'68 Sting Rat

[OddJob]

That's some smoooth operating going on there Chad! I'm heading off to the bike swap in a couple minutes, let me know if there is anything you need; purple or otherwise!

This is the location where I picked up some of your fastback build parts from a couple years back. Suns out, hoping for a good day!

 

[Chad T]

I'm heading off to the bike swap in a couple minutes, let me know if there is anything you need; purple or otherwise!

Always looking for Person's banana seats to recover. Any cool muscle bikes stuff. You know what I like......have fun. Sounds like a great day for it.

 

[OddJob]

Always looking for Person's banana seats to recover. Any cool muscle bikes stuff. You know what I like......have fun. Sounds like a great day for it.

Kind of a low turn out. Some old bikes, frames, 3 really nice original Schwinn krates, but not much for parts, and nearly zero muscle bike stuff.

Couple photos from the swap:
My 'dealer' friend Matt who has supplied me with many rusty parts and frames over the years, with an incredible vintage work stand.

No idea why it comes out sideways.

And a cool Miami bike he had for sale. 800 bones was a little out of my price range.

Trans-MIG-RaT and Old Manse Hawthorne got some rave reviews.

 

[Scribble]

That's a B**chin wheel set Chad !

 

[Captain Awesome]

Nice nipples Chad

 

[Chad T]

Thank you fellas!

Looka here what came in the mail. One '68 Sting Rat.

Bearings cups pretty grungy. Need to pop those out and put the new bb in. Need to figure out what size chain ring I can fit in there. Hoping to be able to use a 40 or 42t.

Got the rear stays spread. Big stretch from 116 to 135.

Tried to do 1/2 the distance at a time to make sure it came out even but the 2X4 method is not super precise.

Looks pretty good checking with a string though.

Ended up having to adjust the dish on the wheel a 1/2 a nipple twist on each side to get everything "squarallel"...

Next job will be the fork. Need to drill the drops to fit the hub. Also need to remove the white stuff you can see here.

Should have gotten a close up but what that is is a reflector sticker that somebody masked off some shapes in and painted over with some green paint. Hoping a heat gun will work on this but if anybody knows a good trick let me know.

 

[KJV]

Razor blade scraper; how I get those: pesky thick safety decals off.

Looking forward to seeing progress on the frame..,

 

[Chad T]

Razor blade scraper; how I get those: pesky thick safety decals off.

Looking forward to seeing progress on the frame..,

Hoping to keep the original paint underneath though if that's possible. Probably been on there at least 40 yrs.

 

[KJV]

Hoping to keep the original paint underneath though if that's possible. Probably been on there at least 40 yrs.

heat gun will help , 4sure.
Normally most of the paint,
is there when I do it that way.;
You just put the blade under the sticker,,, same time... acetone bathing.

 

[Chad T]

Hey guys and gals....work on the bike this morning consisted of mailing a set of hubs back to the seller. Were listed as having 8-11 speed freehub but was the same exact 10 speed freehub that I wanted to replace.

Had to resort to a hack. Got the machinist at work to take 1.8 mm off the back of the 11 speed cassette so it's the same width as a 10 speed cassette.

Little closer to the spokes. Hopefully the chain clears the tire with a 1/2 way decent chain line.

Got some smalls from Porkchop BMX. He even sent a purple sticker.

Went for black with the headset as I don't really want any purple directly up against the green if I can avoid it.

Did get a little work done today. Installed the new caps....

Got all the parts out to get a pic so I can see what all I've got. Think I've got just about everything I need except maybe some chainring bolts.

Wanted some grey brake hose but was too much. Found a good deal on some braided hose that kind of looks grey from a distance and looks awesome close up. Still have to figure out what fittings I need to install it. Looks like different brands brake use different fittings.

Next thing I need to do is getthis bike on the wheels and see how high the BB is from the ground.

I thought all the Sting Ray frames from '65 on were the same. They are described as a "long frame". I've only had mid seventies Sting Ray frames. This '68 is noticeably different. Looks like this frame was used from '65 until '68 and in '68 it was only on the coaster brake and 3-speed models. The 5-speed '68 rays and Krates had the newer frame and all of the '69 on Sting Rays have this same frame.

So a little nervous at this point until I can figure out if the longer cranks will work. Would hate to have to pedal one of these boat anchors around with short cranks or have a bad pedal dragger.

 

[SpikeFC]

I can't help to see purple everything is purple...

 

[OddJob]

Wow, somehow I missed that your frame finally arrived!
Looks like you've got some work ahead of you getting it 'up to snuff'.

In regard to the front fork 'safety decal', if you can lift the reflective part off, I've always had good luck with 3M Adhesive Remover. Spray it on a rag and wipe gently in a circular motion. That way you can control the amount of remover that gets applied.

Can't wait to see the grapes hung on the vine....

 

[Chad T]

I can't help to see purple everything is purple...

It will be cool...trust me......thirst for purple ano parts can be hard to quench.

Wow, somehow I missed that your frame finally arrived!
Looks like you've got some work ahead of you getting it 'up to snuff'.

Thanks OJ. You mean getting the frame up to snuff? When I call something a rat I mean I'm not doing any paint/cosmetic work. Chad T rat + Chad T lazy . I'll clean it up a bit and I did get the stickers off the fork. Was happy the darts were mostly intact.

Needed to check the ground clearance so put the wheels on.

Not much ground clearance but should be doable.

tire clearance is good. More worried about the chain.....

 

[Captain Awesome]

Stance looks great
Purple looks great
Cassette hack is slick

Chainline......questionable

 

[Chad T]

Chainline......questionable

Oh no that's not the chainline. That's not even the chainring that will be on it. Crank is not bolted down. Just threw it on there to check how low the pedal would be. Front sprocket will hopefully be 50mm from the center of the seat tube when everything is all set. Chainring will probably have to go on the inside of the spider and I may have to shift the spindle over a bit. Just another hack...thanks for the compliments..

 

[The Renaissance Man]

It's looking more and more like a @Chad T build! Always love the blend of shiny new parts on your builds!

 

[OddJob]

'Up to snuff' meant "Chad T Approved". Meaning, your bikes with the old Schwinn frames and new parts are always so well put together. I just knew you were anxious to see that frame on wheels, with some of those purple dabbed parts hanging off from it!

I really like your tire combo, they look good together on there. Disc brakes on these old frames have a sort of panache that sets them apart as well. The chain line might be a tough one, but you'll figure it out. Even if you hit 9 out of 11, you'll probably have enough gears to get you down the road!

 

[Chad T]

Thank you so much boys.

Thinking about polishing the bottoms of the forks like I did on this yellow Fastback but can't decide if I should do it to this one..opinions?

 

[RustyGold]

I liked the polish job you did on the fastback, because that was a road bike style of fork and, often, higher trim levels of road bikes bitd had chrome lowers. So, it was a nice homage and set your bike as a 'higher level' stingray .

The blade forks on green stingray won't really fit with that theme. If you wanted to do something to the blade forks, maybe full polish...or lightening holes...or both (though I'm not sure how safe I would feel with swiss cheesed blade forks...and I do a LOT of stupid stuff ).

 

[OddJob]

I agree with RustyG's assessment ^ completely. I'd leave em stock. Adds to the more overall 'beefy' and tough look to this one.