Old school fat tire bike.

[woodtickgreg]

Saw this and couldn't resist a pic, lol.

Picked up this newer Schwinn womens cruiser for parts. Ill use the springer front end, tires, front wheel and rear rim, fenders. Maybe the seat.

Kinda nice working on bikes in your living room in the winter, lol.

This is the new old school Schwinn frame from the 60's or 70's. I had it sandblasted and powdercoated. I'm not going for the original restore here, just a nice rider for the neighborhood and car shows. That is an original Schwinn S-7 rear wheel with a bendix 2 speed kickback hub. I'm going to use the hub on this bike and the rim on a tandem that I'm also building.

Had the chaingaurd powdercoated at the same time, i'll use these new handlebars.

 

[woodtickgreg]

Got some new vinyl repro stickers for it, just had to put one on to see how they look.

The freshly powdercoated frame is in the work stand and ready for some parts.

This is an original old Schwinn crank assy.

First parts on the frame, bearing cups for the crank.

Clean and repacked bearings with crank assy in.

All adjusted and spins nice and smooth.

Schwinn kickstand are the most durable in my opinion. Cleaned this on up, greased, and ready for install.

One little pin holds it in.

Starting to look like a bike now.

 

[woodtickgreg]

It's a good start.

I like this work stand, makes it so easy to work on, stable, adjustable, and I can push it back out of the way when I'm not working on it.

 

[woodtickgreg]

I think I'll work on the front fork next and then Relacing the rear wheel.

 

[C-Bag]

You do wonderful work. Stands are totally the way to go. I rigged stands for working on our trikes out of some nice Rockwell Jawstands.

Can't wait to see how your cruiser comes out. BTW do those springer front ends make a difference? Never ridden one. Like Howlin' Wolf said, "I'm built for comfort, not speed".

 

[woodtickgreg]

You do wonderful work. Stands are totally the way to go. I rigged stands for working on our trikes out of some nice Rockwell Jawstands.

Can't wait to see how your cruiser comes out. BTW do those springer front ends make a difference? Never ridden one. Like Howlin' Wolf said, "I'm built for comfort, not speed".

Thanks for the compliments. The springers along with the fat tires and a good springer seat all work together to make for a cushy ride. This build is kind of a novelty for me, a step back into my youth. It will be a nice neighborhood slow roller so you don't feel every crack in the road or sidewalks. this will be a fun one at the many car shows I go to as well. I'm not going for a totally original restore on this one, just want it to look nice, work well, and have a durable finish on it so that's why I went with powdercoat. I intend to ride and use it. I build all kinds of old Schwinns as a hobby, most I sell when they are done. I'll keep this one, I have a Schwinn tandem with a 5 speed and drum rear brake that I'll keep and my lady and I can use for fun. I mostly build up collegiates and 3 speeds, fat tires and some of the ten speeds from Schwinn. I don't really do much with the stingrays and crates and pickers, prices on those have just gone through the roof and they are very collectible now. But if one falls into my hands I won't turn it down,lol.

 

[C-Bag]

Great hobby, and useful. There is so much going to scrap just because folks have lost their way. When I was a kid it wasn't about how many miles you could cover in a day or how expensive your bike was, it was being able to see new places and just enjoy being outside.

Around here the spandex crowd rules so while CL is full of hi end road bikes and MT bikes, beach cruisers are a minority with Schwinn's being a small sub set. Too bad what used to be pure fun has been turned into a race/competition.

 

[woodtickgreg]

Yup I hear ya. But I do like the high end road bikes as well, but you'll never see me in spandex shorts unless they are under my blue jean shorts or kahkis, lol. I have bikes for different things, when I want to do long distance I use a different bike for that. This one is just for kicks!

 

[woodtickgreg]

I finally got some time to work on the bike on new years day! Great way to start the new year, working on something for me and for fun.
First bearing cup is in, one to go. Set them in with a brass hammer.

Both bearing races are in.

I took the springer fork all apart because it needed a good cleaning, some rust removal, and polishing. Some of the cheap Chinese chrome is flaking off, if I can't keep it from rusting maybe I'll pull it back off and sandblast it and powdercoat it. Black might actually look cool.

But for now it's all greased up and reassembled and on the bike. Used an original schwinn gooseneck and a new set of wald handlebars.

The springer makes this bike.

New pedals are on.

I got a new seat post for it today. And next will be wire wheeling the rust off the bottom or inside of the fenders and polishing the top side. Those great big chrome fenders are going too look cool with this red powdercoat. It's a very bright red.

 

[Franko]

Great project and work, Greg. Looking good!

I had a Schwinn cruiser that was very similar. The frame looks familiar. It had the springer front end, tank and electric horn, leather saddle and chrome fenders. At the time (late 50s) the chrome fenders were super cool.