Ratty Caddy

[Wildcat]

I'll throw my hat in the ring. I was going to use a Dahon folder, but my brother-in-law wants it. I've been getting parts for my 63 tandem for awhile, and I'm waiting for tires and a couple other parts now. I had decided against using my beehive springer because the spring is weak, but I plan to help it out so it will do the job. I have a couple of other things in mind that will make it a ratty cadillac bike.

So far it's been done cheaply. I've had the frame for 20 years. I was able to get a set of tandem wheels cheap, thanks to Crassly. I traded my reflector star sprocket for a complete set of tandem cranks and sprockets that match, thanks to Markm.

I bought 3 cruiser seats for 5 bucks at the flea market yesterday so I'm almost there, just a seat post and a couple of chains, and some special "things".

 

[ej599]

Is that a schwinn? I don't recall seeing another tandem in the race yet. Are you a carpenter? Cause you hit the nail on the head with your signature.

 

[aka_locojoe]

Schwinn's "Bicycle Built For Two"?
This ought to be cool.

 

[theVULTURE]

nice!!! another tandem :mrgreen: mines called "twice as nice" glad i'm not the only one.

i'm starting with a complete huffy tandem, but nowhere do the wheels indicate tandem use :? the spokes don't look too heavy either....
oh well, good luck to ya! i'll be keeping an eye on your build 8)

 

[Markm]

Cool!!! 8) 8)

 

[Wildcat]

Thanks, my sig is a variation of John Paul Jones's saying, "I have not yet begun to fight!" he was a US Navy captain of a small ship that was confronted by a huge English warship, who laughed when he said that. He wound up kicking their butts and taking that big ship. Too bad the same can't be said of us taxpayers. We are not winning anything.

Yes, our bike (my wife owns half now that it's painted) is a 63 Schwinn "Bicycle built for two". I don't have the chainguard, but from all I've read, that frame, with the male front, female rear frame style was only made for a couple years. I have trouble reading the serial number, I went by the cranks for the year, they both said 1963. There should be more numbers in the serial I think, maybe tandems used a different numbering system. Anyone know?

This fellow was sitting watching me paint the bike yesterday, then headed up the tree.

 

[Schweetcruisers]

Yes the Tandam's, Cycle Trucks and Whizzer specific frames all used a specific serial number, all tandams started with "T", anyways they cannot be date coded by the serial number, the crank is the best way to do that. The Bicycle built for two was middle weight tandam, they also still offered the Town & Country Balloon Tire. See the links for more info

1963 Fair Trade price sheet

http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1960_1970/1963.html

1963 Schwinn Brochure

http://johnsvintagebikes.com/guides_own ... index.html

Good luck and watch out for those critters!

 

[Wildcat]

Since it's a middleweight, I checked to see if the 2.125 would fit. Plenty of room.

 

[Wildcat]

progress and a setback

I found a way to correct the weak springer problem, I "stretched" it out by mounting the flanges forward. I think it looks better than the original setup and it doesn't allow the spring to compress easily, it doesn't bottom out. I need to do a little more, putting the fork blades inside the flange instead.

I was all set to get the new chains on and giving a test ride when the inner sprocket was too large for clearance from the frame. I've got a couple ways to correct it. The original inner sprockets were 36 tooth, these are 42 tooth. Only 1 of the original are usable, so I could find another 36 tooth sprocket and change them out, or I could put a spacer in the cranks to move it out slightly, just enough to get the chain on, keeping the sprockets all matching. I wonder if the difference might make the chain alignment off, enough for the chain to come off.

 

[JoKeR63]

Use spacers. What does it look like down the chainline? Sometimes you can change the rear sprocket (to an offset) or rearrange spacers on the axle. A slight offset wouln't hurt anything as long as the chain sideplates aren't hitting the sprocket on tooth entry.

 

[herr_rudolf]

Maybe a chain for a 10 speed could help you out if you worry about allignment. I don't have experience on that personally but noticed that they were advertised seperately. So I guess there's some difference between chains. Therefor the 10-speed chains (for example) must be built differently from a singlespeed chain, I think...

 

[deorman]

The other thing to consider with spacers is they will move the crank over, not just the sprocket. :|

 

[Wildcat]

There aren't enough threads to add any spacers afterall. I wouldn't have room left to put the lock nut on the cranks. So it looks like I'm hunting a 36 hole sprocket and then how it fits might be another problem. The original cranks with bad chrome have more threads, but I'm trying to keep these, as they have good chrome, even though the bike is supposed to be ratty.

 

[ratina]

I've had 2 schwinn tandems and both had normal serial numbers

 

[JoKeR63]

There aren't enough threads to add any spacers afterall. I wouldn't have room left to put the lock nut on the cranks. So it looks like I'm hunting a 36 hole sprocket and then how it fits might be another problem. The original cranks with bad chrome have more threads, but I'm trying to keep these, as they have good chrome, even though the bike is supposed to be ratty.

You might want to look for 2 sprockets, unless the Captain has treetrunks for legs.

 

[deorman]

Can you put the synch chain on the outside, dish facing out? :|

 

[Wildcat]

I hadn't even thought of that. That sounds like the easiest and best way to do it, if the drive sprocket clears the frame. All the tandems I've ever seen have the synch chain on the inside. I'll give it a try tomorrow morning.

 

[Wildcat]

I tried every combination with no success, they all almost worked. Then I took the front sprocket, which has no concave to it and put it in the rear. The chains are going to be very close together, so it may need more, but I think this will work. The front sprocket is now concave and may need to be reversed to work.

Heat index was over 100, so the wife approved of working in the dining room. I sure didn't expect that. There was one tense moment when the crescent wrench went flying toward a vase, but luckily, it missed.

 

[jon]

Man your moms going to kill you for working on her dinning room table!!! :shock:

 

[karfer67]

i love all the paper towels on the table to keep the tools from getting it dirty but then to the lower left sitting on the WHITE chair is an adjustable wrench. oops