Vintage sonic flyer / western flyer. Any idea what batteries this would use and what year this bike may be!? Thanks in advance good ppl of Reddit
by asstastrophobic
Vintage sonic flyer / western flyer. Any idea what batteries this would use and what year this bike may be!? Thanks in advance good ppl of Reddit
by asstastrophobic
6 Comments
Cool – my guess on batteries would be either 2 C or D batteries commonly used for toys and flashlights back in the day. From [Battery Globe](https://batteryglobe.com/c-vs-d-battery/) :
>C batteries measure 50mm x 26.2mm.
>D size batteries measure 61.5mm x 33.2mm.
(length x diameter)
Yup either C or D cells.
BUT there’s enough room you could fit a pack of rechargeable 18650 cells in there, for higher voltage and much brighter lights if you know someone handy with basic electronics.
By the way, it’s a 1960’s vintage but from experience, these things sadly ride pretty badly, especially the women’s models because these use mild steel tubing, it will flex like a wet noodle and absorb all of your energy as you pedal.
I once fixed up and retro-modded a 1966 Columbia, and it was BEAUTIFUL, it looked brand new, I even converted it to an internal 7 speed hub, but in the end it rode like absolute shit.
https://imgur.com/gallery/Jbpm9tM
2 D batteries. That style was really popular in the early to mid 60s. Most manufacturers had one that looked like that. A lot of them were made by Murray, and the most common were the Murray made sears and jc higgins
Probably d cel. Good find but your missing the fenders for it.
Western Flyers were sold at Western Auto Stores.
They were later bought by Sears and then Advance Auto – all the stores were gone by the early 2000’s.
Mine uses 2 D batteries. I upgraded the bulbs to super bright LEDs.