THE RICKPAULOS COLLECTION

[rickpaulos]

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

 

[Wayne]

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.

 

[rickpaulos]

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.

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.

 

[rickpaulos]

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.