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Reproduction cruisers?

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dirtman

Finally riding a big boys bike
Did they ever make a reproduction Hop Along Cassidy bike?

I was at the local flea market and a guy had two 26" made in China black cruisers built to look like the old Rollfast Hopalong Cassidy bikes.
They had thin metal fenders, all the graphics were decals, the fender headlight was flimsy plastic, and the rims were already rusting chrome. The saddle was plastic with rubber encased springs.
I'd say less than even Walmart Schwinn quality.
However, the tires were 26x2.125" unbranded copies of the old Carlisle Lightning Darts in white wall. Each had a small Made in China script close to the bead on one side.

I've seen the Schwinn Phantom repro bikes, as well as Columbia, Roadmaster, and JC Higgins, but not a Rollfast. The bikes had a Hopalong Cassidy headbadge decal that was just a metalic looking sticker.
I think maybe the right name for it would be a tribute bike, it certainly wasn't an exact reproduction but my big question was who made the tires?
As far as i know, the last Lightning darts were in the late 70's or early 80's. I remember trying to buy a set where I worked in 1979 and couldn't find a set through any of the suppliers that shop used. I had to settle for a pair of Carlisle whitewall studded tires. At that time old school cruiser tires were getting scarce and most 2.125 tires came only in MTB or BMX style treads.

Maybe there's a source out there making Lightning Dart copies now?

The bikes were likely surplus, the guy had a bunch of department store bikes for sale, all looked like they've been banged around bit, likely by him hauling them on in an old pop up camper trailer with the top removed. He had them piled atop one another like firewood when he left. Absolutely no concern for the paint or about denting fenders.

He had $200 on each of them. I didn't have a camera or I'd have snapped a pic or two but my new cell phone they sent me doesn't have a camera.
I did a google search and couldn't find any HC repop bikes or any talk about one so I have no clue was to who made the tires. I'm fairly certain there was never a made in China Carlisle back in the day either.
If the weather is decent, and I get the chance, and I remember my camera, maybe I'll take a ride to see if he's got them there again.
 
I saw pictures of a repop-ish (Western Flyer?) bike in recent years, that had some tires probably meant to look like Carlisle Lightning Dart. The difference was more than just missing sidewall markings. The tread was pretty similar, a good 20 footer, but not quite. Like Chinese "Goodyear" tires they wouldn't have fooled anyone. They weren't bad looking tires though, and I wondered what the source was. I have never seen any more of them.

As I remember it, real Carlisle Lightning Darts disappeared from stores in the early 80s, but more came later on repop bikes and even some all white ones were made. I don't think they were available through normal channels in more recent times, but someone in here should know. The last ones had no Indian head, but everything else was about the same. I do not believe any were made overseas, but I don't know. A quick look at a tire that lacks the Indian head should sort that out.
 
Pseudo-Carlisles seen on a Western Flyer in the classifieds now (not mine etc. etc.). Pretty convincing from the side view. Looking straight at the tread, not so much. I've never seen these tires offered for sale. Have any of you?

https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/western-flyer.206988/

1605984


1605986
 
Tht Western flyer looks a lot like the JC Higgins bike I saw a couple years ago but the JCH was minus a tank. Same tires, cg, rims, tires, frame etc.

The Hoppy had even cheaper looking rims, they looked like steel versions of the cheap single wall aluminum rims found on many department store bikes. The CG was the correct basic shape but very thin.

The tires were different, more like the old Lightning Darts. They had the chain oval tread down the middle, and the raised diamond pattern along the edge of the whitewalls. The Made In China was partly hidden by the rim's edge like they tried to hide it along the bead.

My cell phone carrier shut down 3G last month, so they sent out a replacement phone, like the last one, this one has no camera. Its only got the carrier name on the cover. Its a rugged phone, it can fall off a roof, bounce 4ft and still work, its slid out of my pocket so many times, I can contest its pretty rugged. If I had one of those all glass phones I'd have been sweeping up the bits long ago.
What saves it I think is that its so light, its not more than a few ounces or so.
 
Just get a life proof case I’ve been using them with iPhones for years and never broke one btw just so anyone knows the plastic covering the camera will wear out overtime and leak if you leave it laying in the bottom of the boat
 
I've never been offered an iPhone for free? I pay $15/mo for my phone. My plan is grandfathered in from years ago, I'd hate to mess around and lose that. I also refuse to pay what they want for a phone. I've always felt that if they want me to use their service, they should supply the phone. I use what they give me.

