BO15 1963 Schwinn Corvette "The Honey Rolla"
- Thread starter Starnger
- Start date
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Love that black badge against the gold.
I'd rather have the Duomatic Torpedo than a Red Band any day. I've ridden and rebuilt both at times over the years.
Just catching up up this build, love it! I’ve used 3M automotive trim double sided tape to hold on headbadges. I have some on there for years and it still holds.
For truss, if you can find ‘long’ Electras, they should fit, they are almost exact copies. They have an ‘L’ stamped on the inside of the legs for identification. I’m running a set of ‘short’ ones, stamped ‘S’ on my wife’s 50 24” Monark custom.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
For truss, if you can find ‘long’ Electras, they should fit, they are almost exact copies. They have an ‘L’ stamped on the inside of the legs for identification. I’m running a set of ‘short’ ones, stamped ‘S’ on my wife’s 50 24” Monark custom.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have a set of Electra truss rods at my garage, but i don't remember what length do they have. I believe they are "M" but i'd have to check that. I also have a set of truss-rods from 2011 Debutante i showed in this thread before, but they just cover too much of the head tube, so i'd rather use them on another build. I am also thinking of bending a set of my own truss rods, but i need to figure out how to carefully bend both sides out of one piece of rod. I believe that is the way that original front racks were made, left and right side were actually formed from a single rod.Just catching up up this build, love it! I’ve used 3M automotive trim double sided tape to hold on headbadges. I have some on there for years and it still holds.
For truss, if you can find ‘long’ Electras, they should fit, they are almost exact copies. They have an ‘L’ stamped on the inside of the legs for identification. I’m running a set of ‘short’ ones, stamped ‘S’ on my wife’s 50 24” Monark custom.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Really nice lookin Monark over here, great job!
The Renaissance Man
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Great launching pad. Corvettes are cool! 
Some updates!
While i am waiting for parts delivery from US (the earliest package did not update its status from 6th of may) i can't do certain things like rear rack fitting, since it would depend on seatpost clamp what size and profile hole to be drilled. So i am harvesting parts and doing the bits that i can.
First of all coming to the front rack question, that many of you have been telling me to make
I kind of like that idea myself, but since i don't have a TIG welder to fabricate the cross-bars and other pieces of rack structure out of stainless steel, i have decided to try out an easier path for now. I have just bought a simple used rear rack and i am going to try to bend it out the way it would fit the truss-rods crown.
The other cool thing i found is the front lamp. I could not afford to spend 300 plus 100 delivery for original pumpkin lamp, but i also did not want to use some modern cheap quality LED lamps. After spending some time searching locally i have found this.
1964 made polish Zelmot lamp, works with two D cells and period correct. I even found one like that on ebay in US. I believe they were made for polish cruiser bikes back in the 60's and some of them were exported.
In my opinion it would look really cool on this build. I actually bought not one but three of them, in different condition, since i have recieved good offers. They gonna be useful for my other builds in future.
Then i was back to garage working on the frame. I have tried boiled linseed oil for the first time. Boy, that thing shines!
I LOVE the effect and how easily it is achieved. The paint does appear much brighter now.
While i am waiting for parts delivery from US (the earliest package did not update its status from 6th of may) i can't do certain things like rear rack fitting, since it would depend on seatpost clamp what size and profile hole to be drilled. So i am harvesting parts and doing the bits that i can.
First of all coming to the front rack question, that many of you have been telling me to make
I kind of like that idea myself, but since i don't have a TIG welder to fabricate the cross-bars and other pieces of rack structure out of stainless steel, i have decided to try out an easier path for now. I have just bought a simple used rear rack and i am going to try to bend it out the way it would fit the truss-rods crown.
The other cool thing i found is the front lamp. I could not afford to spend 300 plus 100 delivery for original pumpkin lamp, but i also did not want to use some modern cheap quality LED lamps. After spending some time searching locally i have found this.
1964 made polish Zelmot lamp, works with two D cells and period correct. I even found one like that on ebay in US. I believe they were made for polish cruiser bikes back in the 60's and some of them were exported.
In my opinion it would look really cool on this build. I actually bought not one but three of them, in different condition, since i have recieved good offers. They gonna be useful for my other builds in future.
Then i was back to garage working on the frame. I have tried boiled linseed oil for the first time. Boy, that thing shines!
