Been reading a lot of posts over here.. Thought I might as well say Hi.. And also let me say that if anyone on here is a Tallahassee local, I'd love to make some bike friends.
Name's Matt. 23 years old and I've spent my life thus far twisting wrenches on old cars.. Mostly Studebakers..
Decided last year that I needed a cool bike after a slew of expensive car projects, so I joined the CABE and bought a worn out '51 Schwinn Phantom. Found out pretty quick that I wasn't meant to be a CABE member.. (None of my old cars were bone stock, and I certainly wasn't going to go nuts trying to find bolts with the correct head markings for a bicycle).
A quick run down of my bike. Yes, I do plan on getting a couple more, but for now, this rollin' POS (and totally bastardized Red Phantom) is keeping me plenty busy.
This was the bike as shown in the seller's ad. It is, according to the original paint and serial number, a real deal 1951 Schwinn Red Phantom. But who cares.
So I did the minimal stuff to get it to a point where I could take my Schnauzer around the neighborhood.
That was all well and good.. But as much as I like "patina", I don't like "rust". So the bike was stripped, blasted, painted, and "sorta" rebuilt as a somewhat correct Red Phantom. And here it is with the skyline of my former home of Atlanta.
A few months ago, I moved to Tallahassee, Florida. I started riding the bike again and a couple of the original bearings fell apart, leading to this:
That led to "Well, while it's apart...." I realized the red and black isn't "me", so.. This is where the Phantom currently is at. Let me tell ya.. Having an auto restoration shop at my disposal is quite handy.
I'll start a new thread when the bike is done. It'll still be a really cool Schwinn ballooner, but FAR from the "Red Phantom" variation that it left Chicago with in 1951. More on that later!
Name's Matt. 23 years old and I've spent my life thus far twisting wrenches on old cars.. Mostly Studebakers..
Decided last year that I needed a cool bike after a slew of expensive car projects, so I joined the CABE and bought a worn out '51 Schwinn Phantom. Found out pretty quick that I wasn't meant to be a CABE member.. (None of my old cars were bone stock, and I certainly wasn't going to go nuts trying to find bolts with the correct head markings for a bicycle).
A quick run down of my bike. Yes, I do plan on getting a couple more, but for now, this rollin' POS (and totally bastardized Red Phantom) is keeping me plenty busy.
This was the bike as shown in the seller's ad. It is, according to the original paint and serial number, a real deal 1951 Schwinn Red Phantom. But who cares.
So I did the minimal stuff to get it to a point where I could take my Schnauzer around the neighborhood.
That was all well and good.. But as much as I like "patina", I don't like "rust". So the bike was stripped, blasted, painted, and "sorta" rebuilt as a somewhat correct Red Phantom. And here it is with the skyline of my former home of Atlanta.
A few months ago, I moved to Tallahassee, Florida. I started riding the bike again and a couple of the original bearings fell apart, leading to this:
That led to "Well, while it's apart...." I realized the red and black isn't "me", so.. This is where the Phantom currently is at. Let me tell ya.. Having an auto restoration shop at my disposal is quite handy.
I'll start a new thread when the bike is done. It'll still be a really cool Schwinn ballooner, but FAR from the "Red Phantom" variation that it left Chicago with in 1951. More on that later!
