Old Huffy Sportsman possibly circa 1970

[kfreshwaters]

This is my oldie but goody 3-speed that I found for a steal on craigslist. It's a super heavy bike but makes for a great ride around town or down to the marked on Saturdays.

[xerxes]

I could be wrong, but I'd say that's a bit later that 1970, probably mid to late 80's, prior to that I would expect a steel frame to be lugged and braized rather than TIG welded. Still very "retro chick" and I love the colour.

[xerxes]

Since my last post I've been wracking my brains as to where I'd seen that colour before.

Bingo:

[attachment=982]

[kfreshwaters]

Nice, yeah that's a hit on the color all right. Thanks!

In response to your first post: The dating of this bike has been hard for me to figure out. The original owner thought he bought it in 1970, but I thought it looked newer then that as well. The closest that I found to dating it was a 1975 City of Corvallis (OR) bike license sticker sticker that was under a 1978 license sticker that I peeled off the bike. I can't image the bike being any older then 1970 because the huffy 3-speeds built in the 60's had the sturmey-archer hubs and mine has a shimano hub. Thanks for checking out my bike.

[xerxes]

Here's a similar ladies version, same colour, that is supposed to be 1970s as well, so perhaps it's right: http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/huffy-womens-bicycle-vintage-cruiser-3-speed#

Looks very different to this '69 though, which is much more how I'd expect something of that vintage to look:

http://oldbikeblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/reader-project-mauricios-1969-huffy.html

However, condition can be deceptive, here in the UK with our humid salty air, especially near the coast, things left forgotten in garages and garden sheds get in a very sorry state very quickly. Whereas in some of the hotter, drier parts of the US, California, Arizona etc. things last very well. I remember back in the late 80's when there was a bit of a classic motorcycle boom, lots of 50's and 60's british motorcyles were imported back into the UK from the US in amazing condition, after having sat in barns for 30 years. Whereas after 30 years here they'd be barely distinguishable lumps of rust and aluminium oxide.

[Bill]

Nice bike!

[Billy]

(06-06-2010, 05:21 PM)kfreshwaters Wrote:  This is my oldie but goody 3-speed that I found for a steal on craigslist. It's a super heavy bike but makes for a great ride around town or down to the marked on Saturdays.

That's a beauty, I really like the two-tone saddle.