# Lawwill Pro Cruiser ??



## mingodog (Mar 14, 2006)

First, it's not for sale, I just picked it up today for 20.00 because I thought it was a cool looking frame, now I'm finding out that only 600 were made, Is this really a rare bike ??


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## Shayne (Jan 14, 2004)

*600?*

Were there that many made? If so I wouldn't call it rare.
I was under the impression that there were far fewer produced.

Nice find though. Not my cup of tea but for $20 you can go wrong. That would be great for 'crusing' around town.


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## djmuff (Sep 8, 2004)

definitely unique looking bike. Is the the same Lawwill that did the Leader suspension fork?


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## Shayne (Jan 14, 2004)

*Yup*

And rear suspension for Fisher, Schwinn, and others.


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## Boy named SSue (Jan 7, 2004)

A shot of its rear dropout will tell if it is particularly collectable or just cool. The really early ones had dropouts machined from round bar stock. Later ones had normal dropouts.

Great find either way. I tried to get my hands on one that is local to me but the guy won't sell. He won't put any effoert into taking care of it either, but won't sell none the less.


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## mingodog (Mar 14, 2006)

Boy named SSue said:


> A shot of its rear dropout will tell if it is particularly collectable or just cool. The really early ones had dropouts machined from round bar stock. Later ones had normal dropouts.
> 
> Heres a couple of more pics, of the rear drops, also it has a campy crank, rear derailleur and drum brakes. I'm going to restore this one.


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## Shayne (Jan 14, 2004)

*Is That A Campy Alloy Freewheel On There Too?*

Can't wait to see it cleaned up.
I wasn't sure if that was a Campy crank or not....that alone is worth almost 10x your purchase price :thumbsup:


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## Boy named SSue (Jan 7, 2004)

mingodog said:


> Heres a couple of more pics, of the rear drops, also it has a campy crank, rear derailleur and drum brakes. I'm going to restore this one.


That's the early stuff, machined from round barstock. Damn cool.

Shayne, the Campy NR cranks only fetch ~$60 to ~100. Only NOS, anno'ed BMX ones, or pistas pull top dollar.

The hubs look like the Sturmey-Archer drums on my beach cruiser. All around nice early MTB/cruiser. Totally worthy of a restoration.


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## Boy named SSue (Jan 7, 2004)

Oh yeah, check to see if the fork is something cool like a Cook Bros. I've seen those on early Lawwills. That would add another $150 to $200 to the value of the score.


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## ScottyMTB (Oct 26, 2005)

*That is my cup of Tea*

My signature says it all. I love it. My favorite. Thanks for teasing, uh, I mean sharing. Nice score!


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## mingodog (Mar 14, 2006)

Any idea as to the age ? or where I could find out ?


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## ScottyMTB (Oct 26, 2005)

Late 70s. Check out firstflightbikes.com.


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## scant (Jan 5, 2004)

thats an exceptable find, espically for the price  lucky you !


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## crconsulting (Apr 11, 2004)

I thought I had scored some pretty good deals.

20.00 is a steal:thumbsup:


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## ScottyMTB (Oct 26, 2005)

Looks like the neck is on backwards. You better take it back for a refund, or I could do it for you, take it back that is.


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## mingodog (Mar 14, 2006)

ScottyMTB said:


> Looks like the neck is on backwards. You better take it back for a refund, or I could do it for you, take it back that is.


Yeah I wrote Mert Lawwill last night and he responded by telling me that ) He also said that is a 1977 model by the parts that are on it. The big thing he told me is that they are getting around 500- 900 now !! I thought WOW ! That's crazy..... The paint isn't that bad but I'm still thinking of stripping it down and powder coating the frame with a blue as close to original as possible. Any thoughts other then me giving it to you ?


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## ScottyMTB (Oct 26, 2005)

*Restore or Survive*

I actually like survivors. If I can clean them up enough, I leave them the way they are. There is something called Oxylic Acid that works miracles on frames, chrome, nickel or whatever. It won't even hurt decals. Check out this thread on Vintage BMX. Amazing stuff, I would disassemble the whole bike and dip the frame and all the metal parts in it overnight.

http://www.vintagebmx.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=004702

If you are dead set on refinishing, you may ask Mert if he has any decals around. Those are probably more rare than the bike itself.

Try that Oxylic Acid, you will be impressed.

By the way, I would never suggest you GIVE me the bike. Ha ha.


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## mingodog (Mar 14, 2006)

If you are dead set on refinishing, you may ask Mert if he has any decals around. Those are probably more rare than the bike itself.

This is why I love forums, they give you a different perspective :thumbsup: Anyway I asked about the decals and he told me that he thought he had some, but didn't say if he would sell any .. I shot him another email asking if he would, hopefully he'll send me some..


