That headlight is awesome. The chainguard is awesome. The pedals. This resto-build is awesome.
I love this era of absolute overkill in steel.
I love this era of absolute overkill in steel.
Western Flyer X-53 resurrection
- Thread starter ParkRNDL
- Start date
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Things have changed.
Today I swapped most of the parts off the girls' bike onto the boys' frame. I am pretty thrilled that everything fit. I know for that some brands (Schwinn?) some pieces don't work that way... rear fender? chainguard, maybe? But in this case, everything was a direct bolt-up.
I still have a ways to go. I need to swap over the skiptooth crank, chain, and rear wheel, but I want to rebuild the rear hub (Musselman) first. Also, the donor bike has a correct kickstand that I need to switch over.
I have some winter repairs to do. The bottom mount of the rear fender is sketchy at best:
Not sure what the best way is to remedy that, if it can be welded or if I'm just going to have to drill a hole and put a patch bracket or something on it.
Then there's the steerer tube:
Ewwww, not good. I haven't searched the forums yet for methods to straighten that, but that's a winter project.
Next up: that cool P-38 Lightning headlight. The painted top part looks pretty good, but the chrome bezel is pretty rough, and the base isn't any better. Honestly I don't care and I'd ride it just the way it is, with maybe a Harbor Freight flashlight jammed inside it, except the top doesn't stay on. When I first brought it home, I lifted it out of the back of my buddy's truck and the headlight cover just fell off and bounced across the garage floor. I realized I was lucky I didn't lose it over a bump on the highway. Gotta figure out a way to make it stay together and on the bike, even if it's just decorative at this point.
Plans for this winter include taking it all back apart and putting some things in an oxalic acid bath, like the chrome parts of the springer, the rack rails, the sprocket and crank. The donor bike has correct jeweled pedals, but both are rusty and one is bent, so I have to see if they are viable.
It doesn't show well in the pictures, and I wasn't real consistent about it, but I have been cleaning the painted parts and hitting them with a coat of Turtle Wax. I grabbed the pictures quick as the sun was going down. Tomorrow in the sunlight I will get some more pics that focus on how most of the paint came back pretty well.
What I REALLY hope to do this winter is repaint the frame and tank. Not sure if I will attempt it myself; I have a friend who knows a guy lol. There's enough original paint on the fenders, fork, guard, and rack that I'd really just like to preserve them. The boys' bike came in black with red, the girls' was navy with aqua. I'd like to repaint the frame and tank in that navy and aqua to match. For inspiration, I stole a pic of a mint boys' X-53 off the interwebs and had my daughter Photoshop it to the girls' bike colors:
Man. that's pretty.
Today I swapped most of the parts off the girls' bike onto the boys' frame. I am pretty thrilled that everything fit. I know for that some brands (Schwinn?) some pieces don't work that way... rear fender? chainguard, maybe? But in this case, everything was a direct bolt-up.
I still have a ways to go. I need to swap over the skiptooth crank, chain, and rear wheel, but I want to rebuild the rear hub (Musselman) first. Also, the donor bike has a correct kickstand that I need to switch over.
I have some winter repairs to do. The bottom mount of the rear fender is sketchy at best:
Not sure what the best way is to remedy that, if it can be welded or if I'm just going to have to drill a hole and put a patch bracket or something on it.
Then there's the steerer tube:
Ewwww, not good. I haven't searched the forums yet for methods to straighten that, but that's a winter project.
Next up: that cool P-38 Lightning headlight. The painted top part looks pretty good, but the chrome bezel is pretty rough, and the base isn't any better. Honestly I don't care and I'd ride it just the way it is, with maybe a Harbor Freight flashlight jammed inside it, except the top doesn't stay on. When I first brought it home, I lifted it out of the back of my buddy's truck and the headlight cover just fell off and bounced across the garage floor. I realized I was lucky I didn't lose it over a bump on the highway. Gotta figure out a way to make it stay together and on the bike, even if it's just decorative at this point.
Plans for this winter include taking it all back apart and putting some things in an oxalic acid bath, like the chrome parts of the springer, the rack rails, the sprocket and crank. The donor bike has correct jeweled pedals, but both are rusty and one is bent, so I have to see if they are viable.
It doesn't show well in the pictures, and I wasn't real consistent about it, but I have been cleaning the painted parts and hitting them with a coat of Turtle Wax. I grabbed the pictures quick as the sun was going down. Tomorrow in the sunlight I will get some more pics that focus on how most of the paint came back pretty well.
