Townie 21D Mens Blue

Anyone know what year Townie did their 21D Mens cruiser bicycle in Blue, and by chance the diff between tall and regular frame sizes. Found out its 19" for regular and Tall is 21".
I forget what my 7D frame size was before it got stolen. Found out from a random post all 7D's were 19" regular. Backs up another random post. All on Electra Bike Forum which doesnt have a huge amount of people on it, but it has tons of good info.

There is a NEX on the front shock, not sure if its Suntour XCT or not. I am thinking its 2011'ish but the forks dont match.

No info on the years, but hopefully the front end is turned around just for a picture, and not being ridden with the fork installed backwards?

The handle bars are turned around because its hanging in their garage.
It has Tourney FD, Suntour Crank Arms almost looks like "S6"
The serial will define year, factory and production number.

I'm scooping it up tomorrow, what would you pay for a bike like that?
Rarely ridden they say, paint is good, no chain marks, aahhh I see the chain is a little rusy, some minor crusty dirt on FD, FD rings look very minor rusty.

Since it's more than 1 year old and has some rust, I'd offer them as low as $120 , but not more than $150. That's taking into account the MSRP of approx $550, drop in half to $275 from +2 years old, and taken down to $150 for what you'll have to put back into it, for a tune-up and parts. Start at 120, let them talk you up to 150, if they feel the need to barter some. Have at least 120 cash in you hand, counting it out in front of them. When people see the actual money they can get for it, they tend to be more impulsive.

Yeah I was thinking $150usd which is $200cad, and the cash in hand trick.

Just noticed, is that a broken spoke on the front wheel? The pattern doesn't look right. If so, then the rust problem just got bigger, and fouled up a lot of spokes. Wheel replacement is relatively pricey ($120 parts+labor) for a $150 good used bike.

No broken spoke, just the way it looks between the groups of 4 that make the pattern. Does look a bit funny in that pic.

We paid $120 for our ladies townie, in excellent, but noticeably ridden condition. It was priced higher, but got the senior discount at a thrift store.

Regardless of the year, if condition warrants it, a townie is one of the few bikes in the $500 range I'd still pay $200 for. Or something with very similar frame. They really have a comfortable ride, and other things that make them great for an e bike.

Most bikes, I start to balk at $100, unless they have a two thou msrp.

Yeah I paid a fair reasonable amount for it. Had to ride it 10km on the ice and hard packed snow, the Tourney shifts good, felt a few hiccups. It seems smaller then my silver 7D (1x7) but no dropped chains on the 21D, where my old 7D would have dropped the chain easy. The lady confirmed it to be about 4 yrs old, but will confirm with the serial tomorrow. Paint is in excellent condition. I am exhausted with the 10k of riding and a bit walking cuz of the ice. I think this bike may be a low powered ebike if I can install better components like crank, fd, rd, shifters. I dont like the seat much, I will get a narrower springer. May flip the bike once its electrified.

Last night was dark and I couldnt see much, cleaning it up today this bike looks brand new.
I see no marks or scratches on the chain stays, or where the feet go while pedaling. All the stickers (Shop, Inventory and Logo's) look like they are brand new. Even the bottom of the BB isnt marked at all. It even came with an Electra Townie rear rack which is worth a bit of coin in itself. No marks on the rack either.

The serial states it was built in January (A) of 2011 (1). The condition of the rusted chain looks like its been outside a little bit, I have seen worse rust on bikes that are always outside in the rain and snow. Even for a month or two it can get bad. I dont know the acronyms yet for the factory location.

Now onto what I should do with this bike. I need a bicycle for sure, want one that I can break a sweat on so I am thinking a low powered direct drive stealthy motor. Got nothing really laying around, my geared BMC V1 only needs a cover, but I dont want the sound that comes with geared motors. My Crystalyte 408 might do the trick, but I think I need something more compact for the rear hub. The X408 is 194mm in total diameter.
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That is pretty small as it is, but not too stealthy without panniers, has tons of power, but I can limit it with a cheap controller. I wont be using the Cycle Analyst on this bike.

