[Grape Ape]

Schwinn Breeze

I have been looking for a bike for my wife. She likes the old Schwinns and the option for a similar bike was the Walmart Schwinn. Well in my travels for work I went home to visit my family in CO and what is sitting in my sisters yard, A green Schwinn Breeze. Complete with fenders baskets, generator front and rear lights baskets etc. Some rust on the chrome but the painted parts are in excellent condition. The tires are shot. The seat is even in great shape. She had bought it a few years ago and had planned on planting flowers in the baskets. It took a lot of convincing and $50 bucks to talk her out of it. So now I have it. I am going to try to fix it up while I am traveling around for works so that at least it is rideable when I get home.

Preliminary inspection today shows all bearings work good front and rear tires spin nicely with no noise. Steering bearings are smooth but squeak. bottom bracket smooth no squeaks. Not bad for sitting in the yard for 4 years. The generator spins very smoothly with no signs of damage or catching.

There is some rust on the chrome handlebars and rims. What is the best way to remove it, it seems to be all surface rust?

Brakes move freely but cables are seized. So I will replace those. Also I did not check the 3 speed shifter or hub I will clean it up first so when I do operate it nothing breaks.

Here are pics. Any idea as to the age? Any idea how to combat the rust? Any things I should be cautious of when regreasing everything and getting it all to work?

I am working nights and sleeping days and not on to much but will check back as I can.

 

[flyingdog]

THE SCHWINN DATE CODES BY YEAR,MONTH AND DAY

Fine steal wool (& water) followed by waxing is good way to fix surface rust. IMHO..."Never Dull" by Eagle 1 products is one of the best.

 

[Grape Ape]

Thanks, I found some information the other day but with work and sleep have not pulled it out of the van to check the numbers.

I talked to my sister and am thankful she is so busy. She had originally planned to grab a spray can and paint it all one color tires included as yard art/planter. Lucky for me she never got around to it inn the time she owned it.

 

[bikebum1975]

You my friend just saved a prize bike that Schwinn looks great as is to me but then again I love Rat bikes and Rat Rods so a little rust to me adds chrachter but to be honest as said Never dull works great and should take off that small ammount of rust on it then just wax it up. The basket looks a little bit much for never dull I would say get this stuff at the auto parts store called rust converter and paint it on the basket to slow down the rust and just spray paint them. But really nice bike otherwise.

 

[bikebum1975]

Forgot to add I am no expert by any means but looks like a late 60s? early 70s Schwinn one good place to check for info on those old bikes is not sure if I can say another forum but ratrodbikes.com is a great place for the old school bikes like that

 

[Grape Ape]

The van was sort of dark but I think I read it right and the date of manufacturer is April 72. Sadly the funds and time i have while on this trip preclude me from having the bike ridable before I get home so I had to let the wife in on the surprise so I could get funds. I sent her some pics in email and she looked at them for the first time while talking on the phone to me. She started crying. She completely loves it and I am her hero, well I was before but this just elevated my hero status up a few notches.

 

[bikebum1975]

Keep us up to date when you get it restored love old bikes like that Bud

 

[Doohickie]

Rather than steel wool, try aluminum foil and lemon juice. I've used that with great results; here is a stem that I put in my Schwinn Varsity when I converted it to an upright bike.

Before



After

 

[John]

That is a beautiful looking bike AS IS! (hint).

 

[Grape Ape]

Doohickie, you sir are a genius. OK, OK at first I thought yeah right what in the world has he been smoking. I am finally home and have the front wheel off and decided heck it can't hurt to try it. Just so I can go back and ask what he is smoking. I am truly amazed at how well it worked. I even went as far as going in and waking my wife up to show her the results. She was so amazed she didn't fuss at me for waking her up and turning the lights on in the bedroom.

My camera is still in my luggage but I will break it out tomorrow to get some pics of ow well it works. Thanks a bunch on the information.

 

[superfly]

Grape Ape-i'm so glad you saved that bike. Your wife will soon be tooling around on the coolest whip in town. :thumbsup:

 

[Grape Ape]

Yep, sadly she will have to wait another month. I am on my way back out of town at noon tomorrow and the bike is down until I get back. She wishes I had gotten to it while home but the busted waterline, sick dog, dental work, etc... all took up the 3 days I had free from work.

Most of the parts are here though so I will be able to hit it hard when I get back home, late June.

 

[waldowales]

I love those old Breezes, too. I restored one for my daughter a few years ago. That rust will clean right up with the Never Dull stuff.
Anything you need for it should be readily available, cables, shifters, bearings, tires, everything.
Here is the one I did.

 

[Grape Ape]

waldo, were you able to find the gray cable housings or did you go with white? I can't quite tell if yours are gray or white in the picture. I am going to probably go with white since I can't find the original gray ones anywhere.

I am also going to go with the gum sided tires for now. I wish I could have kept the original Schwinn labeled tires.

The one you did looks good. Congrats on saving one.

 

[waldowales]

I went with white. There are several places that have gray, Bike World USA for one. I thought white looked better with the violet paint, besides, that's what was on it when I got it.
The original, (rotted) Schwinn tires were gum wall, so that's what I went with.
I've lost track of the site that has pictures of them in the catalog, but the picture I saved from it looks like white cables, and it definitely has black wall tires.
If you don't know about the Schwinn forums, here is a link:
Collector's Forum - Schwinn Forums
Great source of knowledge about these old bikes.

 

[Grape Ape]

Yeah I found the forum. Mine had the black wall tires and gray cables but I figured that the white ones would look better with the white accents and lettering so I went with that rather than dig and dig and dig to find the gray cable housing.

I just can't wait to get off the road so I can work on it.

 

[Grape Ape]

Well I finally got it back together. There is still a little shining that needs done but overall it is done. I still have the rack and lights left to do but we decided it would be a good thing to save for winter and get out and ride it.

Today was it's maiden voyage since the rebuild. The Sturmey Archer 3 speed shifts like a brand new one. Smooth as glass. I found out after putting the gum walls on it they were the wrong size (schwinn's use a specific tire size it is a 26x 1 3/8 but it is an S6 type) So I bought new tires today after the maiden trip to get the tire bead to seat properly and ride right.

We took it to a local park and rode around for a while. I was on the 3 ring up front and 5 in the rear and was still behind. Not complaining the view was great. She was just flying along, with a huge smile on her face the entire time. She liked it so much that even wore out when we got back to the truck she decided to go for another loop around the parking lot just so she wouldn't have to stop. Jello legs finally ended the riding.

Here are some pics. Most of the chrome is now shiny but there is still some shining left to be done, along with some painting of some of the galvanized parts.

 

[Xela]

Awesome job, Grape! :thumbsup: How ya been?

 

[bikebum1975]

Man Grape she turned out fine that is one purdy ride. Love those old bikes myself hope to get a few of them LOL

 

[trx1]

awsome score! price was right, and the deal u got was perfect! ride with pride!