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Hi there!

After over 20 years (maybe longer) of not riding bikes, my hubby and I started again last year. We didn't have any bikes (our childhood ones had been sold long ago), so we each bought a new bike (not a fancy brand or anything) from a sports store. After a few rides we were hooked! I was beginning to feel that the 21 speed I chose was a little too much, and, as fate would have it, I spotted a rather rusty 72 Columbia tourist in a thrift shop. This three speed started our journey into old bikes - my husband saw how fun the 3 speed was, he wanted one of his own! We've been pretty lucky at thrift shops and our favorite local bike store. Our vintage stable includes two 3 sp 70s Raleighs (+1 Raleigh for backup parts), two Columbias, two Huffys, one Lambertus folder, and two old Schwinns. In the past year, I've learned to clean up and work on my own bikes, changing tubes/tires, swapping and installing parts to customize the fit and look of my bikes. (Haven't worked on gearing and truing yet, but maybe someday.) Sometimes I think my husband and I spend more time working on the bikes than we do riding them!

I really enjoy the pictures of the bikes and the shared information on working on them. I look forward to learning a lot from this board.

Thanks,
Jill
 
Thanks for the welcome!

Our bikes aren't anything fancy, but we have a good time riding them.

Here are the bikes in order of acquisition:

The first, and only, new bike, purchased Summer 2010 from sports store.
The 21 speed bike that started it all - only ridden twice so far! I like to ride slow. :)

21 speed dept store bike by photorose, on Flickr

Columbia 3 speed tourist, thrift shop find.

1975 Columbia tourist front by photorose, on Flickr

Raleigh LTD-SC (craigslist) and my husband's Colt (ebay):

Raleigh LTD-SC and Colt by photorose, on Flickr

My husband's Suncrest donor bike (thrift shop):

IMG_7327 by photorose, on Flickr

Lambertus folding bike (local bike shop):

IMG_7332 by photorose, on Flickr

Schwinn hornet (local bike shop) - juvenile girl's bike 24" wheels) - work in progress

IMG_7279 by photorose, on Flickr

Raleigh donor bike LTD-3 (ebay):

IMG_7913 by photorose, on Flickr

Hubby's modified 10 speed, originally a Huffy 5 speed (thrift shop)

vintage 10 speed by photorose, on Flickr

1960s green Columbia (ebay), purchased around Valentine's day 2011, finally getting around to assembling it.

Columbia chainguard by photorose, on Flickr


Columbia bicycle by photorose, on Flickr

Schwinn World (thrift shop), purchased May 2011

My bday bike! by photorose, on Flickr
 
Your story sounds similar to mine. My wife and I just started biking about two months ago.
Bought bikes from walmart and began riding around our home every evening. I wanted highrise
handlebars for my bike so I got intouch with someone who works on old bikes. He had the handlebars
I was looking for and gave them to me. Then he showed me some of the bikes he had redone. My wife
and I each bought one from him. Then last week we were at a bike shop and took a couple of bikes we
liked for a ride. They are on layaway for christmas. This winter I plan on my first build collecting parts
now. You could say we have the bug. LOL
 
Those thrift shop bikes are all great scores! Hopefully we'll have another ride soon and youns can join us. Welcome to the hobby!!
 

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