So back when we went to the Monson Mass swap meet, I didn't buy any bikes. My buddy did, and came home with a sweet 1930's Elgin. But on the way home, we stopped at this little roadside antique store, and there's a balloon tire ladies Schwinn.
The price was right, even though it was pretty tired from a lot of outside storage, shall we say, and I got it and put it aside for later.
The wheels ended up being borrowed for the first ride on the Elgin, with some nice new WW knobbies on them, while the original Elgin wheels get rehabbed.
In the meantime, everything has been stripped, the frame, fork, chainguard, and rear fender.
I opened up the seat, blasted and cleaned the pan halves, and will be recovering it in brown leather.
The serial number is on the bottom of the crank, C 01030. That's earlier than the 1948 date codes, the first listed in the available date guides. I estimate it would have been mid-1947. The bike has a welded-on kickstand tube, so it's post-war. The style of the bike is found in 1946, 47, and 48 catalogs, and it doesn't really matter to me which it is, it's just something of that era.
The parts are now all primered and ready for finish paint work. (Though I still do need a front fender.)
And now I'm at an impasse. Usually I know EXACTLY what I want to build, or I'm restoring something to original so I have at least an idea of how it should come out. But this bike was spray paint blue, over an original light purple that I don't care for at all. And I'm not sure what color I should paint it.
My intent here is to have a nice riding original Schwinn- coaster brake, full fenders, working skiptooth setup. I have new decals for the guard and seatpost quality circles... I just have to figure out what color(s) to do it in.
What are your thoughts? Can some of you post pics of finished bikes of this style? Maybe something will just grab me. Or maybe we can have a vote on the color. I'm leaning towards a candy red, like the Stingray flamboyant red, with cream accents on the head tube and seat post... but I've got a lot of different ideas too.
I could ask my wife, but that's too easy.
--Rob
The price was right, even though it was pretty tired from a lot of outside storage, shall we say, and I got it and put it aside for later.
The wheels ended up being borrowed for the first ride on the Elgin, with some nice new WW knobbies on them, while the original Elgin wheels get rehabbed.
In the meantime, everything has been stripped, the frame, fork, chainguard, and rear fender.
I opened up the seat, blasted and cleaned the pan halves, and will be recovering it in brown leather.
The serial number is on the bottom of the crank, C 01030. That's earlier than the 1948 date codes, the first listed in the available date guides. I estimate it would have been mid-1947. The bike has a welded-on kickstand tube, so it's post-war. The style of the bike is found in 1946, 47, and 48 catalogs, and it doesn't really matter to me which it is, it's just something of that era.
The parts are now all primered and ready for finish paint work. (Though I still do need a front fender.)
And now I'm at an impasse. Usually I know EXACTLY what I want to build, or I'm restoring something to original so I have at least an idea of how it should come out. But this bike was spray paint blue, over an original light purple that I don't care for at all. And I'm not sure what color I should paint it.
My intent here is to have a nice riding original Schwinn- coaster brake, full fenders, working skiptooth setup. I have new decals for the guard and seatpost quality circles... I just have to figure out what color(s) to do it in.
What are your thoughts? Can some of you post pics of finished bikes of this style? Maybe something will just grab me. Or maybe we can have a vote on the color. I'm leaning towards a candy red, like the Stingray flamboyant red, with cream accents on the head tube and seat post... but I've got a lot of different ideas too.
I could ask my wife, but that's too easy.
--Rob