1948 Columbia done for now pics

[oldcruiser26]

Starting with this

Mostly a patina resto but may add a few new parts

 

[oldcruiser26]

Re: 1948 Columbia

Thanks to MR columbia I now know its a 48

 

[kingfish254]

Re: 1948 Columbia

Sweet Columbia!

 

[detroiter60]

Re: 1948 Columbia

Very cool find,I think the '48 and '49 have a unique frame.I have a '49 girls and Mr Columbia helped me to id it as well.Nice guy.

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

Re: 1948 Columbia

Nice start, has great patina to it :wink:

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Re: 1948 Columbia

Nice start! That is a good looking bike with some nice features! Should make an awesome rat...

Luke.

 

[oldcruiser26]

Re: 1948 Columbia

I started on the moving parts first The rear wheel was a little to rusted with broken and thinning spokes and a couple of small dents So I decided to steal the rear wheel off of a girls Hawthorne thats been sitting for a couple of years
The original wheel

The Hawthorne wheel

Luckily the Hawthorne wheel has a hawthorne branded new departure model d hub so I was able to swap the skip tooth cog with very little trouble The grease that was inside the hub had turned to more of a glue substance rather than a lubricant so I went ahead and cleaned and rebuilt it

That's it for the rear wheel except a quick rub down with some fine steel wool The front wheel is in pretty good shape just needed a quick clean and repack
cleaned and wire bushed the skiptooth crank and bottom bracket

I also did the head set stem and truss rods but spaced out getting pics
fenders tommorow

 

[silvertonguedevil]

Re: 1948 Columbia

Nice work so far! I spy Rainier beer so I know this build is going to rock!

 

[oldcruiser26]

I started going at this thing and totally spaced taking any more photos while I was working I had to mod the fenders a little to get them to work and added a little winged ornament on the front fender used some 58 corvette schwinn forks to replace the bent ones Some new bars brooks grips a seat saddle bags a light a rack and the coons tail I'm waiting on some cream bricks to throw on and when the weather permits paint the fenders and chain guard to go with the frame but for now it's a roller and a pretty good one

 

[oldcruiser26]

Thanks for the kind words everyone I'm pretty happy with how quick and fairly easy this one went together

 

[oldcruiser26]

Re: 1948 Columbia

Nice work so far! I spy Rainier beer so I know this build is going to rock!

Not only were they refreshing while working on the bike I had to cut one of them up to make a shimm for the the bars