Rust2Rods Schwinn VW Tribute Bike

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I had started building this bike as a tribute to my 67 VW beetle on air ride. I didn't plan on entering it into the build off, but after talking to some people they suggested I toss it into the mix. The bike is themed after the cars color scheme. The plan for this is to have the bike at the car shows, swap meet's and drag races (as a pit bike) to ride around on.

I bought this bike off of Craigslist. I wanted a old Schwinn frame to start with. I picked it up for next to nothing...
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After getting it, I had decoded the serial number to find out it was a '57 Schwinn. I thought it was a wasp but after looking at the rear brace, it most likely is a jaguar or a corvette frame.

I tore it down, it was dented pretty badly on the upper tube and the bars below were dented and bent as well. Like someone jammed something in between the bars of the frame. I also noticed that the kick stand was torn off... No worries though I dismantled it pretty quickly and sanded it down by hand. Got it to bare metal. Used some automotive body filler to fill in the dents and the torn out kick stand mount. I shaped and sanded it until it was perfect. The frame was shot with self etching primer, then sprayed with 2 stage automotive paint in the color of the beetle I am building "Mango Green". You can see the VW body behind the frame. The frame was painted with the automotive paint. 3 coats of base color and 3 coats of clear. The clear coat is still curing in the photos...

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I have a set of rims from a Huffy bike I planned on using. The wheel set has a rear coaster brake hub. Black rims with heavy spokes. Front has a larger hub and heavy spokes as well. These are used on their "Beach Cruiser" bikes. I bought the bike new, and after assembly, I found the wheels were way out of true. I contacted Huffy and much to my surprise, they sent me another set of rims. So I decided to keep this one together and true the rims myself and use the other rims on the Schwinn.

I am now waiting for my parts to come in. I have ordered up a black and chrome springer fork, chrome front and rear fenders, black 26" banana seat, tall sissy bar, a pair of slicks and tubes for the rims. Now it's a matter of waiting for the parts to come in.....

Here's a look at the beetle project that this bike will be modeled after....

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While working on the beetle's body, I will take a little break and do some work on the bike...just to break things up. Well while I was waiting, the crank sprocket had some gouges in it and a lot of peeled chrome and rust. I decided to powder coat it gloss black. Cleaned it, wire wheeled it, put some gloss black powder on it and tossed it in the oven for 20 minutes in the garage. Here's how it came out...
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A little while later, a package shows up on my door step. It's the springer fork... I put it on the frame and put the crank in after greasing all the bearings, put the wheels on and the schwinn headbadge and here's how it looks so far...
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The crank arms and sprocket look right at home...
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A shot of the Schwinn Headbadge. The photo does no justice for it. The brown you see is the patina'ed brass with some shiny brass poking through, The Schwinn and the border is super shiny. All sealed up with 2 coats of automotive urethane clear. I will have to get some better photos of that...
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And a couple over all shots...just need to wait for the rest of the parts to come in....
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I have been waiting for some more parts to come in the mail. I got home from work today and there was the tires and inner tubes I had ordered before the 4th. I slapped them on the rims, put the new slicks on and bolted the fenders in place. I am going to make the brackets to hold it to the rear frame support and the fork support. I rolled it outside and took some photos....

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I had ordered a black 26" banana seat and a 4ft sissy bar. I was also going to put a set of ape hangers on it. Now looking at the bike, I am not so sure it's going to fit the theme... I will put the parts on and get some photos. But I am also going to order a different seat "just in case" I don't care for the banana seat and sissy bar combo...
 
Welcome to BO8!
That's a sweet looking ride so far!
 
The Renaissance Man said:
Welcome aboard! Photo's aren't showing up.
This will explain how to post... :arrow: http://www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5569
Thanks for the help but they are showing up. I have several journals on different websites that use this format. Chances are your behind a firewall blocking google's picasa (where I host my photos) or some other interwebs issue going on. (I also do computer support and web design) ;)
 
Little more internet shopping online today... I remember years ago in my youth going into the stores having to order this stuff from a catalog before the internet... this is so much easier now...

Here's the plan "B" seat...
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Then I ordered up a shiny new chrome chain....
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And I scored this on EBay over the weekend...Chrome Jaguar Schwinn chain guard. Already in black so it will match the bike...
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These parts should be at my house within the next couple days. This was my plan "A" but now I am not so sure....might put these up for sale if I go with my plan "B"

Black 26" Banana Seat.
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42" High Back Lowrider Sissybar
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Really digging this. It makes me really miss my '67 bug. It would look even more awesomer if you could get the back of the two fenders to line up, but that's just a personal taste thing.
 
Rust2Rods said:
The Renaissance Man said:
Welcome aboard! Photo's aren't showing up.
This will explain how to post... :arrow: http://www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5569
Thanks for the help but they are showing up. I have several journals on different websites that use this format. Chances are your behind a firewall blocking google's picasa (where I host my photos) or some other interwebs issue going on. (I also do computer support and web design) ;)
Not sure what happened, they're showing up fine now. :?: I think I had a slow connection or something.

Anyway, the bike looks great! That''s one of my favorite VW colors. I like plan B. 8)
 
kim_dude said:
Really digging this. It makes me really miss my '67 bug. It would look even more awesomer if you could get the back of the two fenders to line up, but that's just a personal taste thing.

The front fender has some movement yet. And you are correct. That is on my list of things to do once I make the bracket to support the front fender, I should be able to kick it forward to match the rear...great eye though! Thanks for the compliments!
 
