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Glimmer, Shimmer, Sparkle & Shine
Covered with sea horses, red hearts and stars
But what steals the show is the mile of welds.


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Tuned this up for a kid today. I tried to test ride it. I made it about 100 feet and had to walk it back. Something was bizarrely wrong. If felt like my leg stopped working or my hip was going to dislocate. Turns out the crank is not 180, more like 170/190 degrees. This why our shop policy is to test ride every bike. There are some problems you will never notice on the work stand. Issues that will be revealed in seconds while riding. I replaced the crank and all is okay. The right side bearing cage was shredded as a bonus.

I've called it "Hip Popper crank". I'm thinking the crank will go on a full size demo bike that needs a name like "most undesirable ride". Here ride this and tell me what you think. Paint it some bright color and brand it "Hip Popper". It could make for a fun bait bike too.

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When I was a kid riding my bike I bent a crank like that. One of my rides to a friend's house took me through a parking lot. There were cement car stops with metal pipes to keep them in place. Plenty of room to ride between them, but you needed to keep the crank level as you go through. I didn't do that one time, flipped me right off the bike and I was air born. Very painful lesson.
 
This arrived in July but I was too busy to do much with it then.

1988 Schwinn Traveler. Made in Greenville Mississippi. TruTemper tubing. Looks like someone was trying to change the bike to, well, what?

Not your typical plain blue Traveler, Traveler II or Traveler III, etc. The Traveler was a lower end lugged Schwinn road bike that was next to the Le Tour. Both models changed specs often, some times up, other times down. Made in several different factories/countries. This one is a "good" year for Travelers. Tru Temper 4130 db main tubes, alloy parts.

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Bike now mostly dismantled. Front cones shot. Haven't pulled the rear axle yet. Pedals falling apart. Tires shot. I had put on another set of alloy dropped bars in July and found some 27" tires for it. Paint scrubbed and frame washed. Lots of chips and scratches. I touched up the white. A good match for the Rusteoleum High Gloss white. I'd say there is no chance of matching the greenish color so I'll probably spray some clear over the worst of the scratches and scrapes. Weinman Concave rims. I remember when those came out, 1978 or so and everyone made all these claims about them being bomb proof. Not. They still got flat spots. Some spoke wrenches would catch on the rim. They are great at collecting dirt and water. I rarely seem them any more and good riddance.
Frame with head set cups weighs 5.6 pounds.

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Schwinn Traveler overhaul continues.
hubs: all 4 cones pitted and replaced. It took 5 more Normandy hubs from the parts bin to find good cones. Of those 5, the worse had been repacked at some point with Phil Wood grease, the rest had the remains of the original grease.
bottom bracket. Axle has lots of pits spread out. I've seen worse but this is toast.
bearings full of pits.

Spoke nipples seized due to the Wienman Concave rims collecting water. The spokes could stand to be bit tighter but not this time. The alternative is replacing the spokes & nipples. If this were a paying job the final bill would be in the $400 range. I see youtube videos about customers paying $300 to $350 for a few upgrades on vintage bikes, not even full overhauls. There aren't many new road bikes in the same price range so a big bill on a classic Schwinn might be worth it to some.

We'll see if the photos load. Got hit with a Windows Upgrade this am and now my computer won't make thumbnails for edited photos.

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Second bike, frame exchange. Move the wheels, seat, etc from the girls Cranbrook to the Sante Fe.

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Both bikes fully dismantled. Turning out to be more than a simple frame swap. 4 gummy rotted grips tossed. The 2011 Cranbrook was in okay condition. The 2010 Sante Fe wasn't. bare frame with seat post weighs 8.3 pounds. Pedals seized, bb shredded, stem rusted in pretty good but it came out after a blast of wd-40 and 60 minutes. Rust on the seat stay brake bridge so I sanded that out and touched it up with some black rustoleum.
Cranbrook tins painted for the Sante Fe. A dark red with an exposed center strip of tan. The Cranbrook chainguard is a bit short but will work after i drill a hole for the rear screw. I guess the Sante Fe has a longer wheel base or the mens model has a longer wheel base. The HUFFY is raised on the chain guard so I'll accent that after the paint dries. It wasn't quite warm enough to spray paint today and the yard work was kicking up a lot of dust and leaf debris. So I did a fast brush paint job on the fenders and chain guard. Pretty crude up close but this isn't a bike I wanted to put a lot of time into. Will be okay at 10 feet.

Sante Fe bb. Crunch, grind. Spit it out.
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Huffy Sante Fe done.
It is kind of a small bike. Seemed cramped and short for me. Rolls good. Rode it about a mile and that was enough. Not good on hills or rough terrain. I did adjust the hubs, repack the headset & bb. Wheels with hd spokes and wide steel rims, fenders, chain guard, BB & crank transferred from the Cranbrook. I sanded the barn paint off the raised HUFFY letters on the chain guard. Pedals are pretty awful but I'm hoping they will break in again. No bearing plastic body type with rusty axles. I shot some oil in the pedals. I figure a few miles of pedaling will polish the rust off or grind a larger hole in the plastic pedal. Scrubbed and waxed the frame with little improvement. The gloss black paint has oxidized. These canti frames are annoying to strip, paint, polish etc, you just can' get in between the tubes. Some of the full photos came out good enough for postcards. 37.5 pounds final weight.

