I've got 2 easy to fix his and hers chestnut Schwinn Suburbans. Can have them on the road as early as tonight, but they are kinda boring.
Was just out in the barn. In the 10 years we were away from our farm my Firestone's fork got tweaked, stem and bar went missing, rear wheel went missing, rack went missing too. And the 10 year old Krylon true blue is flaking off of the factory red (no biggie, looks better brick red anyway). Was planning a cream (Cub Cadet Beige) and orange (Kubota type1) repaint to match my custom Suzuki Savage. With apes on both, so needed a stronger stem. So now I need a good donor fork, think I want modern, paintable because I absolutely HATE chrome. But the original peaked fender MUST fit the new fork...
The rusty crusty looks like it should have gone for scrap in WW2 Schwinn Henderson on the other hand... Tires are junk, but still available. Spokes are beyond garbage. Seat is torn, pan and springs are rusty, but it feels great. Original seat WILL be recovered, resprung even if my brand new China Schwinn seat has to give up its springs. Plastic pan just would not be right on this bike. Paint is shot, but the white water slide decals are good enough to mask off for the color break. Skip tooth chain is rusty but smooth and silent. Hub is silent, coaster brake works great. All the plated parts are going to need to be painted or replated (I can live with paint).
SH belonged to my father in law when he was a kid. He still has the license plate for it in the house. He's 85 now, no way he can ever ride it, but, thinking about a resto-mod on it first. Stick it under the carport with a bow on it for Christmas. It was red with white and plated trim, but since HIS father in law was a motorcycle cop (who rode Excelsiors and Hendersons) I may go with black and white as a tribute/family history type thing. And Henderson motorcycle red is not cheap, Rustoleum appliance epoxy is...
Photo site is down, pics to come later.
Ideas? Suggestions? Things I definitely should NOT do with any of the four? I've been away from peddle bikes for years, ready to get back at it, big time.
Was just out in the barn. In the 10 years we were away from our farm my Firestone's fork got tweaked, stem and bar went missing, rear wheel went missing, rack went missing too. And the 10 year old Krylon true blue is flaking off of the factory red (no biggie, looks better brick red anyway). Was planning a cream (Cub Cadet Beige) and orange (Kubota type1) repaint to match my custom Suzuki Savage. With apes on both, so needed a stronger stem. So now I need a good donor fork, think I want modern, paintable because I absolutely HATE chrome. But the original peaked fender MUST fit the new fork...
The rusty crusty looks like it should have gone for scrap in WW2 Schwinn Henderson on the other hand... Tires are junk, but still available. Spokes are beyond garbage. Seat is torn, pan and springs are rusty, but it feels great. Original seat WILL be recovered, resprung even if my brand new China Schwinn seat has to give up its springs. Plastic pan just would not be right on this bike. Paint is shot, but the white water slide decals are good enough to mask off for the color break. Skip tooth chain is rusty but smooth and silent. Hub is silent, coaster brake works great. All the plated parts are going to need to be painted or replated (I can live with paint).
SH belonged to my father in law when he was a kid. He still has the license plate for it in the house. He's 85 now, no way he can ever ride it, but, thinking about a resto-mod on it first. Stick it under the carport with a bow on it for Christmas. It was red with white and plated trim, but since HIS father in law was a motorcycle cop (who rode Excelsiors and Hendersons) I may go with black and white as a tribute/family history type thing. And Henderson motorcycle red is not cheap, Rustoleum appliance epoxy is...
Photo site is down, pics to come later.
Ideas? Suggestions? Things I definitely should NOT do with any of the four? I've been away from peddle bikes for years, ready to get back at it, big time.
