1953 Schwinn Black Panther

[us56456712]

I have been rebuilding one full size Schwinn Cruiser in the winter for buddies. So far they have all been 1950s bikes that were their first bikes when they were kids. This one was originally used for delivering the Detroit News. My buddies brother go ahold of it and switched the original drive line for one from a 1960s Schwinn 10 speed. He made it into a klunker, before there were Klunkers. The gearing was too high for effective woods riding. He drilled holes in the frame and fork to mount the Schwinn calipers. They were weird mounts with pop rivets and jury-rigged to clear the fat tires. He sprayed bombed it flat black. My buddy is handy so he has been doing a lot of the work. He disassembled the springer and cleaned off the spray bomb and replaced the rubber stopper. He stripped the spray bomb from the frame. I also walked him through building a wheel and had him build the front one under supervision. It was not dished right and the hub was crooked. I fixed that. His brother threw away the chain guard, chrome fenders, wheels, luggage rack, lights and sweet hart sprocket. He is not too happy with his brother but glad to have the bike. We built a set of wheels using an old set of Araya rims I had laying around. We used the original front hub as it was in great shape and fit the fork which has one dropout and one only a hole on the other side. This way we didn't have to modify the fork. We used a new Shimano coaster brake with a 22 tooth cog as he wants low gearing for the hills. He has ordered a 36 tooth sweet hart sprocket so it kind of has the same look as the original. I got a correct style used reproduction chain guard for $35.00, including shipping. He has ordered some Goodyear reproduction tread wide whites. Perhaps he will put on chrome fenders, that is still under discussion. I welded the holes shut that were drilled in the frame and still have to weld on a chain guard mount and a rear fender mount that his brother sawed off. He is eager and isn't afraid to learn by doing.

Chain guard soaking in phosphoric acid

Base coat drying by the wood stove.

 

[us56456712]

My friend came over and we did some mock up using a 36 tooth sprocket I had. We will put on the Sweet hart once it comes. He put the springer together today. We are having a problem mounting the chain guard and rear fender to so the chain clears the fender and the 22 tooth cog. I'll have to reweld the front chain guard mount to see if I can get a better fit. Lots of fussing and fender bending/drilling to get it to fit and clear. The fork threads were in bad shape and we tried to chase them but figured we just might be making more work for ourselves so we just put it back together. I can't figure out how the threads go so messed up. I'm wondering if his brother cross threaded it or put it together gritty when he drilled and tapped the fork so he could mount flat stock to the springer as a place to mount the brake calipers? The headset holds well so good enough.

Springer. Pretty hard to get it all lined up so it fit together perfectly. I watched him and gave an occasional word of encouragement. Glad I didn't have to put that together, but fun watching.

 

[us56456712]

Mock up, nothing is tight. The front fender needs to be moved forward.

 

[us56456712]

I made a bracket to move the fender forward. It is mounted to two tapped holes in the front of the springer. I tried to design it to fit in with the look of the bike.

 

[us56456712]

The fenders are mounted properly with rivets. Test fitted the chain guard and sweet hart sprocket. Now I have to touch up my welds with semi gloss, put on the white wall tires, new chain, and paint the chain guard. Getting close. My friend is flabbergasted at how good it is looking. Since I am into supporting the local ski jumps he gave me a bib from the National Ski Jumping Championships help here in the 70s. He also gave me some local jumping programs from the 30s and 40s. I'm going to make a shadow box.

 

[us56456712]

It needs a one speed chain. The old 10 speed chain is for figuring the chain line and fitting on the fenders and chain guard.

 

[us56456712]

I did the first masking on the chain guard. It needs at least 3 more maskings to get everything smoothed out. It looks like Rustoleum Cardinal Red might be pretty close, if you can believe the cap to be true to color.

 

[us56456712]

Cardinal red did not match the cap color, it is way too red once it dried. Now I am trying Rustoleum matt Harvest Orange. It looks a little too much like primer but matches better. I am going to use this color and try a top coat of clear gloss. Wish me luck. Here is the matt Harvest orange against the original.

It matches pretty good with the clear top coat. good enough.

 

[user 135]

It looks like the springer pivot is orientated the wrong direction. The pivot should be behind the steer tube instead of in front. It does give it a tough stance and a cushy ride as it is.

 

[us56456712]

It looks like the springer pivot is orientated the wrong direction. The pivot should be behind the steer tube instead of in front. It does give it a tough stance and a cushy ride as it is.

I didn't take it apart or put it together so I am not familiar with this. My friend took photos of his disassembly but he is a real novice so It could be wrong when he reassembled it. I have a bike with a repop Schwinn springer. I'll look at that to see if I can figure out what you are talking about. Thanks for the input. The springer is the weak part right now.

 

[us56456712]

It looks like the springer pivot is orientated the wrong direction. The pivot should be behind the steer tube instead of in front. It does give it a tough stance and a cushy ride as it is.

I looked a photos on the net and you are right, he is going to have to turn it around. I am not messing with the springer, that is his job. I am sure it was like that when we took it apart. His brother converted it into a 10 speed using 60s Schwinn parts so he probably put it together backwards and we followed his lead.

 

[us56456712]

It looks like the springer pivot is orientated the wrong direction. The pivot should be behind the steer tube instead of in front. It does give it a tough stance and a cushy ride as it is.

It was backwards to accommodate the make shift mount for the front caliper brake when it was converted to a 10 speed. There was a piece of flat stock bolted to the fork, which was the mount for the front brake. The front springer didn't work when it was a 10 speed, it was somehow disabled and the spring rebounded when we removed it from the bike. This long term disabling caused the mechanism inside the spring to become worn and ovalized. He is coming over Monday to fix the springer. Converting this back to it's semi original style is a lot more work than I imagined, but it will be worth it. Too bad we didn't take a before picture. We both wondered why it was so springy. Thanks again.

 

[user 135]

Good you figured it out.

 

[us56456712]

Good you figured it out.

Fixed now. Looks better and the springer works better. It's getting close. A little paint here and there and mount the white wall tires.

 

[us56456712]

I got the red/orange to match even better. I put white, then gloss Cardinal Red, then matt Harvest Orange then gloss clear. the red undercoat took away a lot of the brown and it matches the original Schwinn color very well now.

 

[emfife]

Great work !!! Really dig how you're bringing it back as close to original as possible.

 

[us56456712]

Great work !!! Really dig how you're bringing it back as close to original as possible.

Thanks but that is what my friend wants. It is really quite a striking bike, I kind of wish it were mine. I like fixing up bikes that were the first bikes people owned and they still have them. They usually don't realize what a prize they have.

 

[us56456712]

Great work !!! Really dig how you're bringing it back as close to original as possible.

This bike originally had chrome fenders and we really had trouble deciding to go with the black. It was felt that new chrome fenders would pop too much against the old worn character of the bike. I bought black fenders and told him if he decided to go with chrome I would take off the black ones and use them on my 40s Columbia that I want to build someday. He finally decided the black ones would be more appropriate. His current pedals are from a 70 Schwinn Road Bike and they are worn and wobbly. He is looking for replacements. He also wants a rear luggage rack and is searching for one, but he doesn't like the reproduction ones. He is in no hurry for the rack or pedals.

 

[us56456712]

Almost ready to roll. All that remains is disassembly, paint touch up, mount the white wall tires and reassemble with thread locker in on key bolts. New pedals and a luggage rack will be added this summer.

 

[Scribble]

Nice !!