Bettys bike.

woodtickgreg

Active User
Registered
Joined
Jun 22, 2012
Messages
1,552
My next bike build is for my girl, Betty's bike. It's a 1963 Schwinn American. It's going to be a total custom cruiser, the purist will cringe at the thought of me totally molesting this bike, lol. But it will look nice, be cool, and fun to ride when I'm done with it.
As it looks now, picking it up from my storage bay.
20190101_150227.jpg
And it's up on on the work stand, let the teardown begin.
20190101_200150.jpg20190101_200212.jpg
This is the last time it will be all original.
 
That's a good looking specimen...a little polish and elbow grease would make it look new.
 
I got it up on the work stand and the teardown has begun.
20190102_073719.jpg
All that's left to remove is the fork and kickstand and then it's off to powdercoat.
20190102_073708.jpg
The crank was date coded 63 so it is an original 1963.
 
I finished stripping the frame today and when I flipped it to knock out the headset bearing cup I saw what at first I thought was a cracked frame. On closer inspection I actually think it was a manufacturing defect, a filet brake that was not filled in all the way. I think this because the 2 pipes are at different levels. I'll have this brazed at a friends weld and then file and smooth it before taking it to powder coat.
The stripped frame upside down.
20190103_205319.jpg
See what looks like a crack on the lower tube?
20190103_205256.jpg
Here you can clearly see the different levels of the tubes and the low spot from the missing braze, very uncaracteristic ot Schwinn.
20190103_205302.jpg
 
Hmmm... That is weird looking , I would not think there would be a tube end and braze there . Maybe get it striped and inspect further . But no worries braze it up .
 
I have since learned that the frame is bent and stressed and that's why the crack has formed. I could try and straighten it and weld in a support between the 2 main down tubes but it's just not worth the time and effort in my opinion. I have other frames I can use for this build. No worries, this build will go on.
 
Well I was going to use a newer Chinese made Schwinn frame for this build as a replacement. But then I stumbled onto this 1952 or 53 Schwinn Spitfire bike. It is much more heavy duty, has the bigger rims to fit 2x2.125 tires and a cool looking chain gaurd. This will be a great candidate for the custom cruiser.
As I found it at an auto repair shop.
20190105_155324.jpg
And it's up on the work stand ready to be stripped for powdercoat.
20190105_164737.jpg
 
Well I got this one stripped today. Bikes from the 50s are seriously well made and heavy duty. The bearings and races show almost no wear, everything is thicker and more substantial. It always amazes me when you pull the handgrips after 70 years there's still shiney chrome under them. There are no issues with this frame, it's ready to go to powdercoat. I have a vision in my head of how it's going to look. It's going to be a nice custom cruiser and it'll be all new when I'm done with it.
20190106_172253.jpg
20190106_182600.jpg
 
Back
Top