# 56 columbia thunderbolt



## spoker (Mar 5, 2013)

picked up this 56 columbia thuderbolt,its missing the head lite,pretty unusual right?anyone know what lite i need,thanks AJ


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## petritl (Mar 5, 2013)

It's a bad picture but here is my '55 Columbia Thunderbolt.


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## spoker (Mar 5, 2013)

*thunderbolt*

thanks for responding,i cant really tell what the light is from the picture,but it looks like yours has a leather seat as does mine,AJ


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## MrColumbia (Mar 6, 2013)




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## petritl (Mar 6, 2013)




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## spoker (Mar 6, 2013)

*thunderbolt*

thanks again guys for the info,i had a headlite ver much like that one on a girls bike that i gave away about ten years ago,oh well,my seat may have beed changed in some point in time although it is aged simi;ar to the bike,its a fairly high end leather seat,with no provisision foe seat rail,havent found a name on it yet,isee from your pic there are only 3 stars on the chain guard,are there 3 on the carrier also,mine has 5 stars on chainguard and carrier,with red pin stripping on the chain guard,dont know how the tank was painted as it was missing,i have an rx5 tank for it,was gonna restore it as a jetliner but have decidedto do it original,cause i like the uniqueness of a thunderbolt,thanks again,AJ


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## spoker (Mar 6, 2013)

*thunderbolt*

forgot to mention there is a built in chain oiler on my chain guard have not seen this before


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## MrColumbia (Mar 6, 2013)

spoker said:


> forgot to mention there is a built in chain oiler on my chain guard have not seen this before




The oiler came out in 1955.


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## petritl (Mar 6, 2013)

spoker said:


> thanks again guys for the info,i had a headlite ver much like that one on a girls bike that i gave away about ten years ago,oh well,my seat may have beed changed in some point in time although it is aged simi;ar to the bike,its a fairly high end leather seat,with no provisision foe seat rail,havent found a name on it yet,isee from your pic there are only 3 stars on the chain guard,are there 3 on the carrier also,mine has 5 stars on chainguard and carrier,with red pin stripping on the chain guard,dont know how the tank was painted as it was missing,i have an rx5 tank for it,was gonna restore it as a jetliner but have decidedto do it original,cause i like the uniqueness of a thunderbolt,thanks again,AJ




Correct, my Thunderbolt is a Three Star.

I was finally home this evening after a busy month of travel with work (7,800 miles in the car), I took pictures of the headlight.


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## spoker (Mar 6, 2013)

*thunderbolt*

thanks for the hradlite pic,thats the one that was on the girls bike i gave away,oh well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!i wonder why they called yours a 3 star and mine a 5 star"?does yours have the chainguard oiler?thanks AJ


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## MrColumbia (Mar 7, 2013)

spoker said:


> thanks for the hradlite pic,thats the one that was on the girls bike i gave away,oh well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!i wonder why they called yours a 3 star and mine a 5 star"?does yours have the chainguard oiler?thanks AJ




Because they are different years. Up until 1955 Columbia Thunderbolts were called 3 Stars. In 1956 and 57 there were less balloon tire models in the line up, then the Jet Rider and the Thunderbolt were both were called 5 Stars.


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## spoker (Mar 10, 2013)

*56 thunder bolt color*

is there a list of color options for a56 5 star thubderbolt?thanks AJ


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## MrColumbia (Mar 11, 2013)

*color chart*






This chart is from the 1955 catalog. It was still no doubt used in 1956.


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## spoker (Mar 11, 2013)

*thunderbolt*

thanks MR.COLUMBIA,AJ


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