Advice on Columbia Tourist, SA hub
 

Found a fairly decent (sort of) Columbia Tourist at the local thrift for the princely sum of $4.99. Now I know I'm going to come off looking like a cheap so and so, but my question isn't if the bike's worth it, but if I have to rebuild or repair the Sturmey Archer mechanism, would it still be worth spending a whopping five bills? The plans for this bike are to disassemble, repaint the frame in the traditional Marshall Fields alternating green stripe pattern (for nostalgia's sake), and have my friend Jody ride til she pukes (about 3 miles).

My mom has one of these hanging in her garage. It may be a bit heavy, but for what you want to do, it should be fine. I haven't rebuilt an SA hub, but those who have, say it isn't difficult, and there are plenty of websites to show you how. SA hubs are pretty bullet proof and simple.

Agreed, SA hubs aren't bad, and about 90% of the time they aren't at fault if shifting isn't right.

I just got a red '70 Columbia Sport III with a rear rack to go with my turquoise one. Mine was cheap and heavy too, but wouldn't shift. About ten minutes of lubing the trigger shifter and adjusting the shift cable fixed it. Perfect now. It's a stately ride, and though I haven't checked the number of teeth on the chainring and rear sprocket, the ratios are about right for a casual rider.

Thanks for the replies. I haven't tried the SA changer to see if it works, as it's rather cumbersome to ride the bike around in the store. I think for 5 dollars I can't go wrong.