OH EM GEE. That's fabulous.

*misses vintage stores*

Awesome, I learned to ride in the very early seventies on a Sears Free Spirit that looked a lot like that one. You could get two kids on the banana seat and one more on the handle bars!

I love love love that you dressed to coordinate with it.

Wonderful.

you are cute and so is the bike!

From the flickr comments:
BlackMax Photography says:
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Dirty Ol' Menz Lair, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

Ew.

Boy howdy did I ever manage to fuck up that markup. Little help, mods?

Congratulations on the new bike, Juliet Banana!

dersins: Maybe they're just vintage bicycle-appreciating old men who happen to be dirty from all the bike grease that gets on their overalls while they're fixing up old-timey Schwinns and Huffys in their backyard "lairs" or "workshops".

You and the bike are super cute.

Everyone knows dirty old men love bicycles.

And yeah, that's a whole lot of cute in those pictures.

Boy, apparently Dirty Ol' Menz have vision problems. The worst thing you can do is post an out-of-focus snapshot there.

But they do care that you're over 18, at least.

There is no way for that to be more awesome. Nice styling on the fashion version, too.

I read your note about the chain. You can clean it with chain lube from a bike shop, but if it runs smooth there's no reason to replace it. I have a 43-year-old chain that runs fine on my bike.

≡ Click to see image ≡

Actually, dersins, I did a little investigating and (most of) the pictures of the gentlemen's, ummmm, "nieces," are quite tastefully done. Nevertheless, I would not call that group Safe For Work.

Oh, and the first thing I meant to say: That bike rocks. It's not my style (I have the opposite problem at 6'-2"), but I admire all vintage bikes. The cottered cranks are pretty cool.

That bike is indeed pretty awesome. A little basic maintenance (maybe a new chain, even) and some modern tires (I like Schwalbe) would probably make it ride a whole lot better.

(I used to live in C-bus, but I work on my own bikes and was both broke and busy in those days, and so I never ventured further than the shop that was right down the street (it was on High St., in Clintonville--they used to have an air-compressor hose, connected to a compressor in the shop, that they'd run through the security grilles and leave outside all night, in case anyone was riding by and wanted to do some late-night inflating. I love that), and so I don't really know shops in town. Anyway, I bet there's at least two co-ops in town these days.)

But if you can find a greybeard mechanic in a local bike shop, or the right person at a co-op, and get them to put in new bearings and new grease and rebuild the wheels and basically overhaul it, that beautiful old machine would ride better than most new bikes.

Anyway, yeah, it's a great bike. Bikes are great for city living--enjoy.

nice bike!

"Cottered cranks"= good band name AND good insult to the elderly

Juliet Banana: both you and your bike are super cool! That's such a great color scheme...

Doohicky: that is one very stylish ride, sir.

GodDAMN but I want to go to Orange Julius now.

I just realized what your bike reminds me of, Juliet... the first Peaches video.
(SFW, but the songs is called "Lovertits" so don't click if you're in church or something.)

Box, the major indie kid co-op in Columbus now is the Third Hand Bike Co-Op, and they're all sweethearts (you can spot the members a mile away because everyone wears their jeans at knicker length, for obvious reasons) so I'm sure I can get them to help me with any repairs that are needed.

A few people have assured me the chain should be fine; it seems to be riding smoothly, so I'm not going to worry about it, though I'm probably going to take Doohickie's advice and rock some chain lube.

I'm glad everyone likes it! For some reason I was worried I'd get teased whenever I caved and got a bike because everyone I know takes them so seriously, but I've found it's because they genuinely love bikes and want to see everyone riding them, even it's the least pretentious bike ever like mine.

Though I am getting some fixie-envy since my bike naturally never had gears. I think it inspired my boyfriend to start stripping his down.