Just saw the plastic oil port cover, later 60’s but a nice touch to bring it above their other brands. Love the blue colour.

^^^^^ I'm working on a Schwinn 3spd rehab. The SA IGH is and AW with a 61 engraved/stamped on the hub shell. It has a plastic oil port cover. Still pliable too. Long lasting.

^^^ Looks like the metal port was replaced when it got buggered. Best thing SA did for their hubs was bring the plastic port in, late 60’s I believe.

This looks fantastic!

What fenders are these?

Not much of a bike but still worth saving low end Mongoose 29er from scrap metal bin. didn't do much on this one pumped up the tires washed it and got it working. This one has to be one of the worst designed mass produced bikes I have ever worked on. It's really basic low end cruiser at hart so basic hard frame with 7 speed thumbie and simple liner pull brakes. common 26 wheels and it would fine, yet they put crappy full suspension on it, silly disc brakes, went with 29 wheels and horrible Sram 8x3 speed triggers. Road it around the block decided it sucks but still a basic working bike so road it to the thrift store took just one pic at the thrift store left it hoping to forget I ever saw this bike soon.

Nicely done brother. Someone will enjoy the freedom of rolling on some wheels. Cheers!

At our LBS we've seen many of these and their cousins this year. Dug out from who knows where, many in terrible condition. They have to be about the heaviest bikes we deal with. When they come in for service they're hung on hooks in the ceiling. We get them down, do what can be done and hang them back up. Pretty challenging for this old fart to hoist a BSO like that up off or back onto the hook. Seems to be the case for most of us in the shop. The depressed, pitiable groan that always comes out is now named "the Mongoose Moan". Everyone agrees.

I refurbed a pair of 26" MTB BSO's last year, both had "suspension". everything about those bikes screamed "crap!". And at present moment I have a quintet of 26" wheeled BSO's in the back yard which I'm utterly dreading to work on. Not a one of them is likely over fifteen years old, but from the way the hopelessly low quality parts and components on all of them have rusted you'd swear they must have been made in the 1970's and sat outdoors for two decades. Still would be a waste to not refurb and get them into the hands of new owners. Yes they look like crap, but rust and tire replacements aside there's no reason someone couldn't get some enjoyment out of riding them. I have to remind myself they're essentially children's/teenagers bikes and the next owners of them will grow out of them and move onto hopefully better bikes.

The guy at the dump had this waiting for me when I showed up yesterday.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That seat terrifies me

Me too. The wife saw that, and said that she'd like to try it, but I discouraged her. There's no real way to put those saddles actually between your legs, so not as much balance-control available. FWIW, my Missus has been experiencing really good luck with SQ Labs saddles.

What? It's only a little melted.

Finally got it back out of the garage when it wasn't raining and took some pics. They're up over on the 3 Speed thread. Mine is pretty tragic looking currently, though it'll definitely improve once I bother to put any work into it. So that just makes... 4 bikes that I need to do a bunch of work on, but this one is the worst. And the lowest on the list probably.

Pump up the tires ad just needed stuff likely nothing put a none suspension regular post on and basic seat the bike and you have a decent bike..

Hm... The head tube just looks massive imo.

Finally got around to fixing this up!

(Sorry for low-quality night-time pics.)



Took it out for a test ride tonight and it rides like a dream. Now just to trim trim the cables and send it off to its new home. Can't wait for the next one!

Possibly, but I've never suffered from head tube envy.

Saved from the dump. Has since been fully restored (save for the brake calipers and frame)

after a full bearing r&r this Sears free spirit6 rides better than any Schwinn cruiser I have ridden.straight & smooooth.how about that string paint to boot

I picked up these two for free recently - most likely destined for the dump.

First is a late 70's French Liberia. The wheels and crankset are pretty roached but the frame is decent shape and kind of cool. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) it is in my size neighborhood so it will go into the long term queue for rehabilitation.



The other is this late 70's (?) Kent Diplomat - the Mrs. to the above Mr. apparently. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. Given the lower end brand, small size and general lack of interest in ladies' road bikes of this era it probably is not worth rebuilding. I'll likely end up trying to salvage some parts from it.

Liberia Grand Deluxe variant comparable to mine - if you trawl through this thread you'll find a wealth of links and sites about these. Not many Liberias made it to the U.S., and the bulk of the ones that did, like yours and mine, came over during the peak of the Great Bike Boom when distributors were finding every regional maker they could find to supply product. I suspect the rear wheel on yours is a replacement. The front looks like it might be the original R.F.G. front laced to a rusted-out Saminox steel rim. It's worth rehabbing, as it's on the thinner and lighter end of gaspipe. Mine takes a 25.8 mm seatpost in metric tubing, so a whisker over 1 mm thick tube walls. Not too bad.

Do rehab it - they are at the upper end of the spectrum that says, "The French have a way with gaspipe." Nicer than a Peugeot U-08 or comparable, ride wise.

1956 Humber Sports.
Bifurcated forks.
Nice winter project.
The year I was born.

Thanks much for the comments and for the thread link! I actually did stumble upon your thread and followed some of the links within when I picked this bike up because admittedly I knew nothing about the Liberia brand so I appreciate your findings. With your feedback I am now looking forward even more to getting it road worthy again. When the time comes I just have to remember to meditate some before I attack the rusty cottered cranks

Here is the Benotto that I had for a short while. I thought about resto but I came to my senses and sold off to one that did. Here is the before and afters.

gorgeous!