An Original Larkspur Canyon Bomber a 1951 Schwinn DX.
While driving home from work last Friday I saw a yard sale and stopped to take a look. There was not much to look at and I was about to leave when I spotted it back by a shed laying on the ground, I asked the woman if it was for sale, she said "No, my son loves that bike it's not part of the sale." I thought "that figures" and started to leave, but before I did I asked if she would take $60.00 for it. She said her son needed the money and he might sell it, so she called to the house but there was no answer. again I thought It wasn't going to happen. As I was driving off a man came out and called "you want to buy the bike?" I couldn't believe it.
I asked if he would sell it for $60 and he said YES.
He told me he grew up in Larkspur, CA He built it himself in the 70s and used it to bomb down Mt Tam.
The bike was kept under his parent's house in San Anselmo, CA for the last 20 years while he was living in another state.
This bike is the real deal!
Here's what it has:
Ashtabula stem, Skip tooth sprockets, Cook bros forks, Brooks saddle, Araya wheels, Bendix coaster hub, custom handlebars with strut welded by original owner.
The paint was peeling badly and there was rust on the forks, the seat was shot, and The wheels were heavily dented no doubt from many trips down Tam and had been banged back into shape at least a dozen times, they were banged up beyond my ability to straighten them, I'll talk to Eric at Sunshine bikes to see what he thinks can be done with them, I would like to keep them on the bike if I can.
I took off the peeling paint and rust, cleaned and re lubed the bottom bracket. I replaced the wheels with cheepy wheel set for now just to get it riding.
I replaced the cog from the wheel set which had an odd number of teeth with a 20 tooth cog I had for another project. The new cog needed to be a skip toothed cog To work with the chain ring, so I ground off every other tooth on the cog with a bench grinder. the chain was dirty but in good shape and cleaned up nicely. I replaced the saddle with a Brooks B72 and replaced the seat post with solid 13/16 aluminum stock. I put on Carlisle style tires and it was ready to ride.
While driving home from work last Friday I saw a yard sale and stopped to take a look. There was not much to look at and I was about to leave when I spotted it back by a shed laying on the ground, I asked the woman if it was for sale, she said "No, my son loves that bike it's not part of the sale." I thought "that figures" and started to leave, but before I did I asked if she would take $60.00 for it. She said her son needed the money and he might sell it, so she called to the house but there was no answer. again I thought It wasn't going to happen. As I was driving off a man came out and called "you want to buy the bike?" I couldn't believe it.
I asked if he would sell it for $60 and he said YES.
He told me he grew up in Larkspur, CA He built it himself in the 70s and used it to bomb down Mt Tam.
The bike was kept under his parent's house in San Anselmo, CA for the last 20 years while he was living in another state.
This bike is the real deal!
Here's what it has:
Ashtabula stem, Skip tooth sprockets, Cook bros forks, Brooks saddle, Araya wheels, Bendix coaster hub, custom handlebars with strut welded by original owner.
The paint was peeling badly and there was rust on the forks, the seat was shot, and The wheels were heavily dented no doubt from many trips down Tam and had been banged back into shape at least a dozen times, they were banged up beyond my ability to straighten them, I'll talk to Eric at Sunshine bikes to see what he thinks can be done with them, I would like to keep them on the bike if I can.
I took off the peeling paint and rust, cleaned and re lubed the bottom bracket. I replaced the wheels with cheepy wheel set for now just to get it riding.
I replaced the cog from the wheel set which had an odd number of teeth with a 20 tooth cog I had for another project. The new cog needed to be a skip toothed cog To work with the chain ring, so I ground off every other tooth on the cog with a bench grinder. the chain was dirty but in good shape and cleaned up nicely. I replaced the saddle with a Brooks B72 and replaced the seat post with solid 13/16 aluminum stock. I put on Carlisle style tires and it was ready to ride.