I was going to switch to a new carrier that offered more for the same price but they required me to buy an expensive phone. That's not an option just to have a phone with a camera.


When it comes to older style tires, I'd be happy with anything that was the right size and shape to match those older tires. Most newer tires are small for their size compared to the originals. I've got a 1949 Columbia with a very old set of Carlisle Lightning Darts on it, they may even be original as they were on the bike when my dad dug it out of the barn after 20 years back in the late 60's. It was his as a kid, and he dug it out when my grandfather passed away and got it back in riding shape. Everyone rode that bike too, it sort of became the family loaner bike. The tires still hold air and I still ride it up and down the block on occasion but the tires now are starting to lose chunks of tread.
But those tires are huge compared to the later versions of them from the 70's.
In 1978/79 or so I was working part time at a bike shop where we lived, I tried to buy original tires for it then and was told my the owner that he couldn't find them anywhere. The only old school tire he was able to get me was a pair of white wall studded tires, also Carlisle but my dad refused to put white walls on the bike. So the WW tires went on an old Colson I had found at the flea market then.
Next to a pair of modern Chinesium Goodyear tread tires the old Carlisle tires on that bike area a good 3/8" wider and taller.
One big difference is the ride too, the old Carlisle tires say max pressure 30psi, the new China tires are marked 65 psi. At 30 they move around on the rim.
The original tires are soft at 30 psi too but they ride and roll just fine, where as the new tires seem to make the bike harder to pedal. (I put a set on a Schwinn Phantom I bought a few years ago before all these tires got so expensive. I think I paid $9 per tire at the LBS. (Now the LBS is gone, and so are cheap tires).

I'd settle for the tires on that WF above if they were available but how old is that bike?
The JCH I saw was likely 10-15 years old, long before the more recent turn of events that screwed up prices and parts availability.
 
I've never been offered an iPhone for free? I pay $15/mo for my phone. My plan is grandfathered in from years ago, I'd hate to mess around and lose that. I also refuse to pay what they want for a phone. I've always felt that if they want me to use their service, they should supply the phone. I use what they give me.

I was going to switch to a new carrier that offered more for the same price but they required me to buy an expensive phone. That's not an option just to have a phone with a camera.


When it comes to older style tires, I'd be happy with anything that was the right size and shape to match those older tires. Most newer tires are small for their size compared to the originals. I've got a 1949 Columbia with a very old set of Carlisle Lightning Darts on it, they may even be original as they were on the bike when my dad dug it out of the barn after 20 years back in the late 60's. It was his as a kid, and he dug it out when my grandfather passed away and got it back in riding shape. Everyone rode that bike too, it sort of became the family loaner bike. The tires still hold air and I still ride it up and down the block on occasion but the tires now are starting to lose chunks of tread.
But those tires are huge compared to the later versions of them from the 70's.
In 1978/79 or so I was working part time at a bike shop where we lived, I tried to buy original tires for it then and was told my the owner that he couldn't find them anywhere. The only old school tire he was able to get me was a pair of white wall studded tires, also Carlisle but my dad refused to put white walls on the bike. So the WW tires went on an old Colson I had found at the flea market then.
Next to a pair of modern Chinesium Goodyear tread tires the old Carlisle tires on that bike area a good 3/8" wider and taller.
One big difference is the ride too, the old Carlisle tires say max pressure 30psi, the new China tires are marked 65 psi. At 30 they move around on the rim.
The original tires are soft at 30 psi too but they ride and roll just fine, where as the new tires seem to make the bike harder to pedal. (I put a set on a Schwinn Phantom I bought a few years ago before all these tires got so expensive. I think I paid $9 per tire at the LBS. (Now the LBS is gone, and so are cheap tires).

I'd settle for the tires on that WF above if they were available but how old is that bike?
The JCH I saw was likely 10-15 years old, long before the more recent turn of events that screwed up prices and parts availability.
Contact @John for some of his reproduction US Royal Chain tires. You can take these to 40-45 lbs and he has a lot of options as far as colors. V/r Shawn
 
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