[flyingdog]

Here is a nice trip down memory land for all who are interested in the Schwinn Family: Enjoy the Ride..

Schwinn catalogs, 1971 - 1980 (508 of 579)

[salvage_bikes]

Nah, replacement stuff is a lot cheaper than that, if you like mail-order.

www.niagaracycle.com has lots of things for older bikes, from $10 tires (gumwall or racing tires), brake pads, cables, freewheels, etc. I made my own handlebar tape from cut mtn bike tubes (works great) and I got some Cheng Shin 700c road tires for $20/pr. (in colors too!) They are really light but only take 85-90psi tops or you'll blow them up. Otherwise they are long lasting. Tubes are $2.50-5.00.

Originally Posted by KC-Steve

Hi Marty,

I can feel it already! I would love to refurbish the Raleigh just because of the excellent shape of the paint job. But after pricing tires and tubes alone I don't see how I could sell it and make a profit. Most old classic road bikes around Kansas City are selling for less than $80 or $90. Tires and tubes would cost at least $40 or more. . . I spent $50 on the purchase, equals $90. And no telling what else needs to be done. Very likely needs bearings packed, brake pads, replacement cables, etc. And the Record Ace was the low-priced Raleigh back in 1978 weighing in at around 30 lbs.

Unless I am planning to ride it myself I don't think I'll waste the money. It is a shame though. It looks like it was a GREAT BIKE in its day!

Steve

[salvage_bikes]

If you have equipment that can remove paint (and especially chrome plating and powder coat) from bicycle frames and forks, you might go into business! A lot of body shops just hang up or give the run-around when asking them about stripping a bicycle frame.

Originally Posted by KC-Steve

Thanks Doohickie. Your touch-up looks good. But I actually WANT to repaint the bike. I have two new paint guns and a professional compressor itching to be used someday. I don't really have much rust to deal with, just scratches. So my soda blaster will make quick work of paint removal. I'll begin with a self-etching primer, then filler primer, two coats of urethane base color coat, and finally two coats of clear urethane. Before the clear coat though I'll mask off an area with a vinyl mask to paint the letters, "handcrafted" on the down tube. No decals even though I have a brand new set for the Schwinn World. Who knows, I might even enjoy doing it.

I haven't decided on the color yet but am leaning toward a "Mocha Metallic" used on the Acura below.

Thanks,
Steve

[sandlynx]

Ok, I have the bug too! I had been looking for a classic bike for my stable, just to have one, but after I cleaned up my last acquisition, rode it, I fell in love with it. What a sweet ride! Nothing like a double-butted steel frame for a sweet ride.
I feel like I stole this bike. I paid $8.49 cents for it. I didn't buy it to sell, I bought it to ride. So, I don't mind the expense of replacing some the parts to return it to sweet road ride condition.
When I saw the bike, I knew I had a gem. It needed a lot of cleaning up. There was rust all over, but it cleaned up pretty well with steel wool and lots of elbow grease. This bike is a "Free Spirit" (not the Sears one), but one of those that is really good quality. The crank says it was manufactured in 1985, and the rear derailleur confirms that it was made during the 1982-1985 period. Someone took good care of it. The paint is in excellent conditiion except for the rear seat stays where it looks like they had a rear rack mounted and didn't use any protection to for the paint job. A little touch up paint will fix that.
It has the "Positron" rear derailleur, and I didn't have a clue how to adjust it until I did some research. At first, I though I'd just remove it and replace it with a new one. But, I messed with it, got it working well, and it shifts perfectly. Front derailleur shifts well too. As long as these components work, I'm not going to change them. Who knows how long they'll last since they made stuff then with the intent for them to last; not like now when evevything is made to be disposable.
I had to replace the front wheel as the braking surfaces were too rusted to clean up and the bearings were shot too. The rear wheel cleaned up OK and I'm still using the original rear sprockets-5 speed rear, 2 speed front. The brakes and calipers are like new. I just had to replace the brake pads and do some minor adjustment. The seat was shot from being stored in a damp place too long, so I replaced that with a spare I had. All the cables, unbelievably were OK to use. I just lubed them a little.
The tires had dry rot, so they had to be replaced. Surprisingly, I pumped up the inner tubes before making any changes, and they stayed inflated for days. But, I installed new tubes too, just to be safe since this bike will see many miles.
The stem is also SR and was very clean when I removed it for a look. Someone took care of this bike.
Surprisingly, the chain must have been just replaced when they put it in the garage for it to sit for a couple of decades before it saw the light of day again. It had zero stretch.
It has a sugino bottom bracket with SR cranks, so this is not a cheapo, big-box bike. It's one of better models.
All in all, I felt like I stole this for that price.
Now, since I love rebuilding bikes, I have decided to start looking for used bikes at garage sales and places like Goodwill in order to fix them up and donate them back to Goodwill, and such places. (Paying it forward, I guess.) There are so many very serviceable bikes out there that people didn't know how to fix when it got out of adjustment or broken and was put back in the garage to sit for years. What a waste. Maybe this will help get more people back on bikes and out of cars.

[salvage_bikes]

re: pay it forward. You might get more satisfaction from sponsoring a student who needs transportation or a bike to race on in local events. Don't give them away. Make them pay at least a token price for it, or maintain a grade, or stay on a program with a coach/trainer. Something that will make it have value to them. For some reason if you give something away, you risk it being neglected or sold. I gave a friend a very nice mtn bike when he moved away. I found out later he sold it for $50, and I bought it back for $50, but it was missing my SPD pedals and in sad shape.

[Rossman]

Finds like these happen because you are out there looking . I've run across deals too, and I agree with Salvagebikes , pay it forward . It comes back to you. Bikes have a tendency to have Kharmic Wheels .

[xjken99]

Back in 2009 my wife and I decided to get back into biking. I pulled our old bikes out of the shed and decided rather quickly that cleaning them up would take a lot of time, elbow grease and some coin. We decided on a couple of Gary Fisher Zambranos and they are great but, my old bike in the shed kept calling me. My old bike was a nothing special 1990 Schwinn Frontier that I really liked back in the day. One day I pulled it out and started going over it and decided I would clean it up. The biggest problem was surface rust and dry rotted tires, everything else seemed to work pretty well but, in need of lubrication. The wheels were by far the worst when it came to rust but, it was also on the crank, derailers and pretty much any non painted surface. The good news was that the paint looked excellent including the handle bars and stem.

The wife thought I was crazy since I had a brand new bike sitting in the garage but, told me that if I could get it fixed up for less than $100.00 she would not have a problem with it. It turned out the only expense ended up being 2 new tires and tubes and a tune up at the LBS, which totaled right around $85.00. A dremel tool, some steel wool and hours of elbow grease and most of the rust was gone. Bottom line I now have two bikes to play with and this weekend I rode that old Schwinn both days. Here are a couple of pics.

[Industry_Hack]

The bar ends seem a tad out of adjustment.

[xjken99]

These pics were taken right after I finished. I had them like that because I had the bike resting on them and the seat while I was derusting the crank and spocket. They were adjusted before the first ride.

[ZeRinger]

The Taiwan bikes were built by Giant from what I've heard. The bikes marked made in Japan were built by Panasonic.