1938-41 Entry level track bike

[us56456712]

Today I'm going to put the tires on my new CB Italia rims. The rims are laced to an early Shimano 333 front large flange telephone dial hub and a modern coaster brake with a hidden brake arm and 10 tooth skip tooth cog.

 

[us56456712]

Boy, those tires were hard to get onto the wide wood rims. 700C x 38. 38 is as big as you can go, 1 1/2 inches.

Machined and contoured channel welded onto the inside of the left chain stay. The bolt screws into the chain stay to provide a replacement for the brake arm band. I have more welding and more fitting for the brake arm to fit better and to secure the top of the bolt slot rail. I only tacked the bottom in case it didn't work or I didn't like it so It could be easily ground off.

The brake arm has been ground and filed to match the chain stay profile. It is a little hidden and will be more so when it is painted flat black.

Drive side with skip tooth cog on a modern coaster brake. I want to be able to replace parts, so both hubs are pretty modern. I plan to use theses wheels on this bike and on my 1900 track bike.

 

[Chad T]

Wood rims!?! They still make those? Nice! This is a cool project...

 

[us56456712]

Wood rims!?! They still make those? Nice! This is a cool project...

Two Italian companies, someone in England and an Amish wheel smith still make them. They take a few days to true and get the spoke tension right. They move around so you have to go slow. They take a lot of adjustment and don't stay true as long a metal rims. I'm trying to clone a Schwinn W1R model, which had wood rims. It had the same frame that I'm using, but had track components. What I really wanted was a 1938-41 Schwinn Superior townie as a donor but couldn't find one. My frame has the same geometry but has heavier tubing.

 

[us56456712]

High temps in the 40s F today

 

[us56456712]

High 50F, low 39F today and windy. I'm ready to paint but waiting for a nice day with no winds. If it gets into the 60sF and calm I'll paint. We have been having howling winds, cold, rain and whitecaps on the lake in our front yard. The good news is I don't have to water my yard and don't have to mow the lawn as it is too cold for it to grow fast.

 

[sandman]

We could use a little of the cool weather , it's only 10 and it's all ready to hot to fish but it's nice and cool inside .

 

[us56456712]

We could use a little of the cool weather , it's only 10 and it's all ready to hot to fish but it's nice and cool inside .

I took down my snow fence today. I won't need to put it up again until late October or early November. Any snow we get before then won't require a snow fence. It was so cold working outside today that my fingers got numb, but then again I don't have the peripheral circulation I once had. This weather is bad, even by our standards.

 

[us56456712]

Mock up. I have a different stem that I will be using. I don't care for the track pedals, too new, but then again I had them. I still need to instal the front brake and the seat post bolt. It has old bearings and races but those will be replaced with new ones for the final build. Everything fits it could be painted after I instal the proper stem to make sure that fits. The bars are very old and the nickel plating is pealing off. I don't know what kind of bar wrapping I will use, probably nothing. As you can see the rear tire fits but 38mm is as big as you can go on this frame.

 

[us56456712]

Here is my inspiration, what I am shooing for.

 

[us56456712]

I put on a different stem and took off the water bottle cage, don't need it on a track bike. I'll use the homemade bottle cage on a different bike. I also fabed up a vintage style seat support. I put on a 1940s steel side pull front brake and lever. I'll have to make cork brake blocks. Next will be a new headset and pedals, then a ride then dismantle and paint.

 

[us56456712]

I don't like the seat truss so it's coming off. I'm getting a smaller, less beefy turnbuckle to see how that looks.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

this is neat.

I have one of these frames and forks, but mine is a BFGoodrich Victory (made by Schwinn). I built it into a track-ish looking bike with 700x23c rims/tires and have always thought the tires are too narrow.

 

[us56456712]

this is neat.

I have one of these frames and forks, but mine is a BFGoodrich Victory (made by Schwinn). I built it into a track-ish looking bike with 700x23c rims/tires and have always thought the tires are too narrow.

Do you have a picture you could post here? I'd love to see it for inspiration. I think a 38 mm tire is a little wide for this bike, I think 30 to 33 would look a little better.

 

[us56456712]

I completed the mock up, it's ready for a more extensive test beat. I have a 2 inch vintage turnbuckle I want to try for the seat stabilizer and I want to put the bars on it that it came with. The bars were badly bent and dented, obviously crashed. I used pry bars to bring the bends back and filled the dents with epoxy putty.

This Brooks saddle is so old that it never had the metal Brooks badge on the back, no rivet holes. It's very narrow, either a track seat or a B-17 narrow. The test beat will determine if I have to trim the bolt ends on the seat guts. They look like they my cause chafing.

The seat post is upside down and the end that normally is inserted into the seat post tube is welded to the seat guts. AS pinch bolt.

Goodyear red heater hose for grips. Corks will eventually be used as bar plugs. 1940s steel side pull front brake.

Vintage steel pedals. My semi hidden coaster arm attached to the fabricated channel that is welded to the inside of the chain stay. The coaster arm chrome will be ground off and black epoxy will cover the arm. Epoxy sticks better than anything and is tough.

Original bent up bars that I am still working on. The original Schwinn grips were dry rotted and half there, but you could still see some of the Schwinn script. I don't think the grips were original anyway.

 

[us56456712]

I just finished a 10 mile shake down ride and everything is good. The front wheel bearings are slightly loose. I might change the stem and use the one on this bike on another one I am working on. It's a heavy bike and hills are hard. I even lowered the gearing. It originally came with a 24 tooth chain ring and your choice of 7, 8 or 9 tooth cog. I put a smaller 22 tooth Schwinn chain ring on it and a 10 tooth cog. Still hard on hills. The tires would not seat at anything over 20 psi when I first mounted the tires. It's been a few weeks setting at 20 psi and the tires and rims are now friends and 35 psi was no problem. I was hoping that would happen. This is a good tip to remember if you ever mount up hookless clincher wood rims.

 

[us56456712]

Today I fabed up an old style track bicycle seat truss. I used the brass barrel from an old airplane steering cable tension turnbuckle, the cut off reverse thread end from another turnbuckle and a machine screw and nut for the other end. I tapped the barrel to fit the reverse thread and welded up a mounting bracket for the seat nose. It's still a little beefy but way better than the other one I built. It looks good enough.

 

[us56456712]

More welding, threading cutting and pounding. I made an old time looking fake funky headset like some early track bikes had. Like the example below.

Just about ready for paint. I decided to keep this stem but will change the bars out for the original Major Taylor style bars that came with the frame.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

Do you have a picture you could post here? I'd love to see it for inspiration. I think a 38 mm tire is a little wide for this bike, I think 30 to 33 would look a little better.

This is an old picture immediately after completion. It looks a little different now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[us56456712]

This is an old picture immediately after completion. It looks a little different now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks, nice, I like the all black color.