The IKEA Bike

A Schwinn Breeze Transformed

This bike was a fun design exercise. It was the first bike I completely repainted.

Originally it came from the Bike Hut so it was in good mechanical shape, but the paint was in bad shape.

The yellow grips were authentic, purchased new from Ebay. Those grips and the new women's seat truly finished the project. 

I thought I was finished with the project at this point, but I just could not sell it. Notice the original seat and grips are still on the bike.

I believe that the fabric of the bike should be respected and you should use as many orginial and/or authentic parts as possible. Unfortunately the cleaned up grips and seat were ugly.

The bike came to me intact, but the paint was in very bad shape. I was just going to paint it yellow, but my wife suggested making it more interesting. She was also the first person to call it the IKEA bike.

I traded the revamped Blue Schwinn Breeze for this Yellow Schwinn Breeze and the promise of future payment.

Blue Schwinn Breeze

The Second Schwinn Breeze

This Schwinn came from the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition. 

The paint was in pretty bad shape. The fenders were so bad I had to repaint them silver.

Yes, it has two different tires.

It came to me almost intact.

The handlebars are very wide. 

Unfortunately the harsh chemicals I used to restore the paint almost obliterated the graphics.

The last time I saw this bike it was being strapped to the top of a car on the way to Burning Man.

Raleigh Technium

A Different Raleigh

The Raleigh Technium has an aluminum frame made in the USA with Japanese components. The frame geometry and details say it's still a Raleigh, but you can tell it's different.  

The head badge is very red so I added the seat and the fantastic handlebar tape.

With the new brake hoods it is pleasant to ride.  

The Sekae crank needed some parts from Ebay.

It came from Ebay as a frame with most of the power train and the front fork (not pictured).   

Blue Nishiki

Justin's Japanese Raleigh

In college and just after, in the mid seventies I rode a second hand American Eagle that was really made by Nishiki. I beat that bike into the ground, but it never failed me. Finally I sold it to Peter who had badgered me to sell it to him for over a year by telling me how much he regretted selling his American Eagle.

An odd sales pitch, but an honest one.

It is a real street machine, comfortable to ride with a classic rack. 

My friend Justin told me about a Nishiki bike frame abandoned in his apartment building. He and I worked on it for a day. It was easy to come with all the missing pieces because all the Raleigh parts fit.  

Red Phillips 3 Speed

1967 Faded Red Phillips 3 Speed

Raleigh made bikes for many different companies.

This bike had several components with the Raleigh stamp. 

 The Sturmey Archer twist grip shifter is really easy to operate.

The Wald basket was new, but it could have come with the original.

Notice how the basket is connected  to the handlebars.

If the connectors come out at an angle the basket will shift down under a big load and

really mess up the tire. So, the shallower the basket the better.

The power train cleaned up nicely.

The crank is plain with a functional geometry. 

The bike came from Ebay and needed a lot of work.

Raleigh had unusual front fork designs for their bikes.

They did a special one for Phillips. 



Brown Peugeot Mixte

It's from the Seventies

It's not old, but it has the classic mixte frame geometry.

This brown Peugeot mixte has a non-cottered crank. 

It came from Ebay as a frame with the all important rear brake.

It has a long, long reach.

A Blue Peugeot

Another Beautiful French Bike

The graphics are classic and see how the head tube is detailed.

It came from Ebay as a frame. Fortunately the crank was intact.