New Found Speedster

[Spaceangus]

So, this thing was just sitting half buried in a junk metal pile waiting for someone to rescue it from certain death in the recycler’s compactor. It is a 1972 Schwinn Speedster, which someone crudely painted with brushed on light green paint (luckily painting around the decals). The fender is a loss, but the original chrome is in pretty good shape. I have stripped the bike down to the frame and am slowly cleaning off the brushed paint to expose the original campus green finish. This will be a pretty simple build, and will end up as a single speed commuter.

I scored a set of used surly hubs and am lacing them to some simple sun rims. This bike came with 26x1 3/4, but 700c seem to fit really well in the frame.

More pictures to follow…

 

[Hammond Eggz]

Will be anxious to see this one! 8)

 

[l4ne4]

nice save

 

[Spaceangus]

After a LOT of scrubbing, the campus green finish shines through. It looks like someone took a belt sander to it at some point. Also shown here is the test fit of the new rear wheel and the centerpull brakes.








Also of note, the electrical conduit that had been hammered into the seat tube in place of a seatpost was removed with heavy use of penetrating oil and a bench vice.

 

[fixed1313]

Nice save, I really like the old Speedsters, working on one myself right now.

 

[SkidMark]

700c wheels fit nice. You'll be able to fit 28 to 32c tires under the fenders. No brake reach problems, and the bottom bracket ends up a little higher than stock (taller wheels). I like doing 700c conversions on the 26 x 1-3/8" Schwinn better than on the 27" ones because of this.

 

[jats]

nice save!

Troy

 

[Spaceangus]

So, I’m not very good at keeping up on this build thread. But here is a long overdue update.
After cleaning the frame, aligning the fork, and building the wheels, some new(ish) components were in order. I found a longer stem from a Schwinn LeTour, a North Road style handlebar and a set of Grande Comp aero levers. The bars where then wrapped in brown cotton tape and flax twine, and coated in several layers of shellac. The tires are brown Delta Cruisers. The pedals are being replaced with some BMX platforms with some homemade leather “holdfast style” pedal straps. The headbadge has not yet been reinstalled.

 

[RatTrap602]

Nice find. The build is looking nice so far

 

[fixed1313]

I really like the way this is turning out.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Looking good!

Luke.

 

[SkidMark]

That looks great! Big fan of green with brown trim. The twine and shellacked tape on the moustache bars and those awesome levers....just wow.