What I REALLY hope to do this winter is repaint the frame and tank. Not sure if I will attempt it myself; I have a friend who knows a guy lol. There's enough original paint on the fenders, fork, guard, and rack that I'd really just like to preserve them. The boys' bike came in black with red, the girls' was navy with aqua. I'd like to repaint the frame and tank in that navy and aqua to match. For inspiration, I stole a pic of a mint boys' X-53 off the interwebs and had my daughter Photoshop it to the girls' bike colors:
Man. that's pretty.
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Home today for a doctor's appointment, so I decided to work on the bent fork. I made a homebrew fork straightening apparatus a few years ago and tried it on a Stingray Junior and it worked great. But this bike is a little more special than a Stingray Junior, so I was a little apprehensive about potentially messing it up. My fear was that it would bend back in a different spot from the original bend, so I'd end up with something twisted beyond repair. But I rationalized that the original bend would have been in the weakest spot, and logically that would be where it would bend back during a repair, so I jumped in.
Anyway, this is what I started with:
From a little ways back, you almost can't tell, but when I had the fork still in the girls' frame, it would bind at 90 degrees left and 90 degrees right, so it was definitely an issue.
I decided to use the junk frame from the bike I got in this package deal as a straightening stand. Dummy axle is in place.
I really need to find a way to attach the two pieces of wood to the jack. It was a bear to get them all lined up and in place without a helper.
Of course, between feeling like you're gonna ruin the forks and feeling like the whole mess is going to come springing apart under tension, it's a little stressful...
One more time, this is what it looked like when I started.
Start cranking, then a little more... a little more... a little more... then another turn for good measure...
It got to where I could see it flexing, but the bearing cup was tilting in the frame. Eyeballing it, it looked like the bottom cone was tilted a little past where it needed to be in relation to the bottom surface of the head tube. Time to stop and let everything relax and see where we are at.
I'm calling it good. Close enough for government work, anyway.
No more binding and the bike tracks straight. Rode it down the block with no hands. Success!
While I had it all apart, I took the opportunity to clean up the fender and fork blades a little more. I really think there's enough original paint here that it'd be a shame to redo the whole thing in black and red to make it "correct" for a boys' bike.
On top of all that, I discovered that one pivot on one of the springer rockers was binding up. I took it all apart and cleaned and greased it and there's good news and bad news: it works much smoother, but it bottoms out easier under my fat behind. I actually read a thread on the CABE where a bigger guy than me (like 300 lbs. big) had springs custom made for his X-53 to the tune of hundreds of dollars. Don't think I'll be taking it that far.
But anyway, it's coming along. Next up: oxalic acid bath for the springer parts and rack rails and other chrome odds and ends, and rebuilding the Musselman rear hub to swap the skiptooth drivetrain over.
Anyway, this is what I started with:
From a little ways back, you almost can't tell, but when I had the fork still in the girls' frame, it would bind at 90 degrees left and 90 degrees right, so it was definitely an issue.
I decided to use the junk frame from the bike I got in this package deal as a straightening stand. Dummy axle is in place.
I really need to find a way to attach the two pieces of wood to the jack. It was a bear to get them all lined up and in place without a helper.
Of course, between feeling like you're gonna ruin the forks and feeling like the whole mess is going to come springing apart under tension, it's a little stressful...
One more time, this is what it looked like when I started.
Start cranking, then a little more... a little more... a little more... then another turn for good measure...
It got to where I could see it flexing, but the bearing cup was tilting in the frame. Eyeballing it, it looked like the bottom cone was tilted a little past where it needed to be in relation to the bottom surface of the head tube. Time to stop and let everything relax and see where we are at.
I'm calling it good. Close enough for government work, anyway.
No more binding and the bike tracks straight. Rode it down the block with no hands. Success!
While I had it all apart, I took the opportunity to clean up the fender and fork blades a little more. I really think there's enough original paint here that it'd be a shame to redo the whole thing in black and red to make it "correct" for a boys' bike.
On top of all that, I discovered that one pivot on one of the springer rockers was binding up. I took it all apart and cleaned and greased it and there's good news and bad news: it works much smoother, but it bottoms out easier under my fat behind. I actually read a thread on the CABE where a bigger guy than me (like 300 lbs. big) had springs custom made for his X-53 to the tune of hundreds of dollars. Don't think I'll be taking it that far.
But anyway, it's coming along. Next up: oxalic acid bath for the springer parts and rack rails and other chrome odds and ends, and rebuilding the Musselman rear hub to swap the skiptooth drivetrain over.
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Also, I would REALLY love to save these pedals, but they're pretty rough. Both axles are bent; one is bad and the other is worse.
I will try to use the tips that @The Renaissance Man shared when he rejuvenated his X-53 pedals.
I will try to use the tips that @The Renaissance Man shared when he rejuvenated his X-53 pedals.