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## ScottyMTB (Oct 26, 2005)

Did you look at that Sting frame before and after Oxylic Acid? To me, that is just friggin' amazing.


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## Elvis @ Dirt Works (Feb 27, 2006)

Talk to First Flight or someone that specialises in restorations. They should be able to copy the decals for you before you re-paint it. 

Even just your local guy that does signs or decals should be able to duplicate them perfectly for you.

You're one lucky man. I saw ads for them in Action Now magazine in the late 70's.

Elvis.


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## broomhandle (Jul 27, 2006)

that oxylic acid is amazing!!

here is a resorted Lawwill on 1st flight:

http://www.firstflightbikes.com/1978_Pro_Cruiser.htm

cool bike, never seen one before


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## mingodog (Mar 14, 2006)

broomhandle said:


> that oxylic acid is amazing!!
> 
> Well I guess I'm going to take the leave the paint alone route with the oxylic acid, oh and the decals are on the way, thanks to Mr M Lawwill. Now that dude is cool :thumbsup:


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## ScottyMTB (Oct 26, 2005)

Maybe he has another Pro Cruiser laying around for me. Can't wait to see how it turns out.


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## cegrover (Oct 17, 2004)

Do you have a resto update on this one?


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## Repack Rider (Oct 22, 2005)

Take a look at Mert on a Procruiser in this 1980 Bicycle Motocross Action article. Unfortunately I guess I scanned his "sideways" photo smaller than the others, but that was Mert hitting a corner sideways...without a helmet.


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## zingel (Feb 23, 2006)

cegrover said:


> Do you have a resto update on this one?


Here

It was for sale


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## D.F.L. (Jan 3, 2004)

I'm a bit bummed at hearing that these bikes are only worth about $1K, tops.

I've had my eye on one for a while. It's red, with drum brakes, the Potts stem and everything is stock except for a brooks saddle and a biopace ring. The crank is anno gold, but I thought it was a Sugino or Suntour, rather than a gold Campy. Was there really a gold anno Campy?

It's in pretty good shape, but shows some age. Owner wants the high end of the above mentioned price. Any more thoughts on what nice examples are worth?


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

D.F.L. said:


> I'm a bit bummed at hearing that these bikes are only worth about $1K, tops.
> 
> I've had my eye on one for a while. It's red, with drum brakes, the Potts stem and everything is stock except for a brooks saddle and a biopace ring. The crank is anno gold, but I thought it was a Sugino or Suntour, rather than a gold Campy. Was there really a gold anno Campy?
> 
> It's in pretty good shape, but shows some age. Owner wants the high end of the above mentioned price. Any more thoughts on what nice examples are worth?


Ive only seen them sell in the $3-500 range.


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## Itswitz (Nov 19, 2007)

*a Pro Cruiser for $20 !?!?*

Yeah, man .... the P.C was from the Cove Bike Shop in Tiburon; inspired bt - the inspired - Koski bros.

I got one (my first cluiser) in '78. It is WAYYyyyyy too long for actual riding - it always gave me a pain in the lower back .. the Mert Hurt - but greeat for downhill.

Mine came off the back of my '57 vw bus back in 1980 or so.... a total loss.

sweeet

witz


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

Itswitz said:


> Yeah, man .... the P.C was from the Cove Bike Shop in Tiburon; inspired bt - the inspired - Koski bros.
> 
> I got one (my first cluiser) in '78. It is WAYYyyyyy too long for actual riding - it always gave me a pain in the lower back .. the Mert Hurt - but greeat for downhill.
> 
> ...


The Cove/Koski did the Trailmaster right?


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## Itswitz (Nov 19, 2007)

*koski/cove proCruiser / Trailmaster*

Eric, Don, & Dave Koski - The Cove bike shop, Tiburon - Pro Cruiser, & Trailmaster ... that's right!

i have a Trailmaster!

witz


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## Repack Rider (Oct 22, 2005)

Itswitz!

You finally surfaced here. Tell the gang about your Cunningham.


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## Big Perm (Jun 23, 2004)

Go-Ride.com in Salt Lake City has one hanging on the wall. Its not for sale but man its nice to look at that and then take a look at the latest Yeti DH bike. 30 years of evolution. Most of the customers there arent even that old!


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## Itswitz (Nov 19, 2007)

*Pro Cruiser*

SO, ....

MY Pro Cruiser never looked like that! I got it from the Koski's in '77 (or 8) but...

1. proper saddle
2. TA triple
3.no gooney stickers

it was stolen ... twice,

but finally lost its life when it fly off the car at 60.

itsWITZ


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## Jeroen (Jan 12, 2004)

Itswitz said:


> Eric, Don, & Dave Koski - The Cove bike shop, Tiburon - Pro Cruiser, & Trailmaster ... that's right!
> 
> i have a Trailmaster!
> 
> witz


Id sure love to see pictures of that Trailmaster in particular!


