Illustrated Service Guides & Vintage Bicycle Repair
Current Projects
This is a new page, we'll see how it shapes up.
Going to document some of the current project bikes as they get built up.
Newest project bike ('61 5-speed Corvette) is at bottom of page.
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1959 Schwinn Tornado, coaster brake Middleweight
Picked this bike up many months ago. Probably should have just let somebody else snag it off of CL. Guess I was having one of those days where the desire to buy a Schwinn outweighed the desire to buy a good Schwinn. This bike looks like it was left out in the rain for a decade or more. There's rust all over the frame. Amazingly the stem and seatpost came out without a fight. Rims are pretty rusty, and both hubs have corrosion. All the chrome is shot. Neat frame, but dang, where to start.
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At first was thinking about just bringing this bike back in black. Given, these weren't offered in black, but hey. But then I got to thinking about saving the patina. Because you can't buy ugly like this ugly. And I have this extra springer fork around. And this ridiculous 24" x 3" flamed rear tire. And some other odds and ends.
So here it is mocked up as a rat (pardon the clutter). Going to have to bend the frame a bit to clear the rear tire. Heavyweight rear fender fits in the middleweight frame with just a bit of effort. Front wheel is an S-7 with old skinny aftermarket tire. High flange front hub with HD spokes.
Considering running an S-2 up front so I can match up the tires (there's a 26" flamed tire that goes with the fatty 24"), and with the S-2 I could also run the matching blue HW front fender. But I like the hot-rod contrast of fat to skinny tires. So we'll see.
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Rebuilt the rear wheel a couple times. Built it up around a Bendix smooth shell 28. The existing rim was a bit too hoppy once it was built, so rim swapped for the matching front hoop. The new hoop is a bit better, but is still a bit wonked. 22 tooth cog on the rear, steel brake shoes inside the hub.
Had to do some minor re-working of the rear fender to get the tire to clear. Minimal clearances with fender, frame, and stays.
Pedals are weathered and worn Phantom pedals. Chain is off an Exerciser. Springer is late 70s Schwinn.
For the time, leaving off the chainguard and front fender.
Took the Tornado for a test ride today, maybe half an hour of noodling around the neighborhood. Rides nice for what it is. Pictures don't do it justice.
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1954 Schwinn Jaguar, 3 speed Heavyweight.
This bike is hammered. Looks pretty much like a beat up Corvette, but it's a heavyweight frame sporting deep heavyweight fenders and S-2 hoops. Probably should have passed this one by. But the frame and fork are there, the 3 speed hub is there. Caliper brakes are there. Front wheel mostly okay, rear rim will have to be swapped out. Previous owner welded some seat supports on the frame. Front fender cut in half. All the good stuff is missing. Felt that a bike this rare needed some positive attention.
First step will be to strip off all the parts. Then the angle grinder comes out and the welded seat supports get removed.
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Here's a snap of the '54 catalog, the Jaguar was the cover bike. Long way from where this one is. Look at how happy that kid is.
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Got the welded bits cut off and stripped the non-Schwinn parts (and the hopeless parts) off the frame. Aligned the fork. Replaced hammered rear rim with a late 70s heavy duty spoke hole S-2, shimmed the spoke holes with small washers. Popped the Sturmey apart, was dry but very clean, oiled it and slapped it back together. Tossed on some painted fenders.
For the time being, I'm going to build this bike up as a rat. Mechanicals will be spot-on, but I'm going to ingore the cosmetics. Might be refreshing to have an ugly bike around to run errands with.
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I'm looking for a rusty crusty Rocket Ray for the front fender, or even just the top half. Got a hopelessly rusted one that you don't know what to do with? I want to buy it. For cheap.
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Got the Jaguar together and rolling. Tossed a 22 tooth Nexus cog on the Sturmey hub for easy pedaling. Tires are newish Typhoon Cords that a previous owner got all filthy and yellowed. Chainguard (thanks Paul!) has similar patina but was originally off a Hornet. Pedals are later bows without the screw-on blocks. Badge is the only shiny bit of paint on this bike. Left crank arm or pedal has some minor wonk to it that I have to chase down, otherwise it rides really nice.
I have a NOS Wasp chainguard in Opal Green. Was thinking about (in the future) building this bike up as a fantasy Wasp. Would solve the problem of acquiring chrome fenders, and the two tone green and white would be sweet.
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1961 Schwinn Corvette 5-speed
Just picked up this rough 5 speed Corvette. It's missing the front rack, light, teardrop reflector, chaingaurd, starburst badge, script grips, cranks and pedals. Fork is bent, frame was stripped and repainted years back, stem and derailleur (and most other parts) have nasty rust. Seat is there, and it's rough. But the 5 speed stuff is there, the brakes are still intact, the rear wheel is still true and the stainless fenders should roll out nicely. Going to soak this one in Liquid Wrench for a bit.
If it wasn't such an unusual model I wouldn't have bothered, I'm a sucker for the odd-ball Schwinns.
Good thing that the Kent swap meet is coming up, this project is going to require a bunch of parts. In the interest of simplicity, likely going to bring this one back in black. Dang, going to need some decals too.
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