In an average year I might rebuild one bike; this year, looks like it’s going to be two. This one belongs to a good friend of the family and it’s about to enter into its second life. It’s another Schwinn, much older than the first one I did this year, one of the classic ones with the forged forks and a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed hub. This bike is old enough to require the special S-type tires but a local bike shop carries those. They were great-riding machines of very high quality – no reason it couldn’t still be in use in another 25 years. (probably modernized with carbon-fibre wheels – I have a hunch those will get cheaper and become standard in ten years or so)
Yesterday I cleaned rust off the wheels with a product called “MetalReady” that contains phosphoric acid and zinc phosphate, then sealed them with wheel lacquer – they look new if you don’t look too closely. The fenders are shot, though – rusted to the point of weakness. But the frame is fit as a fiddle, the wheels are straight, and in every other respect the bike looks very promising. From here it’s replacing cables and repacking bearings. It’s getting a new seat, new pedals, and probably more modern handgrips, and the brakes need attention – there are special composite brake shoes available now that really improve braking.
UPDATE: 04Sept07
It took some doing, but the classic Schwinn rides again. I put on new aluminum cruiser handlebars with Serfas grips, brake handles, cables, pedals, tires, and front axle/bearings, and treated some rusted components with POR-15 (gooseneck and crankset). Found a new “Schwinn” seat. The chain was OK, cleaned it in an ultrasonic cleaner and treated it with Teflon™ chain lube. Found some paint that approximately matched the original for spot touch-ups, then coated the frame with wheel lacquer. Weinmann brake shoes that I customized for the angled braking surfaces of the S-type wheels. Completely rebuilt the Sturmey-Archer hub. Reflectorized the front chainwheel, rims, and hubs. Owner seemed pleased.
Good old Sturmey-Archer! When I was fourteen, I took apart my Raleigh’s three-speed hub, and had to take the parts, shamefaced, to a bike shop to be assembled again. The next time I took one apart I was more careful to remember how it fit together, and progressed to the point that I created my own thirty-speed by combining a rare aluminum Sturmey-Archer hub that had a threaded connection to the cassette, with a Campanolo ten speed derailer.
Do you have a brand name for the composite brake shoes, dof? I haven’t seen them in Vienna yet.
The things you learn looking up the answer to a question! The shoes I got locally are Scott/Mathauser, and they’re a lot better than regular threaded-post shoes. But in the search for them I found Cool-Stop brake shoes which come in a wider variety, and according to their website use the same iron-oxide rubber composite formula that the Scott/Mathauser shoes use. Will definitely try those out.
Thanks, dof- I’ll check them out.
“The things you learn looking up the answer to a question!”
That’s my life in a nutshell
This post is updated with an “after” picture.