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## zingel (Feb 23, 2006)

the catalogue...


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## hiawatharider (Nov 12, 2005)

I am looking at the catalogue photo and am really intrigued by the age of it. If no one else noticed, there is no 'Koski drop-out'. Curious, because the only trailmasters that I have seen and put together at the Cove were with the Koski dropouts. This frame must have been an earlier prototype.

As to the age of the bike, I am pretty sure the blue ProCruisers were available late '78, and earlier ones were only in red. Also, this bike is something that I may know the history on because of the wheels - I may have built them! I remember the hubs coming through and using the Sutherland's wheel calculations to get the correct spoke length. Gene who managed The Village Peddler in Larkspur where I mainly worked got the very hard to get Sturmey Archer Drums, and I built a quite a few pairs of them (at the time, the gold Araya rims were the only ones in stock so thats what we used. The silver, and blue rims were on back-order). The two bike shops co-operated on projects and the ordering of hard to get product. I remember the ordeal Gene had go through with the reps for the order all the way back to England. I also remember the Campy cranks, which might make this one almost original! And I am pretty sure the fork is a Cook Bros too. The stem is also Lawwill. This was top of the line for its time.

Wow, twenty bucks...very, very cool mingodog. 

I wouldn't restore it, but leave it as it is, and just wipe it down with a rag. It will probably gain value it its original form. Though nothing would stop me in flipping the stem around and giving it a good tune-up/re-greasing to make it rideable.

You had to be really persistant to get the stuff you wanted back then. Don Koski and his dad were really the ones behind the Pro which was originally designed as a single speed for downhill (along with his snow bikes). Erik Koski was behind the Trailmaster. 

If you look at the ProCruisers drop-outs, single speed chain tension was not a problem for those coaster-brake days with that style of dropout. I don't remember any ProCruisers with standard dropouts, but I do remember welding on brake and deraileur hanger tabs (though I got stuck most of the time filing down the brazed fillets before painting). Maybe the last of them had standard rear drop-outs. At the end of the ProCruiser's production, I was working elsewhere.


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## Itswitz (Nov 19, 2007)

*Time vs. Memory*

Hey-a-watha,

Yeah, your memory is better than mine; i can't recall if it was '78 or - as i think it was - '77when I first rode my new pro-cruiser ... my first offroad bike. I DO know it was the fourth of July in Larkspur! If only we'd kept a journal, eh?!?!

Actually, i just prooved myself wrong ... Eric Fletcher took me on my first "clunk" just days before he died in a car crash, which is referenced on his bio on the C.B. Mt. Bike Hall of Fame (nomminees) <http://www.mtnbikehalloffame.com/nominees.cfm?page=99&mID=166>. If that date is correct - march 21, 1979 - then that was the year I first got a cruiser. I just lost a year of my life!

I think my P.C. was the first mt. bike w/a triple chainring. My memory says in May of '80 I got my Trailmaster (still have it), contrary to Bertos assertion that the Trailmaster wasn't around until later that year. The first day I rode it was in the Reseda t/t Sea (that Gary won.

I remember Gene ... maaaaan its good to rememeber those good ol' good times.

Peace on the Path,

Witz

Moab

Remember the Future !!!



hiawatharider said:


> I am looking at the catalogue photo and am really intrigued by the age of it. If no one else noticed, there is no 'Koski drop-out'. Curious, because the only trailmasters that I have seen and put together at the Cove were with the Koski dropouts. This frame must have been an earlier prototype.
> 
> As to the age of the bike, I am pretty sure the blue ProCruisers were available late '78, and earlier ones were only in red. Also, this bike is something that I may know the history on because of the wheels - I may have built them! I remember the hubs coming through and using the Sutherland's wheel calculations to get the correct spoke length. Gene who managed The Village Peddler in Larkspur where I mainly worked got the very hard to get Sturmey Archer Drums, and I built a quite a few pairs of them (at the time, the gold Araya rims were the only ones in stock so thats what we used. The silver, and blue rims were on back-order). The two bike shops co-operated on projects and the ordering of hard to get product. I remember the ordeal Gene had go through with the reps for the order all the way back to England. I also remember the Campy cranks, which might make this one almost original! And I am pretty sure the fork is a Cook Bros too. The stem is also Lawwill. This was top of the line for its time.
> 
> ...


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## Howley (Nov 23, 2005)

*Mac and friends in Fairfax*

Marc on his Trailmaster... Click on photo for more. Jeff Luie(sp) on his 19lb Craig Mitchel (both no longer with us in This world)


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## Itswitz (Nov 19, 2007)

*Wowly Howly,*

Wow ,,,,

that goes Waaayyyyyy back! btw; it is Jeff Louie and Craig Mitchell who are both no longer with us in this world.

