5 day challenge

[Dizzle Problems]

So usually, I wouldn’t make a thread for a build like this, but hey, why not?

So a buddy of mines birthday is a few days away. Based on some info I’ve gathered, I’m going to attempt to build a sort of budget tribute to the bike he had in the early 80s.
I had decided I wanted to build him a bike before I realized how soon his birthday is. But seeing as how it’s so soon, why not shoot for it?
I have pretty much everything I need, except a frame. I knew I wanted a Schwinn.
Then I remembered a friend that a bit back said they had a late 80s Schwinn I could have. So I contacted them, and I go to pick the frame up tomorrow morning.

I will be doing the bulk of this build, which includes paint, I’m the next two days.

Pics to follow

 

[Indyjps]

Pics Pics. Paint will be touchy plenty of halogen lamps or hang it in your furnace room overnight will help.
Sounds like a cool build, im sure your friend will love it.
I like doing bikes for other people. Theyre usually happy, I get to build a bike and not have to figure out how to store it or sell it.

 

[Dizzle Problems]

Pics Pics. Paint will be touchy plenty of halogen lamps or hang it in your furnace room overnight will help.
Sounds like a cool build, im sure your friend will love it.
I like doing bikes for other people. Theyre usually happy, I get to build a bike and not have to figure out how to store it or sell it.

Same! I'm runnin low on storage as it is, so its nice to build one I'm not keeping.
The more I think on it, I'll prob get it painted, headset, fork, bottom bracket, and crank installed this weekend, then the rest on Tuesday or Wednesday evening so the paint has as much time to cure as possible.
The frame is currently repainted an awesome purple.

 

[Dizzle Problems]

Here’s the only pic I currently have-

So here’s what I know about his bike in the early 80s. It was a red Schwinn, with Cook bros fork and bars in chrome, a rear drum brake, and a ‘square blue’ stem. Which I imagine was a tuff neck.
Now, obviously there’s no way a build of that caliber is happening. But, it’ll be red, with chrome forks and bars, and a blue stem. I haven’t decided on coaster or hand brake yet as I haven’t landed on a wheelset. Figure I might have to build some, we’ll see.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Cool plan, looking forward to seeing it!

 

[Indyjps]

Great score on the forks.

 

[Dizzle Problems]

Made the hour or so round trip and picked the frame up. Poorly done sparkle purple rattle can-

Sanded the top layer and got her in the ‘paint booth’

 

[Dizzle Problems]

Got the frame primed and painted—

Pulling parts while it dries.
I should have taken more pics, but I’m tryin to hurry. I had to pull the bars, bottom bracket, and crank off a few parts bikes layin around. They were a bit more crusty, but cleaned up pretty well.

These parts I tried to paint with a blue ‘anodizing’ spray paint. It didn’t take as well as I’d like. I’ll figure that out later.

So, unfortunately, I don’t have a decent set of aluminum coaster brake wheels laying around that are silver. But, I do have a set with decent hubs and stainless spokes, they are however, pink. Then I also have a set of silver wheels I bought for the hubs.... so I’m gonna have to unbuilt, and rebuild some wheels.

Also, unfortunately, the clear coat didn’t sit well, even though I followed the top coat within an hour. Glad I tested it on the bottom side of the bottom bracket shell. I will prob try and focus on the wheels first, then spray clear tomorrow or Monday night.

 

[Dizzle Problems]

So here’s the stem and seatpost clamp. The ano paint is really thin and gave some splotching and runs. I sanded that out this morning and sprayed them again. They came out ok, but I’ll wait 24 hours and touch some spots up.

I had put the BB in degreaser last night. Almost forgot about it. Pulled it out and it cleaned up well.

Just before the sun went down yesterday, I got all four wheels torn down, and laced up the silver hoops to the stainless spokes and hubs that were in the pink hoops.
This afternoon I tensioned and trued em up, pulled the all black tires off a bike I wanted whitewalls on, and got em mounted.

I also sanded some imperfections out of the frame. I’ll spray the touch up spots/second coat tomorrow after work. I think I’m going to forego the clear coat. I don’t have the time to do it properly, and I honestly don’t think it’s really needed.

 

[Dizzle Problems]

Came home on my lunch break today and shot the second coat on the frame. I’m calling the paint good. I need to give it 24 hours to dry, then I can start some assembly.

The touch up on the stem did not take so well.

I removed the part I wasn’t happy with and tried to blend it. Being a translucent type of paint, it didn’t fare well. So, I decided it was time to start over.

Stripped it back and tried again. I learned a lot about this paint in this experience, so that’s good.
You have to lay a suuuuper thin layer, walk away for a few mins, and repeat.

I’ll see if it’s as dark as the seatpost clamp and top cap when it dries, and lay some more thin layers if needed.

I should be able to get the fork and crank in tomorrow after work. I’ll wait for the wheels until the last min so that the paint on the frame has as much time as possible to cure before anything is in contact with it.

So far, it’s looking like I’m on schedule

 

[Dizzle Problems]

So I had about 45 mins of daylight when I got home today. Got right to it.
Got the headset, fork, bb, crank/chainring, seatpost, and seatpost clamp in.
I hadn’t considered that I needed to cut the fork steerer about 3/4 of an inch, so that ate up some time.
Finished off the bb tightening just as it got too dark.
Snapped a poor quality pic after I cleaned the tools up-

(Ran the rope back through so I could hang it from a hook in the garage without touching paint)

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Looks like you are on target!
That blue paint looks good, looks anodized in the pictures.

 

[horsefarmer]

Source for the anodized paint? Would it work to refinish an alloy crank that I stripped with oven cleaner?

 

[Dizzle Problems]

Source for the anodized paint? Would it work to refinish an alloy crank that I stripped with oven cleaner?

I think it would yea. Maybe just give it a polish first. I actually scuffed this stem stripping it, so I gave it a light sand and polish. The paint took to it great.

https://www.amazon.com/Dupli-Color-...lor+metalcast&qid=1551301475&s=gateway&sr=8-1

 

[Dizzle Problems]

Well I got it finished! Due to rain, I haven’t got any pictures of the whole bike yet. I’ll try and snap some in the morning before I take it to it’s owner!

 

[Dizzle Problems]

Snapped a few pics before I loaded it up in my truck-

I, in my haste, hadn’t figured I couldn’t shoot the rivets in the headbadge with the fork installed, whoops.
So I made do with some screws at work. Shaved them down in length and she’s done!

All in all, challenge completed. Stoked.

 

[brett4christ]

Nice work!

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Very nice work!

 

[Dizzle Problems]

Thanks guys. Best part was to hear him say, ‘it’s just like my bike from the 80s!’

Was a fun quick one. And I managed to get it done for under $40, including paint.

 

[RustyGold]

zero to awesome in 5days!