I have an ever changing collection of bikes. Right now a 58 corvette a murray around the same vintage also bought out a bike shop about 10 years ago so i am slowly beginning to sift through the parts of that out in the garage while my bel-air is out at the other shop getting the subframe and rear end done on it.
My wife and I collect old Schwinns and other old bikes. And we ride them alot also. Great pass time. We just got a 70 StingRay going for her and a 73 Racer going for both of us. Our favorites are the ones that are all original and just need a little love. We dig the old patina.
I got a 3 wheel bike that i would like to put some sort of engine on it. any web sites or tech on it?
for over 1/2 my life I lived and breethed Schwinns (and even got paid by them for a few years) and had 120+ of them which I sold in one lot to a guy in the mid west to start Crown... it still makes me sad to see where they are now...
heres one i put together for an old girlfriend. It was a 57 starlet. It was really original. and here's my black phantom...
I did build a couple chopper bikes when i was about 16, i would just cut off the front wheel perches and slip some tubing over the front forks and weld the perches and forks. i never put an engine on one but i wanted to put a chainsaw engine on it but never found a cheap enough chainsaw.
I'm a Scwhinn guy. Ever been to bikerodandkustom.com? Thay are an online kustom bike magazine, and one of my bikes was in their gallery. It's a red oxide raked cruiser, bobber style. Bikes are my favorite, I guess. I've got about 6 cruisers and 2 16" bikes, and a Hawthorn 20" musclebike.
They were sold at Montgmery Ward Stors, I think hawthorn was their private label. I've got a Hawthorn muscle bike, and have never seen another one.
I customized a 1941 B.F. Goodrich (Schwinn) Streamliner, for me, and a 1946 Monark Super Deluxe, for my pops, both built with traditional rod style influence. WWWs, black and red frames and tanks, flames on the seats... wish I had a digital camera. I am pretty proud of them. Need to get the fenders rolled and painted and the headlights working on both of them and they will be done. Just bought a 1966 AMF Renegade for a smoking hot readheaded friend of mine but she won't let me paint it... she likes the peach color. Yuck!
I 've restored several old Schwinns amd other 'off-brand' bikes over the years. I still have the following: '58 Schwinn Jaguar '58 Schwinn ladies' bike '59 Schwinn Jaguar '67 Schwinn 'cruiser' '69 Schwinn crate '61 Western Flyer '39 Hawthorne (skip-tooth) r
Some collectors consider the non-Schwinn bikes, the Huffy's and Sears and other department store labels to be more "collectible" that Schwinns because since Schwinn repops almost every bolt on part of their most popular old bikes, they are too "easy" to restore. Everything except that chrome front rack I need for my '57 Schwinn Corvette that is...
I recently picked up a Schwinn that looks a lot like the one pictured above except it has a little battery operated light on the front fender (i'm almost positive it is aftermarket) and a brass tag with an airplane on the front (the badge or whatever you want to call it). I would love to find out how old it is...anyone have any ideas? I'll try to get a pic of it tonight. I plan to use my left over engine and wheel paint on it and semi-restore it to take to shows and of course the Flats.
there are a few places to look for a production number. look on the rear of the frame around where the wheel is bolted on, there should be a number there or on the bottom of the cranks caseing. you may have to clean it fairly good to find the number. then find a site online that has a database of production numbers, and plug it in.
I've looked for a number and a website and came up with neither. There was a word where the number should be, maybe Ammoway? I don't really remember what it said right now. Do you know of any good Schwinn ID sites on the internet? Thanks!
Bikes can have the ID on the bottom of the crank housing, side of steering lug, on the lower rear fork sometimes near kick stand or further back sometimes even on a fork axle lug, inside or outside. Unless someone's filled it...
This link might be of some help on bikes that aren't coated with rust or wearing several layers of paint: http://www.iape.org/TipsAndTricks/BicycleSerialNumbers/ Also, http://oldroads.com/ is a great site. Their serial number pages helped me find the production date of one of my Columbias. I'm always psyched to find an old bike to play with. Got quite a few now.
Got a few, been doin bikes for a few years, Schwinn.com is the best place, a few others are good too 1935 Shelby Cadillac ballooner 1948 Schwinn DX project 1950's chrome frame Firestone Super Cruiser ballooner 1962 Schwinn jaguar horn tank (w/Sears bike bug engine) 1964 Schwinn Ray project (repaint over violet) 1966 3 speed ray project (green brush paint over violet rough) 1966 black ramshorn project (rustaback) 1967 coppertone nice original fastback 1969 clone Apple Krate 1970 Orange Krate (seat? in my dreams) 1970 Lemon Peeler coaster 1974 fenderless red 5 speed Girls Schwinn Pixie late 70s CCM (Canadian Cycle Manufacturer) lightweight 10 speed 1975 Lime 10 spd Varsity wife's Blue 10 spd Schwinn Varsity My bike page http://www.geocities.com/55chevy.geo/bike4ctf.htm
I've got a Schwinn Panther II that has been in the family since I can remember. Just a few months ago I did a search on the serial # and found that it was dated 2 weeks before I was born in 1959. Thought that was pretty neat. Nothing has ever been done to restore it so it has a fine patina thing going. Kids like to hear the horn on the thing and it gets an almost daily workout picking up the kids from school. BR
Heres me on my '63 deluxe. My friend gave it to me. It was in his Grandma's barn, hanging upside down in the rafters since the early 70's. All I did was clean it up, and put some tires on it. I take it to pretty much all the shows I go to. Good beer runner.
I love em. I've got a Stingray lowrider that I built in 1990, and a Jaguar. I had a red Corvette for a while but sold it when I had an offer I couldn't refuse...
I may have that rack you are looking for. Let me look around. I know for sure I used to have one. I worked for years (put myself through college) at a Schwinn dealer in the DC area that had been in the same location since the mid 40's. I took home boxes and boxes of NOS Schwinn parts, paints, decals, etc....
Man, I had a Stingray when I was a kid - best damned bike, ever! I had totally forgotten about it until now. ~Jason