I LOVE the effect and how easily it is achieved. The paint does appear much brighter now.
I went ahead and cleaned up the BB set and cranks from my 87 Schwinn. I have tried to clean and polish everything just a bit, to get some clean looks and shine, but preserve some rust that looks really nice in combination with coppertone color.
Here it takes its place on the bike.
I also have mounted the rear fender. I had to cut out the mounting bracket for heavy duti where those fenders come from, since it has the different bridge between the seat stays. Thanks to my assistant who is holding the bike for better pictures
The fender is also a little polished. You may not see it here, but i am trying to also use period-correct looking nuts and bolts when possible. I have bought a load of old flathead m5 bolts and a whole bunch of square nuts.
The rear reflector is NOS, coming from my Roadmaster build. I needed it to close the holes that were in the fender. I couldn't find any nice original S reflector up until now. They are expensive and usually quite worn out, so i have decided i might not try to hunt one down.
Don't worry about the Roadmaster though, it would have a nice replacement instead of this reflector As soon as the parcel arrives from across the ocean
This is all the progress i got until now. For most of the other things i have to wait patiently
Here it takes its place on the bike.
I also have mounted the rear fender. I had to cut out the mounting bracket for heavy duti where those fenders come from, since it has the different bridge between the seat stays. Thanks to my assistant who is holding the bike for better pictures
The fender is also a little polished. You may not see it here, but i am trying to also use period-correct looking nuts and bolts when possible. I have bought a load of old flathead m5 bolts and a whole bunch of square nuts.
The rear reflector is NOS, coming from my Roadmaster build. I needed it to close the holes that were in the fender. I couldn't find any nice original S reflector up until now. They are expensive and usually quite worn out, so i have decided i might not try to hunt one down.
Don't worry about the Roadmaster though, it would have a nice replacement instead of this reflector
As soon as the parcel arrives from across the ocean This is all the progress i got until now. For most of the other things i have to wait patiently
I really like that light.
The BLO does magnify the color underneath well.
The BLO does magnify the color underneath well.
Hi everybody! Some updates!
To begin with, as you know, my initial plan was to use original stainless fenders from my 1987 Heavy Duti. As i have mentioned before, those bikes are a bit different, so are the mounts for the fenders. On the rear it was not a problem, since it was enough just to take off the L shaped plate and use the existing holes to attach the fender. But on the front the blade fork had no additional holes for fender struts as the fork on HD had or many modern bikes do. I have decided to approach it as a designer would do and had those babies laser-cut:
Those are supposed to be used as normal wheel axle washers, providing two extra holes for fender mount. I have measured a fork and found this distance is pretty much same on most of the forks. However, when i mocked mine up i have found this:
As you can see, there is a lot of distance lacking from the fenders to the axle. My washers could not fix that.
Then going through my old HD pictures i found out that the fender struts mounting holes positioning on this one is rather odd. So i had to give up the idea of using the nice stainless steel original struts unfortunately.
I have mounted ugly cheap modern struts, unfortunately the only ones i could find. The chrome from them was literally chipping away in my hands while i was attaching them. I would be on search for some nicer ones, but i am not sure if i would be able to find a better ones. And this also means i would have to replace nice original rivets with some bolts. Good i have some cool old looking bolts for this project.
The next thing i've done is bending the rack i have posted recently. With just a bit of effort it was modified to fit the original mounting crown.
Not as beautiful as the original one, so i am still not sure if i keep it or mount regular truss rods. I guess i'd wait for more parts to arrive and then mount the rear rack first, so i can see if it works well all together or not.
Then i have mounted the old gooseneck i had lying around and some handlebars. I'd be still on search for a nicer bolt to replace the broken one from my stem and also to buy a 1" bars instead of those 7/8". In my opinion this bar with adapter in it just does not look clean enough.
This is how it looks now. The next thing on my list is taking it apart to polish the front fender a bit and hit the fork with linseed oil. I may try to lift and straighten the rack a bit more too.
The good thing is that Project 346 tire have cleared the front on the rim i am intending to use. If it also would clear on the rear then i may end up using 346 Balloon tires on that build. That would save me from searching for original Typhoon Cord tires, that are not easy to find here.
