1930s "Lifetime Elgin" Poster

I picked up this old advert (not a poster, really, but a leaf from a magazine) yesterday at one of our local shops, Paper Antiquities. The store is amazing, and the owner is very friendly. If you're ever in San Diego, check them out.

I love the visual style of the ad, and I even borrowed a bit for the new banner head for the blog, which I think turned out wonderfully. But it was the text that really won me over:

On city streets or country roads the Lifetime ELGIN is the popular choice of boys and men the country over. Its smooth, easy action gives a new sense of freedom, of speed, of luxurious pleasure. You'll revel in the convenience of its appointments and admire the sturdiness of its construction. Whether commuting to and from work, going to school, using it for business or for purposes of recreation, you'll find the LIFETIME ELGIN an efficient, dependable and less-tiring means of transportation. As a value it is beyond compare.

I've never ridden an Elgin before (it was the pre-WWII Sears, Roebuck and Company make, replaced after the war by J.C. Higgins), but this description makes me want to. It's the utilitarian aspect of the description that I like so much--recreation is literally the last use they mention. The emphasis is on "sturdiness" and on using the bicycle as transportation, which is a realization we're only just now making again. However, for those who would romanticize an earlier era, on the back is an ad for Allstate automobile tires, so it wasn't all "luxurious" bicycling pleasure and apple-cheeked lads on bikes in those days. Still pretty neat, though.

Reader Project: Mark's J.C. Higgins

I got a nice email from "Mark" the other day, who's working on an old J.C. Higgins 3-speed. He originally asked about removing rust from spokes/rims. My response went a little something like this:

I've found that a very fine grade steel wool ("0000") and lots of patience is good for removing rust on spokes and wheels and other non-painted metal surfaces without scratching or damaging the metal. For lightly rusted surfaces with just a few spots, it should work fairly quickly by itself, but for the heavier rust, you might try a few drops of oil applied to the spot you're working on (whatever you use to lube your chain is fine, as long as it's not WD-40) . Make sure you wear gloves when working with the steel wool, however, as thousands of tiny metal splinters don't feel so nice under your fingernails. I believe Menotomy Vintage Bicycles also sells a rust removal kit with a special formula solvent, but I haven't used it so I can't personally vouch for its effectiveness.

Mark wrote back to say that the steel wool worked just fine, and sent me some photos of his J.C. Higgins:

Thanks Mark! I hope you'll keep us updated on what you're doing (and where you're going) on your bike. I'd love to hear from anyone who's working on a project, either with questions/solutions/tips or just with photos of their machines. Help make the Old Bike Blog something more than just me randomly posting bicycle-related miscellany. And for goodness sake, don't worry if your bike isn't some rare, top-notch old velocipede--any ol' bike is good enough for us!

Reader Project: Amy's 1960s J.C. Higgins

Amy's husband found this bicycle in the trash and rescued it, and now Amy is refurbishing it, hopefully in time for spring. This is my favorite kind of Reader Project, because Amy is doing the work with no previous experience working on bicycles. The backwards fork/fender was like that when it was found--makes me wonder if the previous owner junked it because it "just didn't ride right!" I've been getting updates periodically from Amy as she goes, so I'm hoping I'll be able to share a lovely after picture of the finished bike (maybe sometime around April, Amy?).

All you J.C. Higgins aficionados, can you tell based on the pictures what model/year this is? Based on some online research, Amy guesses it's a "Flightliner," can anyone confirm? I've included a few more photos than usual in the hopes that someone can provide some info.