Western Flyer Reproduction

I am going to look at a Western Flyer Special Edition reproduction tomorrow. I talked to the guy today and another friend who looked and it. He bought it new in California when he lived there. They said it is very mint, almost NOS looking. What are these bikes worth, what should I offer him. This is the red, black and chrome one.

A Western Flyer repro in our neck of the woods? Don't have a clue what to offer but I'd love to see it if you buy it! Did you get my email about a week ago?

I will be buying it today. I am not sure what to offer. I will show it to you some day maybe before the snow comes. I did get your emails.

I have one of these for sale now and I'm asking $425--it is near mint--never ridden. v/r Shawn

I went out to see the bike today and ended up bringing it home. It is in very nice shape. There are a few scrapes and rub marks but not bad at all. The tank decal has a damaged spot. I don't think I would ever find a replacement. The lights and horn work. The retired senior who owned it bought it in the late 80's or early 90's from what he remembered.
Is there any way I can find out the year.

the serial number on the headtube should be the date and year for it. the company that made those warranty the frames for 10 years (goes with the bike, not the owner) so they need a way of dating them.

It was made by Columbia. Mrcolumbia.com has info. on it.

Pat

i'm pretty sure it was made by aerofast/emory. http://www.aerofast.com/aerofast/history.html

i own one that i know for sure is made by them. i've even talked to the owner of Emory about it, amongst other things. i have a few of their bikes, and it's the exact same platform as their aerofast cruisers.

this is the last style they made, which copies their aerofast cruiser.

I have a collection extremely rare Western Auto catalogs from 1978, '79, '83-'85, and '94-2001. I can look tomorrow for you. Although, I know these came out in the mid 90s and by that time, I don't think Western Auto had contracts with Columbia anymore. Their biggest one was Huffy whis spwaned my campaigns in this time. They also had Murray, and later X-games, Mongoose and the last couple years had "Ironman". In the final years, "Western Flyer" was put to rest and the sold the bikes straight from the factory.

here's a quote from aerofast/emory's website:

"In 1990 we were approached by Western Auto to become the successor to the Columbia Bicycle Company as the manufacturer of the Western Flyer "Circa 1950's" line of bicycles. The newest Western Flyer was inspired by Mr. Steven's original design, a version of which we market today as the "new" Aero-Fast, sporting new colors and (nearly a half a century later) a logo designed by Mr. Stevens himself. Sadly this was to be the last effort in Mr. Steven's long and illustrious career as he passed away in 1995 after a short illness. His era is kept alive, however, in the Aero-Fast which like his famous Excalibre automobiles are "contemporary classics"."