Refreshed 1960 Speedster, Possible One of a Kind...?

[Talewinds]

Just finished the refresh on this 1960 Speedster for an acquaintance of mine. The bike really belongs to his father and he commissioned me to bring it back to life as a present for his dad. His father ordered the bike from the local dealer in Staunton Illinois (about 15mi up the road from here) when he was 12 years old. He purchased the bike with his own money and he was a very discerning kid. He wanted the Speedster because he liked the radiant blue and it was an uncluttered, simple model bike, BUT, he was adamant about it having a springer fork and NO white walls. He paid an up-charge and the dealer was able to get the bike delivered with a springer fork painted in radiant blue (a color that was not available on the Hornet, the only model with a springer in '60).
The paint looks good in the photos, but it's got some bad patches. Layers of caked-on, rock-hard grease was (thankfully) covering pristine chrome. All in all not bad for a bike that hung upside down in a barn for the last 46 years until it was pulled down in October and delivered to me.

I'm really pleased to have gotten to work on this unique bike.

This catalog print was originally shown in red but I re-colored it to match the radiant blue option

 

[greenephantom]

Man, that's a sharp looking Speedster. Might be the only one I've ever seen upgraded from the dealer with a springer front end.

Had to go consult the Fair Trade price list to see about the availability of the spring fork on this model. For '60 you could get the Wasp, Hollywood and Speedster with a spring fork upgrade for an additional $5.50. Still, you almost never see this upgrade on these middleweight models, and especially not one that's survived the years this well.

Cheers, Geoff

 

[DonChristie]

Steal it! Lol, that bike is real nice! No doubt, Middleweights are cool!