I started this build as a side project during BO11. With the build off over I figured I'd start a build thread on it as it's still far from finished.
My starting point is an October 1952 Boren Latonia badged Schwinn I picked up off Craigslist.
I bought a chrome triple tree from @stingrayraleigh, who was cool enough to throw in the cups and bearings, which were a perfect fit for the frame.
I had a pair of late 50s wheels off an AMF, with Komet Super hub, almost immaculate rims and uniformly rusted spokes. I'm going for a contrast of rusty/chrome for this build so they seemed a perfect fit.
I took the chainguard off, and pulled the crank and bearings for a good soaking and scrubbing. I also put a pair of brick red Duro tires on it and a thin, riveted Retrospec saddle. I'm not a huge fan of big, bulky, sprung saddles, so most of my bikes have this type of saddle on them.
I bought some clip ons of ebay, and tried them out with some Oury grips that have seen better days. The fork legs still had about 7 inches or so that needed to come off.
Once I cut down the fork legs I needed some way to cap the tubes, only had one of the black plastic blanking caps, and wasn't feeling black plastic anyways. So I cut an axle from a bent mtb wheel in two, paired those with rusty washers, some axle bolts, two dust caps from the same wheel and some Schwinn bullet axle bolts. The end result;
I have plans to eventually clearcoat the frame and chainguard and I may put a bobbed fender on it, but right now it's really too hot and humid for polyurethane and once I got to this point I put the crank assembly back in,greased it up and have kind of been having too much fun riding it. I switched to a pair of black Hunt Wilde grips and the pedals are era correct Schwinn waffles.
So there's the last 2 1/2 months of this build in one post. Just trying to give a little provenance this build. It will get finished at some point when the weather's cooler, perhaps the unfinshed projects build off in the winter. For now I'm having too much fun riding it.
I bought a chrome triple tree from @stingrayraleigh, who was cool enough to throw in the cups and bearings, which were a perfect fit for the frame.
I had a pair of late 50s wheels off an AMF, with Komet Super hub, almost immaculate rims and uniformly rusted spokes. I'm going for a contrast of rusty/chrome for this build so they seemed a perfect fit.
I have plans to eventually clearcoat the frame and chainguard and I may put a bobbed fender on it, but right now it's really too hot and humid for polyurethane and once I got to this point I put the crank assembly back in,greased it up and have kind of been having too much fun riding it. I switched to a pair of black Hunt Wilde grips and the pedals are era correct Schwinn waffles.