Meet My Bicycle: A Retro 1960's Healing Loline

Happy spring time everyone! To celebrate the arrival of blossoms and bulbs popping out of the ground everywhere, I thought I would share with you one of my most treasured possessions- My little retro bicycle!

She is a 1960's, single speed Healing Loline cruiser. These bicycles were built in the 1960's and 1970's exclusively here in New Zealand by a company called Morison and Healing. I feel like these special little bikes are such an ode to old "Home Grown" Aotearoa, because all of the materials for the bikes were manufactured and sourced from within the country. The government of the day even played a part in the Healing bicycles' history; they stopped 90% of bike imports from entering the country to help boost the demand for New Zealand made bikes (and upon hindsight more jobs for our people and a lower carbon footprint!). For a 10 year period in the 1970's, 90% of bicycles sold here were made in our own back yard!- How cool is that?!

From my own research, 1960's single speed Healing bicycles in particular are very hard to come by- So I feel all the more lucky to have one!

I purchased her online three or four years ago in a very ragged and run down state not knowing how badly run down some parts were; 'why?' you ask? Well, when you have an engineer for a boyfriend anything broken is an exciting project! I knew that this poor, forgotten little bike would get all of the love and repair it needed!

After all of the moving parts were fixed, Andrew managed to keep the majority of the bike with its original parts. We repainted her a lovely buttery cream colour, and I searched high and low for a basket big enough to fit all of my big text books in to lug to uni. We also held on to the original mud guards, rear pannier rack and very old front and rear lights (which are powered by the back wheel as you pedal!) to pop back on when I no longer need to use a basket every day. 

As you can see, this bike is so special to me because it's a part of the golden days of my country's history, and Andrew spent so much time and effort fixing her up for me (which is so ridiculously sweet!)...what more could a vintage loving girl ask for!?

Now, the crux to this post is...She doesn't have a name!!!!! I've been meaning to give her a name for a very long time, but nothing I've tried has ever felt right. I would LOVE to hear your suggestions!