand brakes on it.. but then I'd also like gears too and I wasn't intending to do a complete rebuild. I don't know, I'll have to ride the bike first and see if I like it enough to give it the deluxe treatment.

 

[kaiser]

I quite like th esilver, depends on how far you want to go. I'd change the saddle for a brown brooks and grips to match, go for some schwalbe fat franks in cream and new pedals. After that the chainset and chaingaurd would be next. A retro TA chainset would be just the ticket.