Armstrong from the 60's
 

This ebay bike ended a day or so ago with no bids and is now relisted, I was sort of coin flipping over it, not sure if it was more of a project than I wanted to get into. It kind of looks like a strip it down to bare metal and repaint/repair candidate, which gets into a total restoration, I'm not looking for that right now. But I do like Raleigh bikes and an Armstrong would be interesting to have.

So I'm looking for input on this bike, how far gone is it, do you think it could be a clean and build and ride it as is, so on and so forth. It's close enough I could pick it up in person. The seller is probably on the site here ("hello" if so).

I'd like to have a decent 10 speed to just putter around on for vintage ride days, something from the 60's or earlier. I'll probably do a search to see if I can find out how this bike would have been outfitted originally and see if I have enough spares around here to build it up with. I'm back to coin flipping so I'll probably just watch it to see if it sells or not. Maybe I"ll just go back to looking for something from the 50's instead.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=260323693594

The seller is Budget Bike Center on Regent St. in Madison, a long-standing brick-and-mortar operation. In my view, the starting price is high, but perhaps you could see the frame in person and make an offer?

Neal

I concur, Neal.

As a UCLA undergrad, I commuted on one these with a nice Cyclo 14-16-18-20 cogset on the Sturmey Archer AW hub. The frame is basic heavy gas pipe and nothing special, but the 4x3 hybrid gearset was a blast to use, with a single old school Simplex downtube lever on the right and the S-A trigger tucked under the left brake handle.

Price is high, but the chainring and patina are very cool to say the least, in my opinion.

I watched that one too, mostly because of the chainring. What stopped me was the really bad rust shown in one of the photos. I'd be concerned about the structural integrity of the frame.

And the badly crushed chainstays

Overpriced. A good day will have you getting a complete bike of the same caliber for that price.

-Kurt

I looked at that bike. Nice size, pretty decals. If I didn't have to pay shipping I might have gone for it. I've got a great pair of wheels just waiting for a frame like that.

Appreciate the input on it, looks like I'll have to make a run out to Madison and stop in at Budget and see what else they might have hanging around.