Well... I finished the bike last week, 2 days after our wedding. We aren't taking a honeymoon right away, and I had the day off and my wife was at work (teacher).
When the last parts came in, I finished assembly. Here is the finished bike:
So that day, when she came...
Yeah, I did too! Those were completely shot though, and I couldn't find a match online. If I can find a similar one in the future, I'll put it on.
Yeah! I just need to find some new cap nuts -- the thread size they used is a weird one that my local hardware store doesn't stock.
10/5/2011 UPDATE:
I was stuck for a week or so waiting for various bearing parts to come in. Eventually, I rebuilt the crank and rebuilt the steering set with fresh bearings and a few new races. Everything is silky smooth now.
Weighing the bike down with a cast iron pan worked okay for...
Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.
Haha, that is not my cooking oven. You can't powdercoat in an oven you eat out of (carcinogens) so I found that one on Craigslist for free. It lives in my garage :)
Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.
While waiting for parts to arrive, I have to clean up several parts myself. I've got a small powdercoat setup in my garage (sandblaster, powdercoat gun and old spare oven) so I get to stripping down the chain guard.
It was looking...
Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.
Thanks for all of the positive feedback! I think this is a great site... I didn't really know much about bicycles until acquiring this bike and stumbling upon this site. It seems like a great community here!
I got the bike back...
Re: Breathing new life into a ladies Hawthorne dumpster find.
So, about a month ago I started tearing into her.
Once I had a bare frame, I set up my backyard sandblasting operation...
1/2 way there!
Clean frame... I was originally going to paint the frame myself but decided to have...
My Dad found this old Hawthorne by a dumpster a couple of months ago. I'm in the process of restoring it for my fiance.
Here are some pictures from before I did any work.
While taking the bike apart I found an old newspaper jammed inside of the tank. I think someone wadded...
My Dad found this old Hawthorne by a dumpster a couple of months ago. I'm in the process of restoring it for my fiance.
Any ideas from anyone on the date? I found a wadded up newspaper in the tank (to keep the batteries from rattling around, I guess) and it was dated 1948.
The...