Vista "Sophisticate" 3-speed Beach Cruiser Resto (Bicycle)

adventurco

Nick Ol' Eye
DTT BOTM WINNER
I picked up this vintage cruiser along with another vintage bicycle a few years ago and they've been sitting in the shed at my parents house since then. Both are pretty cool retro beach cruiser style, and I believe both are made in England. My mom wants it to ride around town on, so before I move I'm doing a quick resto on it. The paint is in pretty good shape, and the original stickers and hand painted chain guard look pretty good as well. The 3 speed shifter is inside the hub, the cable was out of adjustment but I'm assuming it works since pretty much everything on the bike does. Spokes need to be tightened and wheels trued and a bunch of cosmetic stuff. Got until Wednesday to see this one through so here goes.

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Re: Vista "Sophisticate" 3-speed Beach Cruiser Resto (Bicycle)

After a little research, I discovered that "Vista" brand was manufactured by N.I.D.A. - a sub company or another name for Columbia, one of the older bicycle manufacturers. The Vista line was a low to mid level bicycle line, ranging from 10 speeds to cruisers like this. The bikes were manufactured in US and Japan to compete with Schwinn at the time, and they generally came with lower end components such as SunTour and Shimano.

I'll assume this is one of their mid to higher range bikes, since it has Sturmey Archer components from England. The date stamped on the hub is 9/71.

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That will be a classy restoration (and it's a very unlikely you'll get hung up on the case covers this time). My gf would love one of those.
 
Ha. Awesome. I have a Schwinn Fair Lady I plan to resto for my girls.
 
adventurco said:
After a little research, I discovered that "Vista" brand was manufactured by N.I.D.A. - a sub company or another name for Columbia, one of the older bicycle manufacturers. The Vista line was a low to mid level bicycle line, ranging from 10 speeds to cruisers like this. The bikes were manufactured in US and Japan to compete with Schwinn at the time, and they generally came with lower end components such as SunTour and Shimano.

I'll assume this is one of their mid to higher range bikes, since it has Sturmey Archer components from England. The date stamped on the hub is 9/71.

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The drop outs are stamped steel that are crimped and tack welded into the stays. High end bikes, at the time, used forged drop outs that are brazed into the stays.

The SA three speed hub was a very common one at the time too.

A better English bike at the time would have been a Raleigh 5 speed with full fenders and color matched rack.
 
Very cool. May just give me the kick in the ass I need to start the resto on the old 50's/60's Schwinn I have sitting on a shelf.
 
Since my original plan was to save the paint and decals, of course I ended up stripping it down and painting it. The paint I used on Luna's frame was literally the exact same color, and I ordered an aerosol can when I painted in case I needed some touch up. Quick wet sand and spray and it looks like new. I carefully removed the stickers and scanned them in, I will cut out new decals for a nice finishing touch.

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Blasted some of the rusty parts and hit the crank with some rub n buff to spiff it up. Cleaned and greased the bearings and reinstalled. Pretty cool to see all the different components they used. The pedals are German, and the bearings were manufactured in the US.

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Popped off the original tires, going to straighten out these rims and see if I can get some rubber on there today.

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Re: Vista "Sophisticate" 3-speed Beach Cruiser Resto (Bicycle)

Aluminum foil works wonders on quality chrome.

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Re: Vista "Sophisticate" 3-speed Beach Cruiser Resto (Bicycle)

Wheels close to true. The back one was way out but I was able to get it pretty close. Front was good. Rubber and air in the tires, threw a master link in the chain and greased it, and pedaled it around in a few circles.

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Re: Vista "Sophisticate" 3-speed Beach Cruiser Resto (Bicycle)

Looking good.
 
Had a couple crazy days leading up to the move and forgot to get any pics. I scanned in the decals and cut some new ones. Pretty happy with the way they came out, close to the originals. Cleaned up pretty good and happy with the results. Does anyone know how the hell to adjust these 3-speed internal hubs?

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Aluminum foil and water on the chrome, and I ended up using Rub-n-Buff on the crank and pedals. The stuff works great and I'm interested to see how it holds up to the elements.
 
adventurco said:
Does anyone know how the hell to adjust these 3-speed internal hubs?

Look up Sheldon Brown dot com. He has everything you need to know about the Sturmey-Archer hubs.
 
The hub is adjusted by the long thin knurled Steel connecter on the steel cable just before it goes into the hub. Adjusting the tension will find the sweet spot where all 3 gears engage properly.
Do not take the hub apart.
Don't even think about it.
Ever.
If you start messing with the internals of of Sturmney Archer hub you could fuck up the whole time space continuum.
 
Re: Vista "Sophisticate" 3-speed Beach Cruiser Resto (Bicycle)

LOL. I looked up Sheldon Brown site and was able to get the hub adjusted. The internals are pretty damn cool, sun and planet gears and all that.

The small chain that connects the actuator rod to the cable has a busted link, but the part is available on eBay for less than $10. It shifts, but the broken link tends to hang up when shifting.

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Re: Vista "Sophisticate" 3-speed Beach Cruiser Resto (Bicycle)


Erskine said:
I did warn you lol.

But the innards look so cool. It looks like I can replace that part without opening anything up though. Which would make sense since it seems like a normal wear item.


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I took one apart when I was 10 years old. It did not go back together. LOL
 
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