Harvest Moon

[Couch tater]

My favorite time of the year is what is known as Indian Summer which can last mere days or sometimes weeks. I have had for a few years a mental vision, kind of a happy place, of rolling along on a motorbike type bicycle during this brief period without a care in the world. This year it becomes a reality. I bought my Edwards & Crist Cadillac on New Years eve and it is going to be that bike. With a nod to Neil Young it is named "Harvest Moon".

As purchased:

I initially thought it was a Michigan City Excelsior. Then I found a copy of an original E&C catalog that clearly states it is a Schwinn. The front hub is an ND SM model, rear is an ND model D small arm which would date the bike as probably 1933.

Catalog images:

 

[Couch tater]

First thing first, it had a broken truss rod and the upper portion of the steering tube had an odd bend. I heated the steering tube to cherry red and pulled it straight using a long handled ratchet coupled with a deep well socket that was inserted to the depth of the bend.

The truss rod was repaired using another truss rod from a damaged fork. I cut it to approximate length and made a sleeve joint using a 2" piece of brake line tubing & soldered it together. The lower was cut at the correct angle, slotted and migged in.

 

[Couch tater]

With the frame and fork now in buildable condition, it is time to consider the build itself. This bike was someones rat rod a very long time ago as seen by the accessories. That gives it 10k bonus points. I am going to keep it true to that rat rodders vision. The original hubs are going to be built into a set of modern wheels. I have already sourced a skip tooth cloverleaf 24t sprocket that will be mounted to a dogleg crank from a 1933 CWC that I bought for parts last summer. The chain guard is missing with the exception of the rear mount and I have sourced a prewar art deco guard that will be a great match with the rest of the art deco parts. The seat has been dismantled and de-rusted multiple times with phosphoric acid, photos coming. The front seat spring clamp was missing but I had a ladies seat that donated that part. As to the plated parts, the heavy rust will be removed and then the parts will be coated with boiled linseed oil.

Paint is weak and so dry that it runs off when it gets wet. There is also some evidence of a repaint. After a full mock up build I'll decide on whether to repaint or coat it with boiled linseed oil. Both will have to wait for warm sunny days.

 

[Grant]

Beautiful

 

[Couch tater]

I'm into a somewhat boring part of the build. Tonight I primed the seat parts to get ready for paint and a new cover. I ran out of primer before getting good coverage so that's one of tomorrows chores. Also finished deep cleaning and inspecting the hubs in preparation to measure for and order spokes. I had to replace the front hub bearings due to the retainers being broken. It took a while to find the correct retainer size because the SM uses a different size bearing than the later W models. It is imperative to have good bearing retainers and smooth axle threads on the front because the closed dropouts require assembling and adjusting the front axle while actually being in the dropouts. It would be a chore to have to repair a flat front tire on the roadside.

Ultrasonic cleaning the rear hub internals:

SM hub

Seat parts

 

[Couch tater]

Beautiful

Thanks. It seems far too few of these old motorbikes get put back into riding condition which is a shame because they are some great old bikes. The cost of using or even locating single tube tires to use on wood clad rims keep them as display bikes. I'm using AS7X 29er rims and most people wouldn't have a clue if they are original or not.

 

[Couch tater]

Progressing right along. This morning I measured for and ordered spokes. Out of caution I use two different online spoke calculators and measure separately for each and if they agree then I place the order. A past mistake taught me that . I ordered black spokes which ought to look good with this rustoration.

Tonight I painted the seat parts black so seat building can proceed next week after the paint has dried. I gave the chain a final cleaning and have it soaking in oil. Lastly I put a new face the speedometer. The parts were robbed from a new one that was defective. It will be non functional, but original to the bike.

Before:

More better:

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I can't quite see the digits; did you set the odometer to 1933?

 

[Couch tater]

I can't quite see the digits; did you set the odometer to 1933?

Yep. The internals are different on the OG speedo compared with the new models so the slot was slightly offset. I spent way too time on this little project.

 

[Couch tater]

The spokes arrived today so hopefully I'll build the wheels this weekend. The seat post wasn't shimmed so I installed one. There was considerable crust around the head badge that was starting to lift it so I decided to remove the head badge to remove the crust. The screws were stuck so I applied some PB Blaster to help free them. After getting the head badge loose I got two surprises; remnants of the gold stripes were under it and the PB Blaster made the paint around it come back. It made sense because the original paint was oil based. I wiped down the entire frame with PB Blaster and gave it a single coat of boiled linseed oil. I had hoped to avoid repainting it and it is good enough now to give it a few more coats of linseed oil this summer and call it done.

 

[Couch tater]

The seat is done. I used 3M adhesive to bond the padding to the pan, leather to the padding. The leather was adhered to the bottom of the pan with Barge TF cement. Somehow the seat got lumpy and the only thing I can think of is the adhesive shrunk up the weird between the different materials. I'll be oiling the leather in a few more days and though I don't expect it to become un-lumpy my fingers will be crossed.

I did the frame assembly tonight. Head set, forks, bottom bracket, crank, fenders, seat post and seat. The handlebars have a weird bend in them that is hard to figure out to try straightening them. I suspect a horse fell out of a tree onto the bars which also caused the bend in the steering tube. Until I can get the bars bent back into shape, I mooched a set of bars from another project waiting in the wings.

I hope to build the wheels this weekend. I thought I had inner tubes but the rims I'm using call for Shrader and all I had on hand were Presta.


The padded pan

The lumpy leather covering

The crank & sprocket

 

[Couch tater]

Finally finished building the wheels. I haven't built enough wheels yet to be fast about it. Truing them takes a pretty good while though the last one went much quicker. I got the spoke lengths spot on so that's cool. I have two more wheels to finish tensioning and truing and two more to build for the unofficial March build off so I'll be getting more experienced at building them.

They'll get them mounted on the bike over the next few days and then I'll take it for its' first ride in decades. There are still odds and ends to attend to but the old boy is coming around.

 

[us56456712]

The spokes arrived today so hopefully I'll build the wheels this weekend. The seat post wasn't shimmed so I installed one. There was considerable crust around the head badge that was starting to lift it so I decided to remove the head badge to remove the crust. The screws were stuck so I applied some PB Blaster to help free them. After getting the head badge loose I got two surprises; remnants of the gold stripes were under it and the PB Blaster made the paint around it come back. It made sense because the original paint was oil based. I wiped down the entire frame with PB Blaster and gave it a single coat of boiled linseed oil. I had hoped to avoid repainting it and it is good enough now to give it a few more coats of linseed oil this summer and call it done.

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Nice

 

[Couch tater]

It's a roller again. Still a ways to go before it's a rider.The whitewall balloon tires didn't clear the chain stays but that was pretty much expected so I swapped them for some Schwalbes I already had. To finish it I still need to add back the original accessories, rebuild the pedals I'm using, add a chain guard. The front fender has the remains of an old mudflap so I'll make one to replace it. It might actually be ready by the time Indian summer rolls around.

 

[RustyGold]

Looks very nice!