The Old Maid *name may change*

[Joshua85]

well some of you may have seen the fleet wing bike i recently purchased. Apparently its a 1940s postal bike, i havn't looked up the serial yet, anyways here is a photo of it.

here is a photo of the headbadge if anyone is curious

and here is a photo of the nightmare that i may or may not worry about.

yes...the previous owner (not the guy i bought it from) spay painted over the sprocket, the skiptooth chain, and the wheels hubs and all....i guess bare metal just wasnt good enough for him. that paint is caked on too it took me an hour to get the sprocket somewhat paint free. took the chain off but now the master link wont pop back on and stay on, it just falls off....i may just switch it over to a normal chain with a normal hub.

anyways here is my entry we'll see what i make of it

 

[TheFlyingDingo]

I think i might be able to save your day...i got TONS of skiptooth chain parts...
Let me go look if i got a master link

 

[schwinnmesa]

Man, your Fleetwing is awesome!!! My family has a Fleetwing also, from 1937.

Hang onto yours! I'm sure it'll look even more Cool!

 

[TheFlyingDingo]

now you tell me if this stuff is worth something, i dont oeven know if its for a bike

 

[Joshua85]

Man, your Fleetwing is awesome!!! My family has a Fleetwing also, from 1937.

Hang onto yours! I'm sure it'll look even more Cool!

i was always curious what bike that was in your photo oddly enough nowhere online can i find info on the brand of bikes.

I think i might be able to save your day...i got TONS of skiptooth chain parts...
Let me go look if i got a master link

oh man dingo, you just might save my day. Let me take a look at the wheels and see how well the paint scrubs off and i will know if i am going to keep it skiptooth, i would prefer to keep it skiptooth.

you guys rock!

 

[JoeyMac]

lovely bike with a lovely headbadge, can't wait to see what you do with it.

 

[TheFlyingDingo]

just to add to it i got some skip tooth hub things...i dont know what theyre called...sprockets?

all NOS

 

[sensor]

glad too see you in here too :mrgreen:
if dingo hasnt hooked you up yet with a master link when i get both of my wheels(so i can see what length chain i need) i might be able to spare a master link for a skipper
great start!

 

[66olds98]

now you tell me if this stuff is worth something, i dont oeven know if its for a bike

Hey how much for a chain?

 

[TheFlyingDingo]

sorry...no complete chains...:|

 

[Joshua85]

so i started to take the paint off, will post pics once i get batteries for the cam.

i must say the silver paint they coated it with is a pain in the rear, got some off the rear hub and there is lettering on the hub.

its a morrow and it reads "ecclipse manufacturing, elmira NY, 36" i'm guessing the 36 stands for 1936, not sure tho

and Dingo, it looks like i will be needing your help with the chain after all, i'll keep you updated

 

[langsmer]

The bike looks to be a prewar Cleveland Welding built bike with a Schwinn chain ring. Very nice.

 

[Joshua85]

ok so i've finally finished with the moving and the getting utilities and all that fun stuff cleared up at my old place. so that means i got a chance to work on this build and started taking paint off it.

here is a quick question does anyone have an old tan seat that would fit on a pre war post (5/8"?) the black is nice but i think a tan will work better with my build.

i promise you folks some more photos no worries

 

[sensor]

the only one i have is on my b6......but i may know of somewhere that might have one... what brand/type are you looking for? and mans or womans?

 

[2manybikes]

I have a decent tan troxel that is correct for a girls bike. I also have some NOS skip tooth connector links if you still need one.
LMK :mrgreen:

 

[Joshua85]

oooo 2many i think i just might have to send you a pm

well here is an updated photo

sanded off the paint on one fender, steelwooled all the nasty grey paint off the truss rods,crank,sprocket,stem,handlebars and most of the hubs.....it really shines now there is no way i can get the wheels done so im going to try to get them as smooth as possible (whoever painted them was very drippy) and tape off the spokes and paint them, probably cream.

 

[Joshua85]

so i woke up this morning and decided to polish up the headbadge using some super fine steel wool and im pretty happy with the results, here is a before and after

shiny shiny

 

[Joshua85]

almost have all the paint off it, hopefully i can get some painting done on it before this contest ends, the hurricane that is hitting us like tomorrow will probably mess up any plans i have for painting

 

[GTCOMA]

i love the look of the after shot on that badge!

 

[Joshua85]

ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :x :x :x

this stupid tropical storm is ruining all of my plans, it has been raining here all this week, and the forecast is telling me i have pretty much an entire week of rain waiting for me too.....so this has popped my dreams of painting this thing by th deadline...

...so as of right now its now looking good, however i'm not calling it quits