Vintage Bicycles

LOL, nice. That's what they're doing with 80s motorcycles now. Flip the handlebars over, throw a flat seat in it, and voiala! It's a Cafe racer! And they put it on Craigslist for 10k!

 

Yeah, this was the fun part. I need to set the seat further back. The original rims are too narrow, so I'm looking for those now and springer forks.

Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

bought his 1950 Schwinn "Traveler" last Thursday. I am now well on my way through a complete "rejuvenation".



update June 7th. paint came back pretty good . fenders, brakes and assorted parts still need to be put on.

 

This popped up on the local Craigslist on Sunday, I couldn't get there fast enough. Schwinn built, 'The World' badged, all original other than the bars, stem and grips. There's debate on another site weather it's a '39 or '40. I'm in the process of tearing it down at the moment.

 

Opened my big mouth after a few drinks and cornered myself into restoring this for a guy. 1984 diamond back formula one.

Man, bike parts are all screwed up right now. Can't find spokes anywhere!

 

Picked up a part from a guy whose kid is into rebuilding old bikes.
Dad says he has about 120 bikes scattered around the house. I snapped
this one quick pic.

 

Hey Now, Skip Link.

 

bought another rusty classic Schwinn at the Marin Bicycle Museum bike swap. guesstimated at 1947-48 based on parts and the serial #. 1949 they had different wheels. hundred fifty bucks.... I would have paid that much for the front drum brake.

going to dip the frame and parts in oxalic acid, and hopefully the paint will come back enough where regular buffing will make it look good. Evaporust is another good rust remover, but expensive like 20 bucks for a gallon, I will use that on the smaller parts. like my rusty "Traveler" shown before

 

this is "War Years" bike from 1943. it has black out hubs, crank and gear as well as handlebars because the ingredients for chrome were needed for the war. only the handlebar stem would have been chrome on this bike when new. wheels were painted white rather than chrome as well, there was only one brace on the rear fender, no chain guard and no kickstand. it had tires with WAR on them since I guess rubber was being rationed as well but they were rotten. rides great though the brakes take a bit more effort than usually needed.

2 old bikes this month. now I have no money for food.

my new favorite bike.

 

I found out two things about bikes.
Either your a bike guy or your not. I am not a bike guy.
They are like boats. The best 2 days are when you buy one and when you sell it.
Had 63 in my building. Elgins, Schwinns, Monarks,etc. Most were 50's-60's and all needed work.
Just sold them all to one guy. He's going to put them in a semi-trailer(he has 3 trailers filled already) and store them.
No plans to fix them...he just collects.
Got a fist full of dead presidents and space in the building.

 

"53 Schwinn Spitfire bought new. Still in family, 3rd generation riders.

 

And that's a shame and one more stroke of bad luck for someone who wants
to bring an old bike back to life. I can understand not wanting to hold on to
63 bikes. What I can't understand is the hoarding aspect of "collecting", when
a person has no intention of doing anything with them except keep them from
folks who'd love to restore one or simply build something like a beach cruiser.
Two parts of the American Dream..."Money Talks" and "I've got them, you don't!".

 

Back in the 60's my f.i.l. worked for a scrapper that was junking out an old auto wrecking yard. In the yard was a pile of old bicycles about 8 feet high. When they got to the bottom of the pile there was a Ford tractor buried under it.

 

Bought and sold a lot of old bikes, have a few Krates and a Raleigh chopper, 1935 Cadillac pre-war balloon by Shelby Bike Co Shelby Ohio

 

The Phantom repro came free with the 62 Volvo.

 

My granny bought me a shiny new red phantom about 1952 or so. I was a cool dude.

 

I still have my trusty 'ol Schwinn with apes, a set back seat post and a Bendix 2-speed from back in the day... the wire saddle-bags for delivering news papers and a N.O.S. Light & Generator set is up in the rafters... My son & I built the "Chopper Bike" when he was 10. The "leopard skin" banana seat is of an old Sears "Spyder" bike.

 

My 1969 Schwinn Collegiate, with apes!

 

My “no more bikes “ rule lasted about two weeks. Was out picking at a farm and had to bring it home. JC Higgins, haven’t researched what year.

 

Am I wrong in remembering that a neighbor kid had a Huffy
with a radio in the tank? Playing Del Shannon's "Runaway"
when it was new song on the radio.

 

If you remember it, how can it be wrong?... run-run-run-run-run-awaaaaayyy!!!... Ahh the sound track of our lives!

 

Ridden by the coolest kid on the block! Quad cruisin' lights, headlight, speedo, radio... dude's got it all!

 

Those axle mounted lights are rad!

 

Just needs a tire powered generator.

 

Hey, that's it. Archie's bike.

 

It's been a while since I've been on this thread, but after seeing some posts about The CABE, I figured I'd post a link for those who are interested. I've been a member for 10yrs now & love that site. So many good people, great info & an awesome place to buy bikes & parts. I'd say 80% of my collection was purchased from their classifieds.

https://thecabe.com/forum/

 

Thanks for the link and the endorsement of the site. I will check it out.