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expjawa

expjawa

Joined
Mar 25, 2011
Messages
1,226
Reaction score
143
Location
Rochester, NY
Well, the bike I'm using is my '61 Schwinn American. Crappy picture, but I'll get some better ones once I figure out where I put my camera...

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I'm not real sure were I'm going with it yet. Since the bike is already blue & white and called "American", and we've got Memorial Day, Flag Day, and Independance Day all coming up before long, I think I'm going to add a splash of red and play up on a patriotic theme.

Anyway, that's enough for now. I've got to get going so I can go for a bike ride before it gets dark. :D
 
A step in the right direction. So, last night I dragged the American down out of my garage attic and cleaned it up a bit. After getting all the cobwebs off of it, I brought it into the house, set up my stand in the living room, and then while watching the 2-hr season finale of The Mentalist, I stripped the bike down.

With polishing compound, 0000 steel wool and PB Blaster (careful not to get the Blaster on the rug!), the bike cleaned up surprisingly well. Still lots of patina, as the rims didn't clean up much and the handle bar's chrome is flaking, plus there's still surface rust on the paint and the fenders aren't particularly straight. Oh, and I mounted the new tires I bought for it. Here's the outcome:

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I left the front fender off because I couldn't get the wheel true enough to run a balloon tire without rubbing. I may just leave it off, my vision for this build is still evolving. I'm still working on the front wheel, there were close to a dozen spokes that were dead-loose, so it needed a lot of help. But it's close enough to ride now - I took it for the first test ride around the yard around midnight...
 
A few more shots, finally out in the sunlight:
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I've ridden it around the neighborhood a few times so far. Both wheels are pretty out of true, so I'll have to keep working on that. That, and sorting out what I'm going to do with it next...
 
Cool, I'm not the only one doing an American Flag themed bike :D Keep up the good work :wink:
 
slow rider said:
nice but white tires on red rims would look cooler with the paint and decals. plus may be 2 american flags. one one each side of the back rear fender.
Click to expand...

Maybe yes, maybe no. I thought about doing that first, but I decided that I liked this better. There was already a fair amount of white on the bike, so I thought that it would look more balanced if the tires were red rather than the rims. And I like the outcome. There's now a flag on the seat post:

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I did ride it down into my village center (I'm about a 1/4 mile from Main Street) this morning to watch the parade. Nobody really noticed it though. I'll take better pictures outside in the daylight later today after mowing the grass down a bit...
 
slow rider said:
now it's looking cool but what about painting little white stars on the fenders over the blue? plus still think two small but tall american flags straped/mounted to each midel fender brace would be cool. just a thought.
Click to expand...

Well, I have some ideas for that. Sort of along those lines, but...different... Stay tuned...
 
I'm digging this bike. I think the red tires on white rims is perfect,( white tires are somewhat common the red is the way to go).
As far as flags on the side you said you had your own ideas for that, and I'll be looking forward to seeing it,....BUT....
I had the crazy idea of Captain America shield Moon Discs, OR... fender skirts in an American flag motif. :D ...but that's just me thinking out loud.
 
Hmm, somehow the Captain American discs seem a bit too OTT for me, especially with the movie coming out... Nope, you'll just have to wait and see - especially since I haven't settled on what I want to do just yet. For the moment, I've been having too much fun just riding it as is to work on it more. I managed to scratch up my new handlebars riding through the woods behind my parent's house yesterday...

Anyway, a few new shots:

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The speedo was something that came on a '73 Varsity that I bought for $35, for parts to restore my '75. I figured that alone was worth the money spent. I haven't hooked it up here, I just stuck it on the bars for fun. I probably won't leave it on this bike, there's another one that I want to use it on...
 
Lovin the white rims (in combination with those red tires). It makes it just a little bit different. In a very good way. I like that flag as a token of patriotism. The bike can do without that bell, imho. It looks too cheap/not from the same period to have it mounted on such a gorgious bike. Also, imho ofcourse.
Oh wait, I just read you still have something up your sleeve...
Can't wait.
8)
 
Yeah, I tend to agree about the bell. I bought it because of the flag on it, but it seemed like all the bells readily available had a plastic base and were too modern looking. I have since picked up a Crane lever-strike brass bell. Has a real nice sound to it, but does not have the characteristic "ding-ding" sound of a typical bicycle bell. The sort of sound that people walking on the rail/canal trails automatically associate with a bike coming up behind them. So, I don't know if I'll use on this or not.

It did occur to me that I ought to put some sort of reflectors on the bike if I'm going to ride it continuously (on the roads) as I have been. I was out cruising around the other evening just before sunset and it occurred to me that the lack of the them was probably not real smart. And NYS required the use of a red taillight and white headlight on bicycles used after dark. Finding a suitable headlight isn't too much trouble, but an appropriate taillight that is actually effective is another matter...
 
Here are few updated photos:

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I took these halfway along a 26-mile ride that I was on over the weekend along the Erie Canal. The canal path was unpaved, and with the lack of rain we've had, it was quite dusty. However, I thought that the coating of dust on the bike somehow suited the nature of it. Made it look more ratty.

I've changed the stem, grips and handlebars since the last posting. These bars wrap around more and are more what I originally envisioned. And the grips are original Schwinn Stingray-style (NOS). They were a bugger to get on, however. The bars were slightly larger than the standard 7/8" in diameter, so I had to soak the grips in a soapy, hot water solution to make them compliant and slippery enough to go on all the way. I expect that they will never come off without a razor... Oh, and I've decided to keep the bell. Might not be quite period, but I like it.
 
Nice RWB scheme. Those handlebars look a lot like mine and work better that the straights you had.
 

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