anybody know anything about a bike manufacturer called Ross?
i just salvaged a bike that my mom's neighbor left out for the garbage, and it's got a crazy shifting mechanism. there's a 3-speed internal hub, and the shifter consists of a box on the top tube with a big lever sticking out of the top. you have to reach between your legs to get to it, and click the lever into place. it's like shifting gears on a car, but, ya know, between your legs.
the frame has a nice design to it, too. my neighbor said he bought it used in 1971, so it's an old bike.
Three things:
1: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=39115&highlight=bicycles+ross
2. heh: crazy shifting mechanism...you have to reach between your legs to get to it
3. http://www.google.com/custom?domains=OldRoads.com&q=ross&sitesearch=OldR...
On number 2
I don't know what that is called in a bike, but in a car that is a date that went really well.
If it looks something like
If it looks something like this:
http://www.geocities.com/chopperama/ross_barracuda.jpg
Then you have a very cool bike that needs to be restored!
well
that's the shifter thingy i was talking about.
the bike itself is a really heavy cruiser with full fenders.
Ross bicycle frames were
Ross bicycle frames were usually high-tensile steel, lower end LBS bikes at best. Mostly they were department store bikes. If you got the name of the geared hub, you could probably find some info on it a Sheldon's site.
Like this:
http://sheldonbrown.com/english-3.html
Would probably be a cool bike to commute on, ride about town, maybe on CM/CM. Maybe get a nice wicker basket for it.