Cruisin’ on a Kronan
If I remember correctly, my dad found the old Sears Roebuck cruiser in a ditch. He must have eventually tired of riding it because for years it sat upright in the garage, kickstand firmly extended. When I was a teenager the only vehicle in the garage that I cared about was a 1987 Toyota Corolla– the car I still drive (aka “The Red Rascal”). It was around my sophomore year of college that I developed a fondness for cruiser bikes and managed to procure the classic 3-speed from my old man. I removed the cobwebs from the spokes, chromed it up, and painted it forest green. This beautiful machine carried me home from Lynagh’s Pub on many beer-soaked evenings. On one of these balmy summer nights I foolishly left the bike unlocked, thinking that because my apartment was on the third floor it would be safe. See ya.
A few years later, I began hunting around for a classic Schwinn Cruiser eventually finding one at an antiques dealer. He reluctantly sold me the dope black-and-yellow cruiser and I rode it around my neighborhood for a few years. Just before moving to Austin I traded it to my roommate for a Specialized mountain bike, another decision I would later regret. I’ve tried to tell myself that a mountain bike is much more practical. But the truth is, I mostly ride around downtown, hike-and-bike trails, and Bouldin Creek area–all of which are flat. (Except for that bitch of a hill next to school for the deaf). 
Now my jones for a cruiser is back in a very big way. See, tonight I laid eyes upon the bike I must someday own: a Kronan. Forget Saabs and Volvos, Sweden’s most important export only comes with two wheels.
The bikes were first 
designed for the Swedish Army in 1942. Johan Wahlback, a self-described “bicycling missionary”, found a bunch of the old bikes in warehouses around Sweden in 1996. Soon dozens of students could be seen zipping around Malm