To begin with, as you know, my initial plan was to use original stainless fenders from my 1987 Heavy Duti. As i have mentioned before, those bikes are a bit different, so are the mounts for the fenders. On the rear it was not a problem, since it was enough just to take off the L shaped plate and use the existing holes to attach the fender. But on the front the blade fork had no additional holes for fender struts as the fork on HD had or many modern bikes do. I have decided to approach it as a designer would do and had those babies laser-cut:
Those are supposed to be used as normal wheel axle washers, providing two extra holes for fender mount. I have measured a fork and found this distance is pretty much same on most of the forks. However, when i mocked mine up i have found this:
As you can see, there is a lot of distance lacking from the fenders to the axle. My washers could not fix that.
Then going through my old HD pictures i found out that the fender struts mounting holes positioning on this one is rather odd. So i had to give up the idea of using the nice stainless steel original struts unfortunately.
I have mounted ugly cheap modern struts, unfortunately the only ones i could find. The chrome from them was literally chipping away in my hands while i was attaching them. I would be on search for some nicer ones, but i am not sure if i would be able to find a better ones. And this also means i would have to replace nice original rivets with some bolts. Good i have some cool old looking bolts for this project.
The next thing i've done is bending the rack i have posted recently. With just a bit of effort it was modified to fit the original mounting crown.
Not as beautiful as the original one, so i am still not sure if i keep it or mount regular truss rods. I guess i'd wait for more parts to arrive and then mount the rear rack first, so i can see if it works well all together or not.
Then i have mounted the old gooseneck i had lying around and some handlebars. I'd be still on search for a nicer bolt to replace the broken one from my stem and also to buy a 1" bars instead of those 7/8". In my opinion this bar with adapter in it just does not look clean enough.
This is how it looks now. The next thing on my list is taking it apart to polish the front fender a bit and hit the fork with linseed oil. I may try to lift and straighten the rack a bit more too.
The good thing is that Project 346 tire have cleared the front on the rim i am intending to use. If it also would clear on the rear then i may end up using 346 Balloon tires on that build. That would save me from searching for original Typhoon Cord tires, that are not easy to find here.
Last edited:
Hi everybody! Some updates!
To begin with, as you know, my initial plan was to use original stainless fenders from my 1987 Heavy Duti. As i have mentioned before, those bikes are a bit different, so are the mounts for the fenders. On the rear it was not a problem, since it was enough just to take off the L shaped plate and use the existing holes to attach the fender. But on the front the blade fork had no additional holes for fender struts as the fork on HD had or many modern bikes do. I have decided to approach it as a designer would do and had those babies laser-cut:
View attachment 124075
Those are supposed to be used as normal wheel axle washers, providing two extra holes for fender mount. I have measured a fork and found this distance is pretty much same on most of the forks. However, when i mocked mine up i have found this:
View attachment 124077
As you can see, there is a lot of distance lacking from the fenders to the axle. My washers could not fix that.
View attachment 124076
Then going through my old HD pictures i found out that the fender struts mounting holes positioning on this one is rather odd. So i had to give up the idea of using the nice stainless steel original struts unfortunately.
I have mounted ugly cheap modern struts, unfortunately the only ones i could find. The chrome from them was literally chipping away in my hands while i was attaching them. I would be on search for some nicer ones, but i am not sure if i would be able to find a better ones. And this also means i would have to replace nice original rivets with some bolts. Good i have some cool old looking bolts for this project.
The next thing i've done is bending the rack i have posted recently. With just a bit of effort it was modified to fit the original mounting crown.
View attachment 124080
Not as beautiful as the original one, so i am still not sure if i keep it or mount regular truss rods. I guess i'd wait for more parts to arrive and then mount the rear rack first, so i can see if it works well all together or not.
View attachment 124081
View attachment 124082
Then i have mounted the old gooseneck i had lying around and some handlebars. I'd be still on search for a nicer bolt to replace the broken one from my stem and also to buy a 1" bars instead of those 7/8". In my opinion this bar with adapter in it just does not look clean enough.
View attachment 124078
This is how it looks now. The next thing on my list is taking it apart to polish the front fender a bit and hit the fork with linseed oil. I may try to lift and straighten the rack a bit more too.
View attachment 124079
The good thing is that Project 346 tire have cleared the front on the rim i am intending to use. If it also would clear on the rear then i may end up using 346 Balloon tires on that build. That would save me from searching for original Typhoon Cord tires, that are not easy to find here.
I love the smell of fresh laser cut parts in the morning
So, i've hit that fork with some BLO too. The right dart have faded away, but i've decided to leave it that way. I'm afraid if i'd try to refresh it, it won't match the nice original dart on the left.
The fork comes on it's place. I was a bit confused by the chromed crown. It almost looks like it was put over the bearing race at some point, judging by the lines on the top. But it won't make much sense to me to put it that way. Could it possibly be that the crown is meant to be put over the crown race? I'd be happy to hear others who had experience with those forks.
Big shoutout to @Karate Chicken Industries ! He have sent me some cool parts for my Schwinn and did not want any money for them. So nice of him. Because of that i have a nice badge, proper size seatpost (impossible to get in Europe), nice Schwinn seatpost clamp, grips and a stem that unfortunately didn't fit my fork. Seems they were different in different years of production. The stem is 21.1mm, just like the one from my '87 Schwinn. The fork takes 22.2mm stem. So i'm sticking to the one i previously had by now. That' how the front rack looks now after being straightened.
I think it looks best this rack possibly can. If i want better looks i'd need an original rack, and that is not in my plans for now. I think i'd put the truss rods on later and take a comparison picture so i can decide what looks i like more. Now to the rear rack. Enlarging the mounting holes and cutting the slot for "S" clamp bolt.
I'm trying to use old/old-looking bolts and nuts for this build. I'm so happy i have collected them over the years Though some stuff like those square nuts i have bought especially for this build and going to use them on my other old bike builds too. Those are the little details that make all the difference.
Here is the rack on the bike. Sits a bit too high in my opinion.
Looks nice from the top, but definitely needs more bending and adjustment.
Threw a new Electra bars i have bought for this bike, some repro bow pedals and a placeholder Electra seat. The seat may stay though, if the package i am waiting for over a month now won't show up.
Sorry for the dark picture, my garage is so full of stuff i couldn't even find a plain background there
The rear rack angle is now better, but still could use more bending. I also feel like the tips of the rods look too empty there, so i may need to think of a way to mimic the original rear reflectors. Or maybe some custom design plate?
Anyway, that's where i am now. Oh, and forgot to mention. I was looking for Schwinn Typhoon tires everywhere, and there were no affordable options to get them. So i have started writing to people selling their 2000's Schwinns with those tires on asking them to sell me the tires only. After more then a month trying no one still have agreed, but some guy have proposed me to buy his whole bike for just a bit over 100$. So i agreed. Now this is what is coming to me by post sometime soon:
Some nice aluminium 2000's Schwinn. Cheap fork, derailleur (i'm really not a big found of them), but overall not at all a bad base for the project. Most importantly i have bought myself a beautiful set of Typhoon Cord tires, even with white walls already faded! Would look awesome on my bike. And i paid the price of just the tires (plus delivery form US) for the whole thing.
The fork comes on it's place. I was a bit confused by the chromed crown. It almost looks like it was put over the bearing race at some point, judging by the lines on the top. But it won't make much sense to me to put it that way. Could it possibly be that the crown is meant to be put over the crown race? I'd be happy to hear others who had experience with those forks.
Big shoutout to @Karate Chicken Industries ! He have sent me some cool parts for my Schwinn and did not want any money for them. So nice of him. Because of that i have a nice badge, proper size seatpost (impossible to get in Europe), nice Schwinn seatpost clamp, grips and a stem that unfortunately didn't fit my fork. Seems they were different in different years of production. The stem is 21.1mm, just like the one from my '87 Schwinn. The fork takes 22.2mm stem. So i'm sticking to the one i previously had by now. That' how the front rack looks now after being straightened.
I think it looks best this rack possibly can. If i want better looks i'd need an original rack, and that is not in my plans for now. I think i'd put the truss rods on later and take a comparison picture so i can decide what looks i like more. Now to the rear rack. Enlarging the mounting holes and cutting the slot for "S" clamp bolt.
I'm trying to use old/old-looking bolts and nuts for this build. I'm so happy i have collected them over the years
Though some stuff like those square nuts i have bought especially for this build and going to use them on my other old bike builds too. Those are the little details that make all the difference.
Here is the rack on the bike. Sits a bit too high in my opinion.
Looks nice from the top, but definitely needs more bending and adjustment.
Threw a new Electra bars i have bought for this bike, some repro bow pedals and a placeholder Electra seat. The seat may stay though, if the package i am waiting for over a month now won't show up.
Sorry for the dark picture, my garage is so full of stuff i couldn't even find a plain background there
The rear rack angle is now better, but still could use more bending. I also feel like the tips of the rods look too empty there, so i may need to think of a way to mimic the original rear reflectors. Or maybe some custom design plate?
Anyway, that's where i am now. Oh, and forgot to mention. I was looking for Schwinn Typhoon tires everywhere, and there were no affordable options to get them. So i have started writing to people selling their 2000's Schwinns with those tires on asking them to sell me the tires only. After more then a month trying no one still have agreed, but some guy have proposed me to buy his whole bike for just a bit over 100$. So i agreed. Now this is what is coming to me by post sometime soon:
Some nice aluminium 2000's Schwinn. Cheap fork, derailleur (i'm really not a big found of them), but overall not at all a bad base for the project. Most importantly i have bought myself a beautiful set of Typhoon Cord tires, even with white walls already faded! Would look awesome on my bike. And i paid the price of just the tires (plus delivery form US) for the whole thing.
The bike is coming together nicely. I like the front and rear rack combo. Brings it to kind of that 'deluxe' level. The chrome parts accent the coppertone frame well too!
Under race is correct .
So, i've hit that fork with some BLO too. The right dart have faded away, but i've decided to leave it that way. I'm afraid if i'd try to refresh it, it won't match the nice original dart on the left.
View attachment 125938
The fork comes on it's place. I was a bit confused by the chromed crown. It almost looks like it was put over the bearing race at some point, judging by the lines on the top. But it won't make much sense to me to put it that way. Could it possibly be that the crown is meant to be put over the crown race? I'd be happy to hear others who had experience with those forks.
View attachment 125939
Big shoutout to @Karate Chicken Industries ! He have sent me some cool parts for my Schwinn and did not want any money for them. So nice of him. Because of that i have a nice badge, proper size seatpost (impossible to get in Europe), nice Schwinn seatpost clamp, grips and a stem that unfortunately didn't fit my fork. Seems they were different in different years of production. The stem is 21.1mm, just like the one from my '87 Schwinn. The fork takes 22.2mm stem. So i'm sticking to the one i previously had by now. That' how the front rack looks now after being straightened.
View attachment 125940
I think it looks best this rack possibly can. If i want better looks i'd need an original rack, and that is not in my plans for now. I think i'd put the truss rods on later and take a comparison picture so i can decide what looks i like more. Now to the rear rack. Enlarging the mounting holes and cutting the slot for "S" clamp bolt.
View attachment 125941
I'm trying to use old/old-looking bolts and nuts for this build. I'm so happy i have collected them over the years
View attachment 125942
Here is the rack on the bike. Sits a bit too high in my opinion.
View attachment 125943
Looks nice from the top, but definitely needs more bending and adjustment.
View attachment 125944
Threw a new Electra bars i have bought for this bike, some repro bow pedals and a placeholder Electra seat. The seat may stay though, if the package i am waiting for over a month now won't show up.
View attachment 125937
Sorry for the dark picture, my garage is so full of stuff i couldn't even find a plain background there
View attachment 125936
The rear rack angle is now better, but still could use more bending. I also feel like the tips of the rods look too empty there, so i may need to think of a way to mimic the original rear reflectors. Or maybe some custom design plate?
Anyway, that's where i am now. Oh, and forgot to mention. I was looking for Schwinn Typhoon tires everywhere, and there were no affordable options to get them. So i have started writing to people selling their 2000's Schwinns with those tires on asking them to sell me the tires only. After more then a month trying no one still have agreed, but some guy have proposed me to buy his whole bike for just a bit over 100$. So i agreed. Now this is what is coming to me by post sometime soon:
Some nice aluminium 2000's Schwinn. Cheap fork, derailleur (i'm really not a big found of them), but overall not at all a bad base for the project. Most importantly i have bought myself a beautiful set of Typhoon Cord tires, even with white walls already faded! Would look awesome on my bike. And i paid the price of just the tires (plus delivery form US) for the whole thing.
Shout out to @Karate Chicken Industries
Nice of him to hook you up like that
I like it! I am thinking that color is not seen too often, pretty cool. Those rims would look great with some gold pins.
