Restored Vintage 1957 Cushman Eagle
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- MotorEagles Presents - Cool Bikes. Cool Riders: 1957 Cushman Eagle restored Historical Bike that belonging to Tony Andrwsyszyw of Elyria, Ohio. He customized the engine. (Quaker Steak and Lube Biker Night in Sheffield, Ohio)
Transcript -
I'm Tony Andrusyszyn from Elyria, Ohio. This is a 1957 Cushman Eagle I restored. It's got an 8 horse power, basically a lawnmower engine in it. It's got a two-speed transmission. These were built in Lincoln, Nebraska. 1957 was the largest year of production, the most popular model. The day this was sold new, it was sold for $329. You were allowed to ride it on the road if you were 14 years old. If you wanted to get the bigger motor, you had to have a parental paper signed from Cushman and okayed between the customer and the company and you were able to get a bigger motor and horsepower. It was a project I picked up one winter, about October of actually 95' and by March of 96' it was on the road. It was just a winter time project. This is a photo of what it looked like the day I brought it home. Like I said earlier, this was sold brand new for $329. I took my wife with me and I pulled it out of the barn of the friend that I bought it from and she said "You paid $450 for that piece of junk?". Now she looks at it and talks about it, tells all her friends about it. I think it's more hers than it is mine.
In the early 30's, Cushman starting making lawnmower engines. He was a pilot, the owner of the company who was the president. He went to an airfield and he saw and Italian guy pull a scooter out of an airplane and he road it through town. He got the idea; he said "hey, maybe I should start making scooters. That's how Cushman started. This is basically a lawnmower engine. Three inch bore in here. Well, what he did was he turned his lawnmower engine into a scooter, and then he started manufacturing 2-speed transmissions himself.
This is actually called a Husky Cushman engine, made by Cushman themselves. Basically, the motor is turned around so that the chain is on the other side, then they had a foot clutch on the other side. This is a clutch mechanism which is also a centrifugal clutch. Basically, what it is so you can shift from low to high with the jockey shift shifter, you have a foot clutch down here. If you push on the clutch, it actuates the clutch. That's so you can shift from low to high and high to low. This is your rear brake assembly. The chain goes back to the transmission and then on the opposite side goes back to the rear wheel. This unit doesn't have a battery on it. This is all worked off of stators underneath the flywheel. So, basically you have a brake light with a stator, to get your brake light, step on the pedal, a switch turns on and actuates another stator and just makes the light bulb brighter. It's basically like taking a battery and adding an extra battery, but this doesn't have a battery. The headlight does have a high beam/low beam.
Another neat feature on this, when you were a kid back in the day everybody had Schwinn bicycles and what they did was they took the aruga horn off their Schwinn bicycle and put it on their Cushmans. If you step around the front I'll blow it for you so you can hear it. That was much louder than the electric one, that's a reason why the guys put in on there. It's a 2-speed transmission, jockey shift, so you would step on the clutch and switch from low to high and high to low. Low gear is about 15 mph maximum speed. Top end gear, like I said, we get up to 50-60 mph no problem.
I'm actually the 3rd generation riding motorcycles. My great grandfather rode motorcycles. My dad actually had a motorcycle over in Germany. I've been working on them ever since I've been 12 years old. I've been working on my brothers' motorcycles. I'm into British motorcycles and mostly vintage items as you see. I also have a Norton Commando 1975 built in England. Restored that and I had a lot of fun with that. Riding experiences, you can't beat it. When you're on two wheels and you're out on the road... You know, you see everybody looking at you especially when you got oddball things like this. It's a neat experience. It's a lot of fun. You meet a lot of good people, a lot of good friendly people.
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In 1962 when I was a high school kid in Hawaii, the Cushman Eagles were selling for $435, but considering the minimum wage back then was only 50 cents an hour, I still couldn't afford to buy one. Many motorcycles later, and now riding a Touring Harley, I still miss not being able to ride a Cushman....any Cushman.
Back in '67 I had an old used Cushman Eagle that I bought for $65. I loved that bike, Dad sold it when I went away to college, I was so pissed.
Best year!! $325 new WOW I like the duals
That's beautiful.
that bike is beautifull !!!!!!!!!!
Thank you very much!!!
Wow I never thought I'd say this but I would actually ride on one that looks that good ... of course it would need to be able to mow my lawn though .
I had an orange Cushman Eagle and I think it was a 1956 model.
I wanted one of these in the worst way back in the late fifties.
He said 55-60 all day... That's pushin' it!
My kinda People!! USA say hey!!
Do you happen to have the tire size/specs for your bike?
4.00 X 8
Typical internet mis-information. Cushman made stationary engines back into the 20's... and made pre-wwII scooters... long before anybody ever heard of a Vespa.
Good craftsmanship here.. but this is a Custom.. .not a restoration.
He said 55-60 all day... That's pushin' it!
He said 55-60 all day... That's pushin' it!