Here’s me on my Elgin.

1938 Elgin

I’ve only recently had vintage bicycles.  I’ve had 2 other ones which were non-vintage when I was getting into biking again.  I had a silver Electra Sparker 3 speed, and a red single speed Manhattan Aero.  Although I liked both bikes, there was something about the vintage ones which I liked.  I tried a Schwinn, and fell in love, and I HAD to have one.

My first Schwinn

My buddy Danu who I met on a few rides had a few bikes that were so amazing and was trying to sell.  I told him that I could take a couple or a few off his hands.  I eventually took the 1938 black Elgin and the 1935 crusty red and white Hawthorne off his hands.  Then, on a whim, I bought a 1959 red Schwinn Jaguar Mark IV 3 speed from a guy… and that is now my daily rider.

My 2nd Schwinn, my daily rider

On Wednesdays, a few of us travel around the city and sometimes go to other places like Burnaby Lake, East Vancouver, UBC, and so on to get exercise.  We’ve dubbed it the “heavy pedal” as this is a lot of work with these heavy bikes.  I want to fix up my Hawthorne with front brakes for this reason and a good seat, and maybe 3 piece cranks so I can hammer on the ride.  If you’ve ever seen the movie Klunkerz, you should rent it.  It’s a good documentary on how the mountain bike movement was started, and it was much like how we are doing our heavy pedal rides.

My heavy pedaler

What got me all started was my buddy Jason at my work mentioned that he rode cruiser bikes, and I wasn’t sure what that was all about.  I thought nothing of it until I rode a buddy’s repro and loved it.  I had to go around the seawall.  I rented a bike with my girlfriend, and we had a ball, even in the dead of winter!

My second bike

OK, this brings me to my first cruiser bike, and the most expensive one that I purchased.  This one I bought from Denman Bike Shop from Justis, and rode perfectly, like a dream.  Aluminum frame, larger wheel base, and a 24X3.0 back wheel, wow.  3 speed Shimano internal hub.  Lovely bike.  This one got me hooked.

My first cruiser bike

I have been eyeballing this one for a while, and I finally got her! “Reddy” is her name, and she is gorgeous! 1950′s balloon bike, rides amazingly smooth. Got her in June, 2009, below.

Teddy's 'Reddy'