Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Remember when I bought my cute bike? I bought it for $32 at a vintage store on Lake Avenue called the Tattered Tulip, which happens to be having a massive sale this weekend. They also have at least 3 other equally adorable bikes. This is what it looks like if you happen to be driving by:



Anyway, this guy was used as a lawn decoration before the lady decided to sell it. She had a branch-wreath and bell wired to the handlebars, her husband made a basket holder out of wood for the back of it and they threw in some pussy willows and other branches. Because it was only a lawn ornament, it was sketchily hand-painted that green color in the parts that you could see from standing above it. Before it was dark blue. The seat and tires were, I believe, original, and both broken. The springs on the seat were rusted through and the bar that holds the top of it was broken. The wheels were cracked and completely useless for actual riding. But as my brother so kindly pointed out yesterday, I "like things with character."



So, I set off to fix it. We took it to a local bike store, and about 2 weeks later (?) we picked it up. Might I say, the gentlemen who were fixing it jauntily joined it making fun of the paint job once they heard me say to my mom that I thought it was sketchy and we'd have to repaint it.

Last night Chris helped me take it apart, spray paint it, and put on the new seat, which he had to modify with parts from one of his old bike seats because it was so old that we couldn't find one that would actually work for a reasonable price.

Here it is after new tires, a new spoke on the back wheel, a new seat, a new basket and a coat of paint.


All in all, it was still cheaper than buying a new bike, and it comes with unmistakable character.

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