81' Schwinn Cruiser 5 Build (Picture Heavy)

revnull

revnull

New Member
First, a little personal history: Around 20 years ago, my dad bought this bike at a garage sale. He road it for a few years and then made the mistake of leaving it parked on the side of the house all winter (rainy season in NorCal). As you can imagine, anything that can rust... did. He pretty much gave up one it at that point. About 10 years ago, I decided to rebuild the bike for my dad for fathers day. I had the frame blasted and painted. Replaced all the rusted bearings and had the fork, crank, sprocket and handle bars nickel plated (not many people where doing chrome at the time, EPA I think). It was back to its former glory minus the pinstripe unfortunately. My dad road it for one more year before a back injury made it difficult for him to ride. It went back on the side of the house to rot away.

The bad news is there is a lot of rust again. The good news, this site has inspired me to resurrect it once again as a MotorBicycle. This time for me.

Now, the before pictures:

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Gets me thinking of the 6 million dollar man line: We have the knowledge and we can rebuild him better that before...........
 
The schwinn is currently a 5 speed. I'd like to swap out the rims for something more heavy duty. I've been looking at the grubee HD axel since it will mate directly with the new motor sprocket. Will I be able to keep the stock 5 speed sprocket using the grubee axel? do I have to use the drum brake with grubee axel?

Secondly, does anyone in the SF Bay Area know of a good place to get powder coating done? I'd like to get the frame, chain guard, and fenders powder painted matte black. I’ll either be polishing the chrome or replacing bits with matte aluminum. Is there a way to strip nickel/chrome plating to give the steel a matte finish but still prevent it from rusting?
 
i concur!! venice this bike is in the cruiser section, not the ratrod section. but i will agree with him on the wheels. you can get em nickel plated or paint the rims, but they are fine and heavy duty enough.painte em and tighten em up a little and that wheels set is worthy. id say run a jackshaft kit with that five speed. or if you do decide to buy new rims, niagarcycle has a badass wienmann hd39 front wheel with 12 guage spokes and wide rim, they also have a nexus internal 3 speed wheel for 90 bucks. run those two wheels and a jackshaft kit and ya have yourself one heavy duty smooth ride.no u wont be able to run the five speeds with the grubee axle and no you dont have to run that cheap chines drum brake that comes with it.
 
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I had some extra time to disassemble the schwinn.

Thanks to the internet, I was able to remove the kickstand this time!

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The baring cups popped right out, but there is still some rust inside. I guess the painter didn't get in there.

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I'm not sure if the wheels are worth saving. The price to fix and paint or plate them, may be more than the cost of replacing them.

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You sure love posting 1000s of pics, don't you? laff

*edit* Your reasoning of "it's cheaper to just buy new wheels" also applies to the whole bike!
It's much cheaper to buy all new parts than to have the Schwinn parts replated!! (But then it wouldn't be all Schwinn!!) ;)
 
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If I go with the grubee HD axel, I may as well replace the front as well.

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Some measurements of the fork and rear wheel mount.

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Venice Motor Bikes said:
Your reasoning of "it's cheaper to just buy new wheels" also applies to the whole bike!
It's much cheaper to buy all new parts than to have the Schwinn parts replated!! (But then it wouldn't be all Schwinn!!) ;)
Click to expand...

If you buy a corvette and replace the factory wheels, it's still a corvette. :D I'm sticking with the schwinn forks, neck and handle bars but for safety sake the wheels and maybe breaks need to be upgraded. Sometimes nostalgia has to give way to technological advances. Especially when you're bolting a motor onto a bicycle. reddd
 
I like to look at original model-t's,but if I wanted to depend on it for road use I want one w/ the wider tires and crome V8 engine
 
revnull said:
If you buy a corvette and replace the factory wheels, it's still a corvette. :D I'm sticking with the schwinn forks, neck and handle bars but for safety sake the wheels and maybe breaks need to be upgraded. Sometimes nostalgia has to give way to technological advances. Especially when you're bolting a motor onto a bicycle. reddd
Click to expand...

Keep us posted on total cost of build when it finally gets on the road....and yes ...upgrade the BRAKES.....otherwise you might BREAK your neck....


Salty.shft.
 
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