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jamie296

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Ok so im new the forum. I've been wanting a vintage bike for some time now, a beach cruiser that I can rat a bit and still be very reliable. My wife and i are going to start riding once I finish mine and find another for her.
So on to the details, i picked up a western flyer beach cruiser style bike. It has the western flyer decal on the front of the fork tube. It was red and a little rusty but some one painted it with some sort of latex paint I assume because it peels off in certain spots, i just took the bile apart today while I was at work and had a little down time.
I have a few ideas for this bike, so here goes. I want to put a saddle seat on it, it came with a small black seat. I took the bike all the way down to the frame so I can get all of this paint off and bring back the crusty vintage, the reason I bought it. I also build unique furniture so I figured I would find a couple of bolt through pedals and make some wood insert for them. I want to add maybe a basket or something like that, cup holder is what I want really. I want to find one of the vintage headlights for the front too. Once I have it ready to go in those areas, im looking to add a set of thick white wall tires to it. I think it will look really nice and vintage but have that sort of modern flavor to it. I want to leave the original paint but take off the peeling red paint, any one have any ideas to remove the peeling paint? It has front and rear fenders, all chrome and rusty, i plan on leaving them that way but maybe wash them down and clean them up a bit. I don't have any pics at the moment because I don't know how to post them so I'll figure that out and post sometime soon. Anyways, glad to be here and alot of you guys have some awesome bikes by the way.
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Ok so it looks like my pics showed up for me. The red one is mine, the blue is the style of white walls I want.

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White walls can be found at any bike shop or almost anywhere on line

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Thank you, i didn't realize this was a common thing with house paint. I had googled it about removing paint from metal but now I see it was a common thing to paint a bike to preserve the paint. Im going to try the oven cleaner method and see if that will get it off of it. I've pulled the while bike apart now and I am going to clean up the moving parts and give them some fresh grease.

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Ok so I found a serial number on my new bike today. I did a little searching on the net and i cant seem to find a site to tell me more about this bike.
Here is what I found, maybe someone can help me out with telling me the year of the bike at least.

m0202627 • 314054
I found these numbers on the tube at the handle bars. Sorry I'm still new so im learning.


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I saw those bikes on CL because I am local too. Thought he wanted alittle too much for them but glad you got the best one.

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MO = Murray Ohio.The dropouts (where the rear wheel attaches) are signature Murray style, as is the drive sprocket. It also looks like it has the stock "drop center" wheels, they may also be marked on the rims. Probably early 1960s.
 
I agree with deorman, original wheels because they match and are the right kind for that bike. Your fork looks straight which is good. The seat looks like a Schwinn seat that came on a Varsity. Keep it for someone looking for an original Schwinn lightweight seat, it may be worth 20 bucks.
The rear hub isn't a red band Bendix, it might be a Bendix 70, making your bike a 70's model. I had a Western Flyer that style, I thought it was 60's, but that same style was made for many years, a good frame to work with. Mine was a 70's bike. The BMI sticker just below the seat collar shows it to be 1971 or later. I added a better seat and whitewalls, had to remove the fenders to fit the fat 2.125 tires.
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The Rust Rocket Deluxe, a bike that was built as a raffle project by a bunch of members here at this website was the same kind of frame, made by Murray of Ohio.

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That same frame has also been sold over the years as J.C.Higgins, Sears, Murray Monterey, and others. It's a tried and true frame.
 
The guy wanted $30 and i have him $20. Thank you for all the info. I love The Rust Rocket Deluxe, i would like to try and keep my fenders but the front one may have to go.
That headlight is awesome. I would love to add that to mine, where could I find one?
I kept the seat but I have no use for it because it doesn't fit my plan. Being able to make a little money on it to help find my bike would be great too. The seat says mesinger on the back of it too. Im getting ready to strip the rest of the house paint off of it this weekend with some easy off oven cleaner. I got some of the paint off with just warm water.
It took me about a week to decide to get it because I wasn't sure if the price was right but I got it now and I want to ride it so i want to make sure even though it looks like a rat, it will perform like a brand new one.

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giz17 said:
I saw those bikes on CL because I am local too. Thought he wanted alittle too much for them but glad you got the best one.

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Click to expand...

I'm in anderson, thats awesome. I would like to stay in touch definitely. It's nice to see someone local. Im sure you come across parts and such pretty often.

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We had to spread the frame slightly and we may have had to lengthen the slots in the dropouts a little too. It's been too many years and too bikes ago to remember exactly what we did. Do a search on 'auction bike' or Rust Rocket Deluxe. I'm sure we have a build thread on here somewhere


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Thank you so much for the info. I found a shop in the city where I work so I will check with him tomorrow and see if I can find this tire for mine. That would be awesome. I'm building a rat rod style beach cruiser bike. I love those tail lights too.

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