Gone Fischwinn - New Build

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Kevin B

Kevin B

Bicycle Demolitionist
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Joined
Mar 31, 2011
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Lehigh Acres, (Fort Myers) Florida
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Next year I am eligible to retire. With hundreds of miles of canals in my town I am thinking about fishing more. I was given a derelict Schwinn Fairhaven step-thru. After thinking about it for a while I finally settled on a good fishing theme. When I put rod holders on my cantilever bikes they are hard to mount. This bike would be perfect to be a dedicated fishing bike. I chose matte Moss Green to give it a Jon boat appearance.

Here are some of the mods:

1. Knobby rubber for trails

2. Bobbers for valve caps

3. Off road pedals

4. Cork grips

5. Ammo can for tackle

6. Small Huffy basket for cargo (I already had this. Could move up to a larger basket if needed)

7. An ornamental red/whire float (Sort of like a boat fender)

8. Boat navigation light

9. Dual rod holders

10. Casting reel bell mount

11. Custom lettering

12. New brakes

This is an overall (Detailed posts to follow if interested)

Natural habitat.jpg


This is the starting point
Schwinn Step-thru.jpg


I thought about having a poll here for the name. After thinking of several the name "Gone Fischwinn" finally was what I settled on for a name. The final piece came today in the form of custom lettering I ordered.
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I used my Rivnut tool and a 90 degree chuck to drill out the frame and install Rivnuts for two bottle cages. Anyone who ever fished knows that you're around all that water but there is never any or enough to drink.
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Overall.jpg

In this shot you can see the ammo can. The tin the navigation light is mounted on has a 9 volt battery box with a switch on it under the cover. It is padded in a piece of pool noodle. The 9v lights up the LED navigation light very well.

The bobbers are one inch in diameter. Once I cut the spring the string mount came out to leave a perfect hole for gluing and press fitting a valve cap in the hole.
 
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Here you can see the bell. The 40 year old bait caster is my first casting reel. It is an old Ryobi v spool. The bell is mounted on the reel. The reel is mounted on the bars in front of a cork grip. It sort of looks like a rod handle.
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Here is my high tech, err make that low tech single speed. The 7 speed derailer and shifter were toast. Since it has cruiser dropouts I just used the center gear giving me 44/18 and a straight chain line. Once I shortened the chain I can just slide the axles to adjust tension. Problem solved.
Single speed.jpg
 
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Ready to go. Left rod holder is cut for spinning setup. Right holder is made for a casting setup. Plenty of room for tackle as I am sort of set in my ways on what I like to use.
Ready to go.jpg
 
Good job on your fishing bike. Love the bell. Good choice of bicycle type for getting back in the woods a ways. Lots of dirt roads that a bicycle like this handles well. Lots of fishermen and women use bicycles in our area but few are as well appointed as yours. I hope you were able to weather Ian without getting clobbered. Good luck with your fishing.
 
Thanks.
Ian's eye was west of us a little. Our winds were 110 instead of 150. Just lost about 8 shingles. They are already replaced. Brush is burned and we are good. I feel so bad for the people who were in the storm surge and higher winds. Many of them lost everything.
 
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Update on the Gone Fischwinn build. On vacation I found a small aluminum prop at a thrift shop. Brought it home, polished it. Found a 10m-1 bolt to mount it because I had a matching chrome acorn nut already. Have it temporally mounted on the ammo can. In the future I have plans to make a fake motor housing out of PVC.

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The prop is great. Maybe vintage outboard brand decals for the box sides?
 

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