Hello! I like this forum a lot so far. I have been given my mom's old bike. It was hers since my grandparents bought it new for her as a teen, and she was born in 1951. I am not sure of the year. It sat in her basement for the last 20ish years (I remember riding it briefly in the very early 1990s) and I recently found myself with more spare time and a nicer living area to ride in, so I am going to get it going.

All parts are original. It had(s) some rust on the chrome but I went about removing most from the handlebars and front rim today. It pedals and brakes (coaster) fine and the rims are pretty relatively straight; it needs air in its tires and I plan to do that next week and give it a go. Worse to worst, I am okay with getting new tubes if I have to.

Here are some pics! Any tips, thoughts, hints, tricks, experiences or whichever are welcome. I could have bought a newer mountain bike (ack) or something, but bigbox bikes these days don't appeal to me (I read a lot about how disposable today's cheapo bikes are) and I like this piece of history and the fact that it was my mom's and was free so it seems a great choice for tooling around on the side streets and smooth pavement around here. In the pic below, you can see that the front rim is less rusty; I have not touched the rear rim yet. Hoping I can lower the seat just a tad and it will fit as though it were custom made for my height. It'll be good even if not; I can almost flatfoot it. I cannot say enough how Uncomfortable most bikes are for me, being short; I read that some of the compact Rosses were made shorter for shorter women who wanted a womens bike without the uncomfortable height of most; maybe this is one of those? I am wondering too if the seat/grips can be whitened at all or if this is how they'll stay. Seat is comfortable. Chain guard says De Luxe.



these pics were from yesterday, before today's cleanup start. It was fun getting it into my vehicle, let me tell you. Although it does not weigh as much as I might have thought!

Nice old cruiser . Welcome to the forum.

Looks to be a nice little project you've got there, and one with family history to boot. My only advice would be to find a local bike co-op. They will help you learn about, and teach you how to repair and maintain your bike. Also, they almost always need, and appreciate, volunteers.

Neat to have a bike with so much family history. Looks like it was kept safe from the elements over the years. Should be good for the use you have planned for it, without very much work required. Notice that the tire inflator valves are tilting to one direction. That is from the tires "creeping" around the rim while being rolled about with no air in the tires. The tube is probably bunched up right by the valve. You should shift the tires around until the vales stand straight up before pumping them up. Welcome to the forum. Enjoy!

If you haven't yet found Sheldon Brown's pages they are a good resource for DIY tips and tricks. The park tools website has lots of information too. We had a similar Ross at our co-op this week but the coaster hub was trashed so we ended up just hanging the frame up for someone to rebuild with a new wheel. The bike is pretty basic but that's a feature not a bug, meaning with some fresh grease and some new bearing everything will likely be rolling smoothly in no time. You can find a list of co-ops here: Community Bicycle Organizations - Bike Collectives Wiki they are generally good spaces to get your hands dirty and tend to have special bike tools most folks don't have hanging in their garages. Some have classes and some are just drop-in. Worth a look if you want someplace to work on the bike and get a helping hand.

If you do end up needing to adjust the seat post, you should go ahead and pull it all the way out, clean it, and then re-grease it. Old grease tends to harden over time and thus becomes less affective at it's intended job. Sweet bike, lots of great patina and stories. A new big box mtb isn't going to come with any of those things.

Well done getting it stuffed in a jeep.

Might try a Magic eraser to clean up the seat and grips.

Nice bike and great story. Having a family provenance makes the bike far more valuable, IMO.

Good luck and stay in touch, this site will be a great resource.

M

Welcome Jen. Cool that there have been several posts on retro Ross bikes lately including my clean up of a Ross Central Park I'm guessing is from the 70's. The chrome fenders and rims were too far gone to restore to the original finish, so I sanded them and painted the rims, spokes and fenders black. I bought some similar metalic blue spray paint and sprayed the end of a Q tip to touch up the bad spots on the frame and chain guard and I think it cleaned up well. I did have a suggestion from the forum to get a more retro seat.

My daughter got it in the trunk of a Hyundai Sonata and took it to the beach over Memorial Day w/e, so they can fit in some tight spaces.

Welcome to the C&V forum [MENTION=374796]jenbike[/MENTION] . A nice sentimental save of a great old bike. They don't build them like that anymore. With a little effort, it'll last for decades.

As for the saddle and grips.....the vinyl probably has yellowed due to age, as have the grips. The grips can be replaced with new white ones, as the style is still available.
If washing the saddle with say Simple Green doesn't help, then if the saddle isn't cracked, you can paint it white with vinyl and fabric paint. Available in most autoparts stores.
And probably also in arts/crafts supplies.

