The Vacation

[kram]

Sometimes when you get back from vacation you have to work on getting skinny. I was on a short trip through western Colorado this past weekend, and picked up this cheap schwinn in Montrose. I believe it is a 1948 dx. It has mostly mismatched parts and a fair amount of damage. There’s a pretty serious weld behind the head tube. I’ll grind it down and see if I need to repair it. The stays need to be straightened out a bit as well as the dropouts. The chainguard mount has also been broken off. Kind of cool that it has a bicycle license from 1959 from the town I bought it in. Under the paint you can’t just make out the planes and trains headbadge.

 

[One-eyed Sailor]

Great find!

 

[Jude Ephesus]

Great find!

Looks done to me!

 

[Captain Awesome]

What's the plan to skinny her down?

 

[kram]

A few years back I accidentally ordered some 26x1 3/8 tires, and then about a year ago I bought some 26x1 3/8 because I didn’t look at the box close enough. I recently picked up a set of the same size wheels, so I figured it was time to use them and this time on purpose. Working on getting the stem unstuck. The bolt was pre snapped when I got the bike, hooray!

 

[kram]

@Captain Awesome you must have comment while I was writing the next post!

 

[Captain Awesome]

@Captain Awesome you must have comment while I was writing the next post!

Great minds........

 

[kram]

Trying more parts to see what sticks. First up is an older orange velo saddle. Second, are some alloy mustache bars. I’m like those so far. I’m not totally set on the wheels yet. 26x1 3/8 wheels somehow feel like the pocket protector of wheels. They just seem a little dorky. How do you like them?

 

[GeePig]

26 x 3/8 are quite a large wheel in my garage, since I am mostly on 20" and 24" wheels, but for that size of frame and the height you have the saddle, larger wheels/tires would help.

 

[Pondo]

Trying more parts to see what sticks. First up is an older orange velo saddle. Second, are some alloy mustache bars. I’m like those so far. I’m not totally set on the wheels yet. 26x1 3/8 wheels somehow feel like the pocket protector of wheels. They just seem a little dorky. How do you like them?

View attachment 216533View attachment 216534

Looks really cool! I like everything about it so far. The bars and seat look great. Love the patina. I kind of feel the same about 26x1 3/8 wheels but with the white walls it looks really cool. If I get my Elgin skinny build going I think I'll get whitewalls as I'm running the same size wheels. We'll see. 2 off roads and a muscle to do as well. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!!

 

[Jude Ephesus]

Looks really cool! I like everything about it so far. The bars and seat look great. Love the patina. I kind of feel the same about 26x1 3/8 wheels but with the white walls it looks really cool. If I get my Elgin skinny build going I think I'll get whitewalls as I'm running the same size wheels. We'll see. 2 off roads and a muscle to do as well. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!!

That thing does look epic with the skinny tires and flipped bars…..

 

[GuitarlCarl]

Yep it's a classic skinny tire build right there! It's all about being fast. I'm not a whitewall guy either but they're better than gum walls. Now picture a video of a cat haulin' it down a deserted highway wheels centered on the inner yellow line...

 

[kram]

Got to work on the repairs today. All of the evidence points to a major crash at some point: weld on the down tube, non original front wheel, and when I stripped the paint off the forks they were originally red and the frame was green.
Starting point.

Ground down the weld to see what I was dealing with. Crack is still there.

Ground out the crack to make room for the filler metal to go, and to find the ends of the crack.

I’m a little out of practice welding. It’s not the prettiest weld, but good enough.

Ground back down the weld and some quick metal finishing with some files.

Next up, was grinding off the remainder of the chainguard tab.

Then I got about 90% of the paint stripped off. One of my least favorite parts of working on a bike. Still need to the rear of this bike aligned and straightened out

 

[Captain Awesome]

Got to work on the repairs today. All of the evidence points to a major crash at some point: weld on the down tube, non original front wheel, and when I stripped the paint off the forks they were originally red and the frame was green.
Starting point.
View attachment 216852View attachment 216853
Ground down the weld to see what I was dealing with. Crack is still there.View attachment 216859
Ground out the crack to make room for the filler metal to go, and to find the ends of the crack. View attachment 216854
I’m a little out of practice welding. It’s not the prettiest weld, but good enough. View attachment 216855
Ground back down the weld and some quick metal finishing with some files. View attachment 216857View attachment 216858
Next up, was grinding off the remainder of the chainguard tab. View attachment 216856View attachment 216861View attachment 216860
Then I got about 90% of the paint stripped off. One of my least favorite parts of working on a bike. Still need to the rear of this bike aligned and straightened out View attachment 216862

Strong work

 

[Son of Kradus]

Man im lovin those ancient forks! ya doin a fabulous job on it!

 

[Tallbikeman]

Got to work on the repairs today. All of the evidence points to a major crash at some point: weld on the down tube, non original front wheel, and when I stripped the paint off the forks they were originally red and the frame was green.
Starting point.
View attachment 216852View attachment 216853
Ground down the weld to see what I was dealing with. Crack is still there.View attachment 216859
Ground out the crack to make room for the filler metal to go, and to find the ends of the crack. View attachment 216854
I’m a little out of practice welding. It’s not the prettiest weld, but good enough. View attachment 216855
Ground back down the weld and some quick metal finishing with some files. View attachment 216857View attachment 216858
Next up, was grinding off the remainder of the chainguard tab. View attachment 216856View attachment 216861View attachment 216860
Then I got about 90% of the paint stripped off. One of my least favorite parts of working on a bike. Still need to the rear of this bike aligned and straightened out View attachment 216862

That's a much better welding job than the original repair. Everything was repaired back in the day. It was cheaper and expected. Good to see your expertise giving new life to this 75+ year old bike. Looking forward to where you go with this.

 

[Pondo]

Nice repair! With the frame stripped down it's starting to look really cool. I like making something useful out of junky old stuff like this. Good work!

 

[Jude Ephesus]

Got to work on the repairs today. All of the evidence points to a major crash at some point: weld on the down tube, non original front wheel, and when I stripped the paint off the forks they were originally red and the frame was green.
Starting point.
View attachment 216852View attachment 216853
Ground down the weld to see what I was dealing with. Crack is still there.View attachment 216859
Ground out the crack to make room for the filler metal to go, and to find the ends of the crack. View attachment 216854
I’m a little out of practice welding. It’s not the prettiest weld, but good enough. View attachment 216855
Ground back down the weld and some quick metal finishing with some files. View attachment 216857View attachment 216858
Next up, was grinding off the remainder of the chainguard tab. View attachment 216856View attachment 216861View attachment 216860
Then I got about 90% of the paint stripped off. One of my least favorite parts of working on a bike. Still need to the rear of this bike aligned and straightened out View attachment 216862

Awesome work. Great job on the weld/repair.

 

[kram]

Nice repair! With the frame stripped down it's starting to look really cool. I like making something useful out of junky old stuff like this. Good work!

Me too. It’s fun to give something life again. I have an idea for the paint that I have never tried before. Should be fun to see if it turns out.

 

[kram]

Still working on getting the frame repaired and ready for paint. Used some steel wool and a hanger to clean out the seat tube and the fork. It was crazy how much rust came out. Still need to get the wedge bolt out of the fork.

Then I got the headbadge off. This one has studs. Normally you can push them out from the inside, but this frame has a weld right where the studs are. I ground a slot with a dremel and tried a screwdriver. One came out and the other head broke off. I got the badge off without damaging it and should be able to punch the stud out.

Then I got the rest of the paint stripped off with an angle grinder and a wire brush. Almost ready to prime