Motomech says the Aetoma is the smallest DD motor, I may look into that http://www.hightekbikes.com/aotema-hub-motor-conversion-kit.html

Rather limited in its power handling Another they are sensorless motors, but the same size as X400 series.

I find myself babying the bike as I dont want to mark it. Its so prestine and innocent looking.

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Heck even the seat post looks brand spanking new. I literally cant find any scuff marks or scratches, I had to take pictures of the blemishes and found 2.

I use a front DD Aotema on my bike. A friend uses a geared front hub from Luna on his. We both use the same batteries, 13s, 4p, GA cells, from Luna. The bikes weigh close to the same and we are both about 176 lb.

These two bikes accelerate the same, side by side, full throttle, from about 4 mph to top speed of 25 mph (top speed measured by my Garmin). The geared hub motor probably makes some whine noise, but I can't hear much of it when I'm riding the geared bike. The DD Aotema does make some noise that I hear, but only at some combinations of speed and throttle. This noise is probably caused by the Aotema controller, that is probably square wave. Perhaps changing to a sine wave or pseudo sine wave controller would quiet the DD hub. The geared hub does not cog at 1 mph, like the Aotema DD does.

Aotemas controller is made for 36V, but mine works with no problem at 48V, though it has no low voltage cutoff, LVC, at 48V. The controller does have a rocker switch for on and off. The capacitors in the controller hold their charge, as long as you don't switch on the controller when the battery isn't connected. This prevents electric arcing when plugging in the battery.

Because the Aotema DD is small for a DD hub motor, most people never notice that I'm riding an ebike. Also, the pedaling drag, when not using electric power, isn't too bad.

A Townie 21D is very appealing to me, plan is to use a two speed rear hub motor or BBSxx mid drive on one and change the shifters to thumb and trigger type. The seat position appears to be farther back over the rear tire than upright bikes, but looking closely it appears that it really is in a conventional relationship to the rear tire. Still, the plan is to use a suspension seatpost and suspension seat.

Hope the info on the Aotema DD helps. Please keep is informed on what you do and how it works out.

dogman dan said:

a townie is one of the few bikes in the $500 range I'd still pay $200 for.
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Yup and the eBike market is catching on and driving the price up.i'd go $150 for frame and fork for earliest models.

I cleaned it up some more today, and gave her a minor tune up. I found myself cleaning the rim and spokes to find any wear or marks and again couldn't find anything.

My research found the Aotema DD motor is the same size as the X408, so I will slap that puppy on. I've always preferred DD over geared ever since people kept looking back at me when I rode past them on a 250W geared brushed motor. While my MXUS 3000W DD people had no clue, and I'd wizzzzz by them doing my fake pedaling. I did countless tests to see if people would look back at me while I was coming up on them. Sometimes I'd cruise real slow 10' behind them, other times I'd speed past them in a respectable manner.

I think hidden in plain sight is the key to this build. Stealth is the name of the game. If I was rich I'd buy Justins compact controller, but a sinewave Kelly with the housing painted black and attached to the Electra rack. Black spiral tubing to hide the wiring and batteries inside some panniers.

Nothing I know of more stealthy than the good ol 408 rear motor, until you get into the cheater motors that hide in the seatpost.

408 is about the quietest of the dd's as for hiding it better, a disc on the left, even if it has rim brakes, and put a plastic disc under the freewheel. you have seen them? they sometimes come on bikes to keep chain oil off the rim. They are bigger than the gears, so they would easily hide a 408.

dogman dan said:

Nothing I know of more stealthy than the good ol 408 rear motor, until you get into the cheater motors that hide in the seatpost.

408 is about the quietest of the dd's as for hiding it better, a disc on the left, even if it has rim brakes, and put a plastic disc under the freewheel. you have seen them? they sometimes come on bikes to keep chain oil off the rim. They are bigger than the gears, so they would easily hide a 408.

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SAW 408? You got me excited thinking that power house was as small as a 34T. I'm hungry to earn more and since I've not your experience. You probably forgot more than I know about hub motors..
I sorted the sizes. AND got even more excited about a Mac.
408 7.2" (184mm)
34T 5.4" (137mm)
Mac 6.8" (172mm)