I finished the Red 68 Lil Tiger as well! Sorry, no before pics of this one.
The bright parts are cleaned up and cleared where needed. (I used a CLR soak, does not harm chrome)
I repainted it with touch-up paint from an auto parts store. It scratches easily, I do not recommend that.
This one...
At long last, almost 4 years from when I first bought the rusted corpse of a bike, the thing is completely finished! I just re-installed and re-reupholstered the seat this weekend. The original holes drilled for the sissy bar were misaligned by about 3/4" from the factory. I didn't notice...
I did clearcoat the copper plated parts. it takes some of the shine away, but keeps it from turning brown. However, letting the copper oxidize would yield a cool look for a different type of bike.
I am still waiting on my inner seat pan and sissy bar to come back from Dad's shop. I should...
Wow that is the tallest Fuji I've ever seen! I got mine at a Cushman/Bicycle show about 13 yrs ago by chance ($40 road bike that fit me, I had to). I've ridden it hundreds of miles since. Mine fits me perfect with my 34" inseam (I haven't ever looked for an actual size printed on it,) but its...
Those are nice! I noticed you went with pneumatic tires. I think that was a wise decision.
I just bought another early Lil tiger already mostly disassembled and missing some pieces. I will pilfer it's sissy bar, and the do something constructive with it. The 4 yr old big sister is petite...
Hey guys, I just recently restarted my resto-modification of a 67 Lil Tiger for my soon-to-be 3 yr old boy. Essentially everything painted is now polished and copper plated; everything else is rechromed.
Here is the latest, still working on the seat restoration and sourcing a missing sissy bar:
Removing the old solid rubber tires was easy; I simply cut them in half with a sawzall. Installing the new solid rubber tires was the most difficult tire installation I've ever had the pleasure of performing. They have to be boiled in water in order to become pliable enough to install onto the...
After a very long year, I have had a lot going on and the lil tiger was boxed up and put on hold.
However, now I have a 2 and 4 yr old ready to ride it, so ive made much progress and am sticking
to the original plan. Pics coming soon!
Another idea to add to the previous advice... If you use the Muriatic Acid, submerge all spokes in it, removing all rust and plating from both new and old spokes. Then when they rerust, they will match eachother.
Spokes are rarely chrome plated. Most likely they are either zinc or cadmium plating. They look like zinc or cadmium plating in the pic. Both of with can be stripped with hydrochloric/muriatic acid. Once stripped, the exposed steel will rust, especially if you don't rinse off the acid well...
Its all good. I don't need any parts for the Fuji right now anyways. The Pixie in the link doesn't have anything I need for the Lil Tiger (The lil tiger is an even smaller 12" bike,) but thank you. If it had a sissy bar, I could probably cut it down to fit.
That would be great, thanks! :D If you happen across any Schwinn Lil' Tiger parts (67-80 12" kid's bike,) I could use anything, but mostly need a sissy bar. I'm restoring/mild customizing a 67 in the Builds topic here.
Well I am only an hour's drive from Dayton, so I may not be too far from you if I can organize the trip around something else in west/mid OH. I love parts... :mrgreen: