This is what I am going to be building next. It's got great patina, and the horn unit works like a charm.
'48 Hawthorne Heavyweight
- Thread starter '48 Hawthorne
- Start date
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Re: '50s Hawthorne Heavyweight
Not sure if it's gonna get some apes, or the old Rollfast bars currently on it. Stem has been swapped out for a newer rusty Schwinn one. UPS killed the other stem. The original handlebars have a rust hole near the top-middle and are not safe. They had coke-bottle grips for some reason, those too are trashed. I am also torn between making a skiptooth with some newer Electra heavy-duty wheels, or try and salvage the old skiptooth ones. I do the like original New Departure hubs, and the chain is still really good. It has the Hawthorne script pedals, may swap those and definitely going to swap the sprocket. Flame tread tires are a must.
Not sure if it's gonna get some apes, or the old Rollfast bars currently on it. Stem has been swapped out for a newer rusty Schwinn one. UPS killed the other stem. The original handlebars have a rust hole near the top-middle and are not safe. They had coke-bottle grips for some reason, those too are trashed. I am also torn between making a skiptooth with some newer Electra heavy-duty wheels, or try and salvage the old skiptooth ones. I do the like original New Departure hubs, and the chain is still really good. It has the Hawthorne script pedals, may swap those and definitely going to swap the sprocket. Flame tread tires are a must.
Re: '50s Hawthorne Heavyweight
This is the bent original stem.
Some of the possible parts I am going to be using so far:
Duro Flame tread tires
Old Delta light, clean inside:
Old Sprocket:
Sloped back apes:
Snoopy air caps:
Gonna do some more rooting around and see what else is out in the garage.
This is the bent original stem.
Some of the possible parts I am going to be using so far:
Duro Flame tread tires
Old Delta light, clean inside:
Old Sprocket:
Sloped back apes:
Snoopy air caps:
Gonna do some more rooting around and see what else is out in the garage.
Re: '50s Hawthorne Heavyweight
I think I'm gonna like this build :mrgreen:
I think I'm gonna like this build :mrgreen:
Re: '50s Hawthorne Heavyweight
Bike was found on Fleabay, made an offer on it and sucked it up for the shipping from the mountains of California. I recently tried to get one of these tanks in another auction, but it got ridiculous. Instead I backed off, waited, and got a whole bike for double the cost of a good sand blasted tank. Paint is really faded in most spots, must have been that type of metallic maroon paint.
Bike was found on Fleabay, made an offer on it and sucked it up for the shipping from the mountains of California. I recently tried to get one of these tanks in another auction, but it got ridiculous. Instead I backed off, waited, and got a whole bike for double the cost of a good sand blasted tank. Paint is really faded in most spots, must have been that type of metallic maroon paint.
Re: '50s Hawthorne Heavyweight
Hey, have you checked out http://www.cbiusa.com/ , it's worth the drive across the ditch for the savings on shipping, especially for bikes.
'48 Hawthorne said:
Hey, have you checked out http://www.cbiusa.com/ , it's worth the drive across the ditch for the savings on shipping, especially for bikes.
Re: '50s Hawthorne Heavyweight
UPS was not too bad as I had it shipped super slow ground, just over a week to get here.
UPS was not too bad as I had it shipped super slow ground, just over a week to get here.
Re: '50s Hawthorne Heavyweight
The serial # is D95878 and has the large C with the small W inside it. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
The serial # is D95878 and has the large C with the small W inside it. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Re: '50s Hawthorne Heavyweight
Scrounged up some more parts tonight. Slapped the original wheels on it so I could take it for a spin before the blizzard hits. It's a balmy -8 here right now. Never road a bike with a Skockmaster fork before, works really smooth. I'll post pics of some other possible parts tomorrow. I am thinking of going with a crust and chrome theme with some extras do-dads here and there.
Scrounged up some more parts tonight. Slapped the original wheels on it so I could take it for a spin before the blizzard hits. It's a balmy -8 here right now. Never road a bike with a Skockmaster fork before, works really smooth. I'll post pics of some other possible parts tomorrow. I am thinking of going with a crust and chrome theme with some extras do-dads here and there.
It has been a rusty good day. The wheels came this week, got a taillight candidate out of my stash, cleaned a lot of the bearings, busted out the steel wool, paint stripper and rust dissolving gel. Here's what I've been up to today.
Some crusty, true wheels, thanks again tin machine.
A test swipe with the rust gel and super fine steel wool.
The original paint on the fenders is shot, so I thought why not make it better by making it worse!
Just rust eating gel.
With stripper, scraper. gel and steel wool.
Possible taillight set-up. I took an old Delta Rocket light and stuck a red LED seat post light in it.
Pulled the tank off and gently applied the gel with steel wool to clean it up a bit. The maroon looks a lot better now. The insides of the tank have not been touched, except for the batteries. Horn works great too.
Gave the head badge the light gel and steel wool treatment as well.
Now back to re-packing the bearings and cleaning the rims some more. Cheers, Jordan
Some crusty, true wheels, thanks again tin machine.
A test swipe with the rust gel and super fine steel wool.
The original paint on the fenders is shot, so I thought why not make it better by making it worse!
Just rust eating gel.
With stripper, scraper. gel and steel wool.
Possible taillight set-up. I took an old Delta Rocket light and stuck a red LED seat post light in it.
Pulled the tank off and gently applied the gel with steel wool to clean it up a bit. The maroon looks a lot better now. The insides of the tank have not been touched, except for the batteries. Horn works great too.
Gave the head badge the light gel and steel wool treatment as well.
Now back to re-packing the bearings and cleaning the rims some more. Cheers, Jordan
Ooooh...pretty cool 8)
More tinkering while checking on the beer butt chicken. Light at night (still in between on placement).
Fork and fenders back where they belong.
The drill may be coming out later to put some holes on the sides of the rack and have two taillights.
Fork and fenders back where they belong.
The drill may be coming out later to put some holes on the sides of the rack and have two taillights.
I've been surprised with some New Departure blues. The coaster hub just spins even when the bike is stationary. I knew there was a reason I squirreled away those old Model D hubs. Looks like a rebuild and parts replacement is in order.
Pulled the hubs apart tonight. The donor parts are perfect, but the inside of the one I am using, not so much. The grease turned grey, and hard like concrete and wreaks something fierce. All the washers and parts were stuck together, like a rock, no wonder it was locked tight prior to tonight. A steel wool brush, varsol, patience and an bit of an attitude got it apart. The stuff is finally lifting off from the grooves and the inside of the hub. I've pulled a few hubs apart over the years and have never seen anything like this. It's going to take a couple of nights to make sure that this thing is fully cleaned up, at least I know the donor parts are good to go.