Witz


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## FairfaxPat (Jan 29, 2008)

*procruiser*

Witz sold me a nickel plated procruiser frame that was going to be Eric Fletcher's before he was tragically killed in a car wreck. I built up the bike as light as possible with the parts of the time, including the small Sturmey Archer drum brakes and it ended up weighing 31 pounds or so-light for a clunker at that time. That bike was long and laid back (65 degree head angle, if memory serves) and it made me instantly faster going down Mt. Tam.


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## salsa-luma (Jun 8, 2007)

Leave that frame in it's original condition. The bike is rare and worth more now and in the future with original finish paint. Plus the paint is not bad at all. It just needs some T.L.C.
My 2 cents...


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## Itswitz (Nov 19, 2007)

*Witz did WHAT?*



FairfaxPat said:


> Witz sold me a nickel plated procruiser frame that was going to be Eric Fletcher's before he was tragically killed in a car wreck. .


uh, that isn't MY recollection!

Eric took me on my first "clunk" the day before he and Tracy crashed in the car. I didn't get my procruiser - or even the idea for one - untill that day. Eric Koski built it for me. ask him. I first rode it the july 4th after. I don't recall ever having a chrome plated bike; my pro cruiser was blue.

Perhaps my long term memory is going where my short term memory has!

Peace & Perspirity

Witz


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## FairfaxPat (Jan 29, 2008)

*Procruiser*

Witz, your memory is getting more and more suspect. My procruiser was nickel-plated and I remember getting it from you-it had been ordered by Eric but wasn't delivered until sometime after his crash.


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## Itswitz (Nov 19, 2007)

*MY memory is suspect ! ! !*



FairfaxPat said:


> Witz, your memory is getting more and more suspect.
> .


Bro', isn't that a little like the pipe calling the roach burnt?

While i am not sure these personal matters are relevant to history or anyone, still it is interesting to wonder; 'did i actually HAVE Eric's PC .... and sell it ' (if i did it was because of the chrome finish), did I have a cruiser-my first one- i never built, 'how/when did i ever get the bike-from erics mom?', ..... these are all a blank, because I simply don't recall anything to do with the frame you are talking about, except a vague memory of the bike with an obscenely large cable stops brazed on. Erik K. built me a bike (Cha' bless the Koski's).

But, there is anOther discrepancy; in several locations on the web (including this one & mt.bk. hall o'f fame- nominees)) Eric is claimed to have aquired three different early :mountain bikes" just before he died; a cunningham, and original Breeze(r), and now this P C. One says that the cunningham was given as a prize at the first Eric Fletcher memorial road race ( a fact I KNOW to be untrue - we gave eric's Brown & White road frame).

Naturally, I am curious to know which - if any - of these stories are correct (because there COULD be a cunningham out there in a storage room). Simply ask Joey & Charlie, mr. K (ya... leave a message) if eric got one of there bikes ...... probalby the P C story is accurate and you got it ... but from ME? where did we make this exchange? in a fog, i bet!

I recall my P C well; i trashed it for many years on tam & Pearl pass, derby, bike pile. Then, I used it to pull the "tofumobile" for wildwood (80-82). It was stolen - twice, - then, i traded it for a 57 vw van (which I still have); and finally hung up its wheels when it came off a friends' car on the freeway. Oh it went downhill well - because it was so long - but not a great bike for actual ... pedaling. It gave me a lower-back pain i called "the Mert Hurt".

Then I got my Trailmaster !

Its Witz
<www.pioneerspring.com>

MOAB

" Good where you've been, good where you're going "

"Ohhhhhh, we were having a good time up ;till then ..... and after then" Louis Armstrong"


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## FairfaxPat (Jan 29, 2008)

*Procruiser*

Witz, my Procruiser was a brushed NICKEL plated frame, and as I recall, you had it in your bus and sold it to me one day in Fairfax-I can't remember the date. It didn't look chrome at all, just a brushed finished nickel. Also, the PC wasn't too long if you were over 6 feet tall-it fit me just right!


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## Itswitz (Nov 19, 2007)

*and where is the nickleplated PC now?*

iW.


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## FairfaxPat (Jan 29, 2008)

*Procruiser*

I have no idea what happened to that frame, but I think I sold it when I got my first Ritchey in about 1983-I think I sold it to American Cyclery. I would love to have it back or any other Pro Cruiser frame.


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## surfotog (Feb 27, 2013)

mingodog,
I'm trying to find info on my Pro Cruiser. Don't know how to contact Mert. Would you be able to give me an address? Thanks. Surfotog


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## mingodog (Mar 14, 2006)

Back when I did I just went on his company website, I'll try to look for it and post it.


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## BILL E (Apr 13, 2011)

Just for interests sake, I spotted this at a VanCruiser's show and shine in Richmond BC last week.


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

Mine's still not ready for the photographer, but found this one today in the photo archive:


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