Welcome to C&V [MENTION=374796]jenbike[/MENTION]. A tip for bringing the paint back to life is to use the Meguiar's line of automotive finish products. Clean the bike then begin with Scratch X, move to polish and finish with wax. Go carefully around the decals and pinstripes. You will be amazed by the results.

Thanks for the replies! I like this forum a lot

We put air in the tires today and I rode it around the streets a little bit. It felt absolutely awesome to be on a bicycle again after so many years of nonriding! The seat is a tad high and it is more noticible now that I was actually riding.. my balance was a little off at first (do I really have to relearn how to ride a bike at age 33, after spending so much of my kid-to-mid-teens life on one!?) but it is mostly my nervousness at being a bit too high up to flatfoot the ground and the brakes. Now, they work a little but not as strongly as I want.

Can't stress how FUN it was to ride again. No car keys.. no worries about burning gasoline and $.. just the pure sheer joy of it.

Glad you are so giddy!

The rear (and front) hub could probably stand being completely taken apart and serviced. While the front one is relatively easy, even for a beginner, the rear coaster brake could be more challenging. It would be worth taking the rear wheel to a bike shop and asking them to completely service the wheel. Tell them the braking is not great and maybe they can make an improvement in the performance.

Every bike needs a front brake as well. Unfortunately this is not an easy addition to your old Ross. Your best bet is a front drum brake, but this would mean a new wheel or rebuilding the original rim onto a new drum brake hub. Now you are talking $$ to $$$, and that probably defeats the purpose of your original intention to save $$$.

That's GREAT!

No fuss, no need of the latest bicycle googa, just fun.


I love it!

Hmm.. I really am a bit unsure of it because of the front break issue now. I can see where it'd be necessary if the coaster failed.. but then again, as a kid I had coaster brakes that did not have a front caliper and I made it out alive. I seem to remember my friends having front calipers on theirs though (heheh; it made them seem more grown-up in the mid-late 1980s to not have coasters; like the big kids with their 10-speeds!) so maybe I grew up on a cusp where front breaks were being added?

I don't know about spending to add a front brake though. If it really is going to be an issue, I will just keep this bike as-is for nostalgic purposes with occasional short rides on nonbusy roads, and get a newbie bike that's outta-the-box. I'll feel safer although I much, much prefer the curvy lines and stance of this old one.

Don't panic yet. Have your local bike shop work on the rear hub and coaster brake. They might be able to improve the performance.

And before you buy something else new, patiently search Craig's List.

I will get the brake looked at. I rode again today and the brake does work but not 100%. It is fine on a nice flat stretch of road by my house; I am able to stop and it is enjoyable. Downhill on the way back home is terrifying and I had to get off and walk because there would have been no stopping otherwise I feared; lol. I did make things much better today by lowering the seat so that I can completely flat-foot at a standstill; much safer feeling.

edit... never mind!

Back! I ended up getting a new Schwinn Frontier from a trusted bike shop. The salesman was probably technically right when he suggested a Trek hybrid, but the handlebars felt very wrong to me.. I rode MTBs as a kid and a teen.. getting back on this particular one just fit 100%. Not only the fit itself, but the positioning and everything just clicked. I even tried a GT and a Trek MTB and nope; it was not the same. This Schwinn feels like it was formed just for me.. I am doing mostly road driving but Might try some trails.. have you guys ever gotten a bike that, technically/logically was not supposed to be the best, but just clicked with you?

Most of my bikes fit into that category! Enjoy both your new and old rides....

But once you are ready you should get that coaster brake looked at so you can enjoy the old one as much as the new one. I have an old article from the 60s that shows how the Bendix engineer (they made brakes and hubs for some American bikes) tested their coasters on a steep hill. They'd have the linings burning by the end of the test but they still worked.....so there - the bar is set high!

Something that really helps when working on cruisers is that wet, bunched up aluminum foil works great as a cheap way to polish chrome. Keep rubbing and the water will turn black*- that's your polish that gets rid of the rust spots. Once you're done, wipe off with a damp rag. Your Ross doesn't look like it has any deep pitting, so you should be able to get a good shine.

*Your hands (especially under the fingernails) will get really dirty doing this. If that's a concern, try latex gloves.

Thank you both! I do plan on restoring that old cruiser. It had a feel and a fit to it that, while different than the MTB, was something that felt like strength from another era that cannot be duplicated. I brought it back to my mom's b/c of space/storage issues, but it is in the same storage spot as it was before, which was apparently good enough to prevent a huge amount of rust or any dryrot. Wishing I had a garage or barn to work on it here.. it may end up being a fall/winter project since my summer is pretty packed with stuff to do, work n play related both. But rest assured it won't end up in a garbage heap!