two projects are better than one!

So, about the bikes.

Right now in the garage I have three bicycles.

One of them actually runs and is in good condition.  It's the new one.  A single speed clearance bike from somewhere.  It's called an Americano or something.  It had an A decal on the front but that fell off the first day.  It works and it gets my butt to the train and back daily, so that's good.  Not doing anything with that one for now. :)

The other two are in bits.  And are rusty. And dirty.  And are the projects!

Bike the first, the Amish bike.  This is an AMF Prestige three-speed from lord only knows when.

the Amish

Bike the second, the Czech.  This is a bike from (best I can tell) 1979 and is Czechoslovakian.  It's called the Rapido.  Dunno. It's got a cute little accent place on the front that I like. 

 

the Rapido!

Here it is not yet dismantled.

So, there must be a plan, right?  Damn skippy there is.  Course, right now it's all just ideas in my head, but I figure that's better than nothing, right?

First up is the Czech.  I'm gonna paint the frame and the rims and the chainguard satin gray.  except for the little indent place in the front, that's gonna be pink.  I'm gonna shine up all the silvery bits that need shining.  Also going to replace the grips with pink ones.  and replace the shifter with a silver one.  gonna replace the cables with pink ones, and also get a pink chain.  I think the brakes themselves are in pretty good shape, but if not, then those get replaced.  also gonna get a silver rear basket rack and then some pink side baskets.  I think I'm going to keep the center kickstand, it's pretty fun.  Not entirely sure what I'm going to do with the seat and pedals. I may just see how the seat cleans up and keep it on there.  If I do that, I may keep black grips on the bike rather than pink ones, we'll have to see.
Yup. Gray and pink and black.

And then the Amish.  Oh man, the Amish.  This is the one that's going to take more time and more dollars.  But I think it'll be fun.  First, flat black the body. Replace the handlebars with black ones that sit up a bit higher.  Gonna get an autoshift 2 speed with a coaster brake, so no cables whatsoever!  also going to get black wheels.  I'd REALLY like to get some three- or six-spoke wheels, but I'm not sure that I can get them along with the 2 speed autoshift coaster brake setup.  Something like this:

Then I'll get red grips for the handlebars, a red chain, red pedals, and a black seat with red accents.  Red reflectors too of course.  And maybe some sort of red LED setup for lights?  Gotta take a look into that.  

Yup. Gonna turn two (probably kinda) walmart commuter bikes into fun bikes to ride in the suburbs. 

I don't know ANYTHING about bikes, and I've never done anything like this before.  It's gonna be a learning experience, for sure.