New Here and trying to find info on an old bike

[BRUISER]

Hey all,

I Have an Old Columbia that I am trying to find info on.

My Grand Father was given this bike for his work with the American Youth Hostile organization and when I was small I grew up riding on the bike.. Well my Grand Father has passed and I was given the bike and it now hangs in my garage.. Well my son is 5 and he has now learned to ride a bike so I want to find out more about this bike, then I want to restore it and ride it with my son.. so any help would be great.

I have looked all over the frame and can not find a number on it.. It has the original Columbia emblem on the front, it is all Chrome, even the seat. the only thing that is missing is the little leather bag that hung under the seat for tools etc..

Here is a picture of my Grand Father when he was given the bike

and here it is hanging in my shop

any idea on where to find the serial number so I can get more info?

Thanks
Ken C
Raleigh, NC

 

[jpromo]

Very interesting! I've never heard of a chromed Columbia frame. It looks like the seat is even silver to complete the look. Could have been a limited promotional run of some sort? Chromed frames took off in the late 50s with the space-age middleweight bicycles but were pretty limited before '59. The parts look mid-late 50s, as do the haircuts in the photograph. The serial number will give a year and it should be on the rear dropout, by the axle.

 

[decotriumph]

The frame doesn't look chromed in the vintage presentation picture. Was it stripped sometime along the way?

 

[BRUISER]

The frame doesn't look chromed in the vintage presentation picture. Was it stripped sometime along the way?

Picture does not do it justice.. but it is Chrome.

To my surprise I just got a call from American Youth Hostile from an older gentlemen that said he has a picture of my Grand Father on his desk..Said that My Grand Father was the Executive Director for many years and if he had not big involved AYH would not exist today..

He thinks this bike was given to him as a one off bike direct from Columbia ( they used to advertise with AYH ) he was not sure why he got it..but his guess is that is is from the 50's

Would there be a chance that it would not have a serial number if it really was a one off bike?

Thanks

 

[MrColumbia]

I would have to say it is a Columbia "Tourist" that was made and chromed special order for the customer/organization. There was never a production chrome frame Tourist. The only frames Columbia ever chromed for production was late 70's and newer BMX bikes.

It is not unusual for Columbia to have made a "Presentation Piece" for a worthy organization. It would have been great public relations.

Do you know the year it was presented?

 

[sqrly]

That is flat out cool! Love it. If you restore it, be carefull, I would just clean it and thats all. Looks like it would clean up nice. Also I wouldnt recover the seat, better off getting another seat and recover that.

 

[decotriumph]

That is flat out cool! Love it. If you restore it, be carefull, I would just clean it and thats all. Looks like it would clean up nice. Also I wouldnt recover the seat, better off getting another seat and recover that.

I agree with that. I would certainly preserve as much as possible. That is a very special piece.

 

[MrColumbia]

Going along with the other comments, I agree that restoring it would be a grave mistake. What makes it special over the thousands of Tourists out there is the factory chrome job and "chrome" seat. Taking that away and replacing it with a new finish will not do it justice, just make it into another common bike.

Clean it up a bit and do a tune up to make it mechanically perfect and rid-able. Keep the picture and story with the bike. Some of the most common questions I get is "what is special about my bike?" or "why was my bike made?". For the most part the answer is because the bicycle company wanted to make a profit. Here is a bike that truly has a story beyond just being another bike on the rack in a store.

 

[BRUISER]

Well I think I found when he received the bike..

did a lot of reading in some old books about AYH and found that they had a 25th anniversary celebration in Nov 1959 where my grandfather and one other gentlemen received awards for there work with AYH.

Also found out that my grandfather was Exec Director for AYH for 14 years.. one of only 2 people to stay in that position for that long, that other was the founder of AYH.

now I just need to get it down and really look all over it for a serial number..

 

[MrColumbia]

Well I think I found when he received the bike..

did a lot of reading in some old books about AYH and found that they had a 25th anniversary celebration in Nov 1959 where my grandfather and one other gentlemen received awards for there work with AYH.

Also found out that my grandfather was Exec Director for AYH for 14 years.. one of only 2 people to stay in that position for that long, that other was the founder of AYH.

now I just need to get it down and really look all over it for a serial number..

It could be a 1959. Here is the 59 catalog images and descriptions. They remained pretty much unchanged for the next couple of years after that. It has the correct style chainguard for the era and the built in kick stand.