Anyone have experience with Worksman bikes? I acquired one, a yellow three-speed, recently from a police auction, gently used, seemingly fairly recent, but kept out in the elements for the most part. Still very solid and ridable. The auction description said the wheels were bent and wouldn't shift. Turns out, someone simply loosened all the axle nuts and bell crank, I think to remove front and rear baskets (there's evidence this bike once had front and rear Wald baskets). At first glance, it seems the wheels would need to be run over with a truck to be damaged. Those suckers are built heavy! Look like they belong on a motorcycle. Bolted the wheels back in to find the wheels perfectly true, and stuck the bell crank back on to have it shift perfectly.

This is one heavy duty bike! I'm guessing this thing weighs more than 50lbs. But it's a joy to ride. Bright yellow, 11g spokes, lugged frame, old school dropouts. Lots of character. I've added my own Wald basket.

I really don't know much about Worksman bikes. A local mall security dept has one permanently parked in front of the office, equipped with lots of extra doodads like drum brakes, lights, etc. Funny, 'cause the donut-munching security guards clearly prefer the electric golf cart to the bike!

Anyone got one of these? Stories? Anything to add?

It's funny this post just came up.

Cycling and aviation have such a tight and deep-rooted connection. I happened to notice before my flight pulled away from the gate this morning a bike rack with three yellow Worksman bikes. Apparently they're used by the airport employees at SEATAC. This made me smile and recalls images of old WW2 movie archives where the ground crew used their bikes on the airfields of England. I think you have a gem there. Congrats.

You'll have to excuse the bluriness. I took this picture from the plane and had to turn off the flash to avoid glare from the window. There were originally three of these bikes in the rack but two were ridden off before I could snap the photo.

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/v...CT0001_005.jpg

Nice bike! I am a proud owner of one myself. Their bikes are primarily sold to businesses. In New York, they're quite common for deliver purposes & recreation. They're very tough & made in Queens NY (still, amazing, huh). The parts department there are very efficient, if you need something. Hope this helps. Enjoy.

I rode a Worksman for 32 yrs in the factory where I worked.
This bike was shared with all 3 shifts and seldom went into
the shop except for flats.

As far a durable quality I can honestly say that a Worksman
bike is without exception THE most durable bike on the planet.
They are not to popular outside industry due to the weight of
the bike. That and Worksman is smart in concentrating on
their primary business of making industrual with recreational
bikes as pleasant sideline.

When I was in the Air Force we had a Worksman Trike for the Armament Shop. Most of the time when we had to go to another hanger we had to carry some rather large test equipment and/or toolboxes, but I did make use of it from time to time. It was a neat little mode of transport.

http://www.worksman.com/ check it out... I have seen a few of these tanks, if I had a rental fleet these would be it!!!!

I used to be a mech in a shop that was a Worksman dealer. Almost never sold new ones but we did work on them from the paper mill nearby. It's funny that this one paticular 3-wheeler was in the shop all the time. The frame (black w/green lettering) broke at the BB and someone welded it up for us. It was a 3-speed with a drum brake. It had a rough life but still kept on truckin'. I remember them as being ugly but beautiful in an industrial sort of way!

My wife and I vacationed in Bass Islands, Ohio (in Lake Erie) and they had a whole bunch of them there for a rental fleet. I wouldn't have been caught dead on one of them then but now I'm curious to see what riding one is like.