Yard Ornament -7/31 AS GOOD AS IT'S GONNA GET!

[scott brownsey]

that stem is so COOL what is it from ?

[z-bikes]

that stem is so COOL what is it from ?

I removed it from a prewar mens Schwinn. It's somewhat rare so I really wanted to preserve it. When I have more time I'll cut off the damaged part and braze on a new extension then have it plated.
I believe it's a Wald #4.

[z-bikes]

I have this really cool sprocket that I was planning on using. I haven't been able to find out who made it or what bike it was originally from.



I sent it out in June to be replated knowing it was going to be close on whether or not I got it back in time. Been talking to the chrome shop letting them know I needed it before this weekend. The plater is in Milwaukee about 250 miles away. It looked like it was going to be done by last Thursday but I still wouldn't have it before the weekend so I made arrangements to have someone pick it up and then someone else transport it back on Sunday. Still cutting it close but doable. When I talked to the shop on Friday to make the pickup arrangements they informed me that inspection kicked it out and they were redoing it. BUMMER! I had to go through my junk just to find something else to use.

[z-bikes]

Made a custom brake arm stop and worked on a kickstand to use. Started out with some 1/8" aluminum pieces, then bent them into 90's.




Used some aluminum rod and gas welded them together. Crappy picture.



Smoothed them out with a 1" belt sander and a buffer.



Cut it off, drilled and tapped a hole, then added a couple of rubber pads.




Installed on the bike with a stainless button head bolt.




I wanted to use a rear dropout mounted kickstand but just could ran out of time to work one up so I went with a standard aluminum kickstand that I found in the garage. Took the belt sander to it to remove any manufacturers markings and change it from a semi-hexagon cross section to a tapered round one. Ran it through the buffer to remove the sanding marks.



Haven't mounted it yet, just hoping it's long enough.

[scott brownsey]

that stem is so COOL what is it from ?

I removed it from a prewar mens Schwinn. It's somewhat rare so I really wanted to preserve it. When I have more time I'll cut off the damaged part and braze on a new extension then have it plated.
I believe it's a Wald #4.

its very cool i have never seen 1 b4

[z-bikes]

Got my seat last week. I was going to trade parts for it but shipping costs reared it's ugly head so I just sold some stuff to pay for it. It's one of the only parts that I bought for the build with the exception of tires and grips. I'm not including the nuts, bolts & paint. Put the torch to the seatpost to bend it, ran it through the buffer, then put them on. I like how the red leather matches the red wheels.

[z-bikes]

That's it! Enough is enough. Good enough for who it's for. Will post in the finished bikes tomorrow.

Started with this:



Finished with this:

[SCHWINNRAY69]

Too cool

[37fleetwood]

just looked through your build thread. a really fun build chock full of rare and hard to find parts. I wasn't aware anyone made a repop of the Huffman Firestone chain guard! where did you run across it? also loved the photos with the Twin-Flex frame in the background.
Scott

[herr_rudolf]

Great workmanship and the headlight set-up is just too cool...

[z-bikes]

just looked through your build thread. a really fun build chock full of rare and hard to find parts. I wasn't aware anyone made a repop of the Huffman Firestone chain guard! where did you run across it? also loved the photos with the Twin-Flex frame in the background.
Scott

I think the guard was made by Chestnut Hollow in the 80's or 90's. It was on a Twin-Flex i bought from them on ebay which not surprisingly turned out not too well. The guard is a cast piece without any rear attachment. It took a lot of work to get it to look as good as it does.

[z-bikes]

Great workmanship and the headlight set-up is just too cool...

Thanks for the compliment. I've had those H-bars for a long time and thought they were pretty wierd when on a bike by themselves. I was looking through my box of lights and came across the 2 matching Elgin lights and it just came to me to mount them in the drop sections of the bars. Finally a use for the bars!

[feuerdog]

Beautiful bike. Great attention to detail. Well done sir.

[DeuceWheeler]

Awesome work!