The Renaissance Man said:
Rust2Rods said:
The Renaissance Man said:
Welcome aboard! Photo's aren't showing up.
This will explain how to post... :arrow: http://www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5569
Thanks for the help but they are showing up. I have several journals on different websites that use this format. Chances are your behind a firewall blocking google's picasa (where I host my photos) or some other interwebs issue going on. (I also do computer support and web design) ;)
Not sure what happened, they're showing up fine now. :?: I think I had a slow connection or something.

Anyway, the bike looks great! That''s one of my favorite VW colors. I like plan B. 8)

No worries, you had me going for a bit though! LOL I did check everything twice after you posted that. Yeah, I just got the Banana seat and sissy bar in the mail today. I was going to put it on there and take some photos... I am thinking plan "B" as well but we shall see!
 
Here's a shot of the detail of the VW Beetle that I am building... This is just the chassis and the suspension. It has air ride suspension that I fabricated into the car on all 4 corners.
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A shot of the front of the chassis when completely aired out... (it's low....)
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And this is what I started with....
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To give you an idea of the detail that I like to do... This is the transmission yes the one that was in the photo of what I started with.... Trans was cleaned,all the ribs were polished, trans was painted, then the ribs re-hand polished and then the whole thing was clear coated. And most people will never see this part of the car!
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So I started building the bike now that I am doing body work on the car and often have a little spare "time" to kill.... (instead of watching paint dry :roll: ) Or giving my arms a rest from sanding....and more sanding. 8)

And here's a link to the build Journal of the VW Beetle If you'd like to check it out...
 
Looks great so far 8) Perfect amount of black on there :wink:
 
So the black banana seat came and the sissy bar had arrived in the mail. While I was getting that stuff ready, there was a kickstand on the bike when I got it. I decided to wire brush it and powder coat it black. Here's some shots of that process...

Wire wheel off all the crud and rust. And you can see my hand and arm holding it up with the ground electrode clipped to the bolt.
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All powder coated and hanging in my powder coating oven (yes an old kitchen oven). This color is called "bike black". It's a really high gloss black.
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Just pop it in the oven and let it bake for about 25-30 minutes.... Let cool, and it's ready to serve....
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Now, on to the banana seat and sissy bar. They are just "sitting" on the bike for mock up....
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It's not bad...but not quite what I had visioned... I mean it might work with a proportionate set of ape's on it... Nothing too over the top... maybe a set of 15"x23" apes....
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Here are a couple shots of the Schwinn Headbadge. No matter how hard I try...the photos just don't do it any justice. It's hard to tell, but the brass has a nice patina on it and some shiny parts of the brass are peeking out from it.. There are some specs of blue from the old bikes paint job and the Schwinn and the outer border are super shiny with a thick glossy clear coat over the works...
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This photo there's no flash...you can kind of see what I am talking about between the two...
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So now that's it's dark out, I put the kickstand on only to find that it doesn't fit well. :roll: I should have known. I forgot that when I got this the bottom bracket was pretty cobbled up. I repaired that when I painted it and now...it no fit well. I will take it off and put something else on there...
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So just for fun, I threw the original seat on it and the gooseneck and bars that came with it... The saddle is an original Schwinn spring saddle.
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It's really tough to get some decent photos in the dark with a flash... Oh well... time to wait again for more parts to come in... :cry:
 
So last night after work, I had decided to stop at a couple LBS's after work. The 1st one is in Tosa not far from where wi Work. I had found the shop listed here on RRB under "rat friendly" shops. I stopped in, asked the guy for crusier parts...sure enough he walks out front with 3 sets of cruiser bars. I grabbed the wide black bars with a 6" rise. I asked if he had an old Schwinn stem for sale. He said he had a bunch at home and would sell me one if I wanted, which I thought was pretty cool. He told me he was a Stingray/Krate collector and had a decent stock of parts at his house. I left with the bars and headed over to a 2nd LBS that was much much closer to home. They had some stuff, but not so friendly. The 1st mistake they made with me was selling me the wrong size headset kit for my bike. I wound up having to use just the bearings and the fork race out of a $20.00 kit after telling them 10 times what it was for and saying, "I don't think it's the right size". Yet they have a huge Schwinn Bike Museum in their store.... Anyhow, I asked them the same question. They went and looked for one and I got the same answer I usually get from them...."The guy you need to ask isn't here right now, but if you give us your number we will have him call you." :roll: So, I left with nothing from there and went home.
Once I was home, I went out in the garage and dug out the parts that were on the bike originally. I found the rest of the parts for the long stem, had to remove the anchor block from the old fork since it was stuck in there....using a 7" spacer from the top of the fork and a couple of hardened washers, it pulled it right out. I cleaned up the bolt, took some #0000 steel wool to the stem and put the bars on. I had a set of leather hand grips I put on there and then put a Huffy cruiser seat on it to see how it would look. I also got the Schwinn Jaguar chain guard in I ordered off of ebay. Since the sprocket was a little larger than what's used on the Jaguar, I had to make a small metal spacer to clear the chain ring. It all seemed to fit pretty well. I also removed the kickstand and bent the mounting plates to spread them out a bit to fit the frame better. Re-positioned it and bolted it back on. By the time I got around to taking photos again it was dark.... Here's the end result....

Shot of the grips...
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Here it is with the chainguard bars, stem and hand grips on it. The seat is temporary...
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Close up of the chain guard...
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Now, we wait for more parts.... :roll:
 

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