The PinkWidow

[Dr. Sizzle]

OK So my 9yr old daughter decided she was ready to build her first bike. Since here current bike was a 16" BRATZ bike
and she is growing like a sumac tree, I was enthusiastic. Ratina came through with the 20" 64' Schwinn Fiesta. Pretty rare bike since the only made them in 20" for one year. I thought this would be the perfect bike for her. So sitting with me looking at all of your awesome builds he little gears started turning and she soon new exactly what she wanted. Some of the parts she wanted just were impossible or waaaay to expensive. Everything was pretty easy to find and get at reasonable prices. So hold onto your sissy-bars pedal jerks and get ready for this one!. (Pedal Jerks B.C.) kinda neat. Someone should start that club. lol I'M IN!



Here is the Fiesta as it was received and in GREAT SHAPE I must say. Thanks again Ratina (That dude is good business)

Picked up this donor bike off craigslist for $15 We're going to use the wheels and any hardware we may need, which I doubt we will because the schwinn bearing any all that are the best. They just need a bath in WD40 then repacked with good grease,

 

[Dr. Sizzle]

OK now the fun part. She's actually pretty good at taking stuff apart once I loosen the tight stuff.

Once she had everything taken apart and hardware was soaking I had her wire brush every piece.
SOS pads are great for removing surface rust from chrome and Yes Nina removes the nail polish too. haha
Drywall sanding sponges are my favorite for bringing the shine back to raw metal parts such as fender screws,
seat posts, fender braces kick stands etc..

While Nina cleaned the goods, I plugged in the grinder, using a medium grit flapper wheel, and started removing the thick layers of paint that was horribly chipping off. Getting into tight places was no happening with out the use of my broken dremel. So sanding sponges were use to smooth out the transitions. Once all the paint was removed from the
tank, chain guard, and frame, Nina whiped it down several times with tack cloth then Denatured Alcohol.

 

[Dr. Sizzle]

Once all the parts were prepped for paint, good use of the sheppard's hook came to play. Nina finds using self etching primer with too hands works best for her.

While the primer was getting set up (about 45min) Nina and I scrubbed the rims
with simple green, taped the spokes, scuff sanded and prepped the wheels with Alcohol
for fresh coat of pink.

 

[Bendix]

awesome project! 8) i have an old photo on my toolbox at work of my daughter taking apart a schwinn twinn headset with a pair of channellocks when she was 4 or 5- one of my favorite bike photos.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

This is a build after my own heart.

I have similar motivation with my build this year too.
http://www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=39655

From on Dr. to another, good luck!

Cheers,
Dr. T

 

[sumnermclain]

this is gonna be a good'n! lovin getting the kids involved, perpetuating the addiction in another generation. cant wait till my boy (3 Months) is ready to help daddy

 

[herr_rudolf]

Nice to see family involved.
Good luck and have fun!

 

[Dr. Sizzle]

Thanks everyone. Everything now has a base coat on it and we will either jazz it up a little or just
assemble it as is. Saturday we hit this thing hard.

 

[Skipton]

Awesome! Great bike to start with...so cool yer daughter is in to building it!

I will be watching this one!

 

[aka_locojoe]

Very cool.

 

[ratina]

lookin good!

its cool that shes helping you build it

 

[slowerisbetter]

So inspirational! I can't wait till my son is old enough to pitch on a bike for him. Right now, he "helps" by keeping me on my toes with the "hide the tool" game! Looks fun, dude...

 

[Dr. Sizzle]

Today was a really productive day out in the garage.
We were moving along so fast I forgot to take progression shots until the end.
Once all the parts were primed, Nina wanted to coat everything in glossy black.

I scored a NOS Satin Black sissybar and a NOS white glitter banana at a great bike shop in Philly. As well as a supper smooshy set of Schwinn chubby glitter grips.
Pics of those to come.

I tried talking her into the reversed bars look which I personally love and white walls but she had her design in her mind set
and was sticking to it. Besides it was really hard for her to ride.

The original chrome spring forks I got had a shorter steer tube so I took another one I had and modified it.
Well the fork rods have a longer Spring bracket to swivel bolt distance. So those are out. I took the forks off a 26" build I
was working on and made them work, and I have to tell ya, I like the look. I was planning on shortening them but no need.
Anyway, assembly went really quickly with both of us turning the screwdrivers and wrenches. We added an old headlight I found a while back, a pink chain from the local fixed gear bike shop, and matching pedals from the donor bike.
TIME FOR A TEST RIDE!

Nina says "Daddy, Rides much smoother than my Made in China Bratz bike!" Well DUH Nina! haha
kids say the craziest things. So, just a few details remain. "Fancy air thingies" Pin-Striping, and a little metal flaking. It's been really fun working with my girl on this, even though most of the time she was "bored" and chasing the dog around in the yard
while Daddy got dirty with the sanding and grinding.

 

[slow rider]

realy cool but the white seat looks out of place with all that black and pink. try a pink banana seat. or add white wall tires to tie/ bring in the white seat to the build. just a thought

 

[JoKeR63]

Man, this thing looks awesome! I'm thinking the same color scheme for my granddaughters bike, but I've got a long wait. You can tune the handling by adjusting the spring bolt. It looks like it has a lot of trail.

I like pink and black together, it's just a really hard look for a dude to pull off!

 

[Dr. Sizzle]

@slow I couldn't agree with you more. I wanted her to get white walls but she insisted on all black.
We originally wanted a pink nana but the nice one was going for 175 bucks on eBay and well... this was only 25.
The grip match it and I think the white and pink pin striping we are planning with bring it all together.


@Joker it handles beautifully. I rode it my self and one finger could steer it. When the bars were reversed
there were some issues but after flipping them right side, it's really neat to ride. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Twisted Root]

That is the cutest thing ever!

 

[Skipton]

You guys did a great job!...I love the fork

 

[sensor]

you two did a great job and glad its being ridden even without those 'fancy air thingys'....but man you gotta give that girl a respirator when shes priming/painting!

 

[Dr. Sizzle]

Thanks guys. Sensor haha she didn't spray for vet long. she did two strokes and gave up then did laps in the yard with the dog. Her tiny hands could barely press the nozzle down.
But yeah safety first. She wore safety glass when taking the bike apart hAha.