Biking on a Budget

[viva_vanessa]

I named her ladybird. Idk what she is, I bought her at a 2nd hand bike store and it was the only bike small enough for me :/. The decals say cosmo? Anyone heard of this?

But I look forward to fixing her up nicely!

[KC-Steve]

Looks like a girl's bike to me.

J/k, but I think that clear plastic sprocket/spoke protector dates it around the late 1970s to mid-1980s in production. I honestly have never heard of a cosmo except on Seinfeld. Good luck.

Steve

[nfmisso]

Hi Vanessa;

I would date it earlier than Steve, early '70s to mid '70s. Your bike has steel cotter pin cranks which disappeared in the '70s. Based on the way the frame meets the dropouts at the rear, and the ends of the front fork; this is a department store bike - strictly low end.

Is there any indication of the country of origin?

[Joe_W]

I like the mixtes, don't know why... Welcome at BT!

Re: the size
I had a long discussion / web searching / thinking session a couple of years ago with somebody, she has the same problems. It's a pain to find (affordable) bikes that size. One of my other friends got a used one from a neighbour (really high end for a price that wouldn't even buy the group set...). If you're not lucky like this guy these girls' mixte bikes are a good alternative. You could also try to look for junior road bikes, they sometimes have 26 inch wheels. Rather than only sclaing down the frame and leaving the wheels big, which leads to a ton of problems (toe overlap, weird steering angle,...) they also take wheels a size smaller. This has sort of (almost) disappeared though.

[Bill]

What's the front sticker read out?

[viva_vanessa]

@nigel - The guy mentioned it was an american bike, but the front sticker says made in korea lol

@bill - the front sticker says Rallye

@joe - i wanna keep her, because I really like her, I like the size and we have developed such a close relationship lol but I do want to buy a mountain bike (also second hand) and I will keep in mind the junior bikes

[Bill]

(02-12-2013, 04:07 PM)viva_vanessa Wrote:  @nigel - The guy mentioned it was an american bike, but the front sticker says made in korea lol

@bill - the front sticker says Rallye

@joe - i wanna keep her, because I really like her, I like the size and we have developed such a close relationship lol but I do want to buy a mountain bike (also second hand) and I will keep in mind the junior bikes

There is your answer, it is a Rally look at these images and see if one of them are close to yours....
https://www.google.com/search?q=rally+bicycles&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=SpwfUbfkK7S00AHhtoHwCQ&sqi=2&ved=0CHAQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=901