Thank you all for your comments!
Silverbear: I cant say it's riding weather here, it's freezing point at night, all water spots on the road are death traps...
I am interested in how you redid you old leather saddle, what to do and so on. PM me if you want to.
I havent touched the bike yet, it still stays in my livingroom. I'm having some beers now and maybe I'll take some detail photos during the night.. Who knows...
An oldAmerican song came to mind this moring when I looked outside..
There's no buisness...
...like snow business, like no business I know...da da da da da da daaa daaa!!!! Even singing it does not elevate my appreciation of the inch or twoso of decoration outside my door. Is this really necessary? Actually the song is uppowd to be about "show business". But the only show around here right now is snow, first of the year, right on schedule... along with wind and icy roads. I just crept to town at 25-30 mph in the truck and even so it was treacherous. Stopped at the dump where I like to do my dead bicycle shopping (it sw my own mall of america), but there was nothing of interest so I just window shopped and felt kind of superior and uppity for not bringing any more trash home. Just made deposits in my account today. Another time I'll make a withdrawal. A while back I found a 1950 Schwinn, the one I posted pictures of with the seat much like yours.
When you are taking pictures of your bike, take some in particular of the seat... one or two with the bike upright and then turn it over and show the underside. Or take the seat off the bike and show the underside. Then I can see the way it was made and will have a better idea of how to take it apart for restoration. Don't try to remove any rusty nuts or bolts until you can loosen things up with a little penetrating oil. Let it sit some so that the oil can do it's work. No hurry. Then we'll go from there.
Yes, the Swedish immigrants thought Minnesota was just like home. So did the Germans, the Norwegians and the Finns. And it was because Minnesota is a very large state, bigger than some countries. At the southern end where it is rich farmland it is much like Germany, further up like Norway, further yet like Sweden and up by the Canadian border where the glacier stopped and left behind over 12,500 lakes is where the Finns and Laps found a place just like home. The Finns got along well with the Indian people already living here since they had a similar forest, lakes and animals as common ground. Where the Ojibwe Indians made wigwams, canoes, storage containers and cooking vessels out of birch bark, the Finns used it for shoes among other things. They shared many of the same skills and appreciated each others knowledge of the forest, hunting and fishing. They also shared bathing traditions... the Finns with their saunas and the Indians with their sweat lodges. The local Indians even referred to the Finns as "the sweat lodge people". A fair amount of intermarriage went on and some of the offspring to this day are called "Findians". Ha! I suppose other Scandanavian mixed bloods would be Scindians.
Yes, it's good with a bike like yours to just let it sit and get used to it as it is. It will come to you what you should do with it. Of course I see a motor in that nice big opening in the frame, but if you feel like peddling till your pants catch on fire, that's your choice. I'm too lazy for that. Besides, I have Aaniimoosh The Wonder Dogto consider; she likes to go fast.
Silverbear