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fresh Specialized CrossRoads Elite ladies hybrid/comfort bike. Broken brake lever.
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tuned up for Toys for Tots. 16" Hotwheels. Both wheels were trashed so we put on some with black rims with red spokes and hubs. Kinda cool color combo. Looks better in daylight.

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Giant Boulder. XS frame. Decent bike for a tween.
Huffy Princess. Tuned up and on it's way to Toys 4 Tots.

Huffy Rockit. late 2023 model. Defective from the factory. another EZ build pos. They keep modifying this horrible design. Hard to say it's worse than before. My nomination for worst bike line in the chinese era. Designed for "No tools needed for assembly", yet it has an USA Assemblers Inc. sticker on it. Really, take it out of the box, turn the crank arms outward, stick the bars in the fork until it clicks. Plug the training wheels in. That's it. Scrap metal. I'll put the wheels on another tot bike.

Schwinns!
Frontier
Ranger 2.6 FS (nice riding) and ready to go.
Schwinn Ranger 24"
Schwinn Thrasher.
Schwinn Trailway with sample collector. ;)
Schwinn Varsity. Giant build after the Chicago factor was closed up. Schwinn had Murray make them for a year or two, then Giant.


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Keep your box if you decide to return it.
I have been running just over 10 psi on mine.
I use three pounds of tire pressure for snow bike trails. Higher pressure will cause ruts in the set track and other riders won’t appreciate you. They’ll let you know. I use ten pounds for plowed snow covered gravel roads. You can’t ride plowed gravel and snow on three inch wide tires unless it’s frozen. It’s easy with 3.8 or 4 inch wide tires.
 
Vintage! ~1972 Styer Clubman 10 speed made in Austria. Wing nuts! Well, 3 of them. One owner. Purchased new in Ames Iowa at Nims. Tires and front der not stock. Probably had a Simplex plastic push-rod front der. Seat is a Couveur. rubbery over steel coil springs. Very good condition for 50 years old.

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From the same one-owner, early 1970s John Deere 3 speed. Purchased at the John Dealer in Marengo, Iowa. Flat fixed, black chunks flying out from the saddle when test ridden. the foam padding is completely shot. Where to get that very dense foam for a repair. It looks like the cover is riveted on but the rivets are attached to tabs that bend over a perimeter rail to hold the cover on. Left a trail to follow home. Very good condition. A polish and wax will make it look amazing.
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3 Giants.
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Trek 830 with shock fork. Looks like a 1995 830 SHX. Ice Red with silver decals. SR DuoTrack 7005 fork. Nice & lightweight. A big step up from the 800 and 820.

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Nothing runs like a Deere! Friend of my is a big John Deere fan.
For sale at the co-op?
yes.

We had to fix a flat on the rear tire. Tires are fair. foam padding in the seat is disintegrated and falling out.

I have 2 more of my own. Mens & Womens matching pair, green 3 speed. Both with the welded on side reflectors. The one above doens't have that. So a different model years I guess. The mens is missing the front brake & lever and has a big dent in the rear fender that could be straightened out.
Womens photo below, no photo of the mens until daylight. Photo from 2012 so the bike is covered in dust now.

I have another JD, mens black 10 speed that I'm converting to a single speed.

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Schwinn Traveler done. 1988 white & sea green.
new hub cones
shimano UN-52 bb.
new old stock Duro green tires.
chain cleaned
white paint touched up.
bike cleaned and waxed.
test ridden for a few miles.
Goes up hills okay thanks to the TruValue cromo tubing.
nice precise index shifting on the downtube.
IMO the Duro tires look cool but ride quality isn't good. Maybe they will improve once the flashing is worn off. I have a matching ladies in the queue.

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John Deere 3 speed mens needs some tlc. Missing front brake & lever & cable. Rear cable. Kickstand. seat is failing apart. Rear fender dented. Check out those grips.






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BMX BMX BMX

"real" bmx bikes. Barn fresh.

1990s Balance Super B. cro-mo frame. 3 piece crank and v-brake added
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2000 Haro SR 1.0 Group 1. aluminum frame with built in rear axle adjusters.
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1997 Mongoose Villian with Haro triple wall wheels with 3/8" socket end axle nuts. I'd call that a meat slicer sprocket. Don't stick your finger in there.
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BMX BMX BMX

"real" bmx bikes. Barn fresh.

1990s Balance Super B. cro-mo frame. 3 piece crank and v-brake added
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2000 Haro SR 1.0 Group 1. aluminum frame with built in rear axle adjusters.
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1997 Mongoose Villian with Haro triple wall wheels with 3/8" socket end axle nuts. I'd call that a meat slicer sprocket. Don't stick your finger in there.
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Those triple wall wheels are worth a small fortune by themselves and if that SR one finds itself for sale, please let me know
 

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