Man am I ever stoked to have found this site! In college I made a habit of buying vintage cruiser and balloon or tank bikes along with whatever other parts I could scrape together on Ebay then combining them with some intricate custom paint jobs. I made and sold 3 custom jobs and took the very small amount I made on them to start scraping one together for myself (a totally sick 1956 spitfire turned custom with the coolest part being a really intricate Blue Ghost Flame on Black glossy paint job). After college I made my 5th custom job for my wife which she still rides now some 6 years later.
The downside to living in San Diego on a Boat (there aren't many downsides) is that the salt air just destroys bikes. You can see a pic of mine post rust takeover in my profile pic. Just a couple months ago I let it go at a yard sale for like $25 which I now regret. On the upside I have a "new" project bike. This one is some super beefy schwinn frame in like a satin black finish. It's a lot more solid and fun to ride and I'm putting a few hours into riding it each week - which of course had refueled my obsession for customizing bikes.
A big priority for this bike will be functionality, and durability. I want it to be extremely rideable with a paint job that is eye-catching but easy to maintain. I've started the madness with a silver pinstripe flame motif on the already satin black frame and fork which is turning out great. My immediate goal is to try to upgrade to black rims with a 24x3 all black tire/3spd nexus hub in the rear and 26 all black front tire. Any ideas for how to find a good deal on these is much appreciated.
I'll try to put up some photos but that will require figuring out photobucket and I've avoided that for a while. I wish I had pics of the first bikes I did, they were extremely cool and I did document my process but unfortunately the hard drive I kept all that on is fried and long gone so the best I can do is my wife's now rusty but still way cool tank bike and my new project schwinn
Thanks for reading and welcoming me to the community :-D
The downside to living in San Diego on a Boat (there aren't many downsides) is that the salt air just destroys bikes. You can see a pic of mine post rust takeover in my profile pic. Just a couple months ago I let it go at a yard sale for like $25 which I now regret. On the upside I have a "new" project bike. This one is some super beefy schwinn frame in like a satin black finish. It's a lot more solid and fun to ride and I'm putting a few hours into riding it each week - which of course had refueled my obsession for customizing bikes.
A big priority for this bike will be functionality, and durability. I want it to be extremely rideable with a paint job that is eye-catching but easy to maintain. I've started the madness with a silver pinstripe flame motif on the already satin black frame and fork which is turning out great. My immediate goal is to try to upgrade to black rims with a 24x3 all black tire/3spd nexus hub in the rear and 26 all black front tire. Any ideas for how to find a good deal on these is much appreciated.
I'll try to put up some photos but that will require figuring out photobucket and I've avoided that for a while. I wish I had pics of the first bikes I did, they were extremely cool and I did document my process but unfortunately the hard drive I kept all that on is fried and long gone so the best I can do is my wife's now rusty but still way cool tank bike and my new project schwinn
Thanks for reading and welcoming me to the community :-D