1952 Schwinn Starlet 24"
Mom was looking for a bike with a smaller frame and came across this one on CL. It was a solid bike in good condition, but needed a makeover. The Starlet was sent off for sandblasting and new red paint. All the bearings were degreased and regreased. Once the pieces were back it was re-assembled, decals were added to the chain guard, and a new chain, alloy wheels and whitewall tires were fitted. This one turned out perfect. It still has a real "vintage" look and rides like it is brand new.

Before





After...ain't she cute?




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'86 Schwinn Cruiser
This cruiser needed some major help in the looks department. After sitting in the garage for months,
it finally got some much deserved attention. The frame was sand-blasted and painted by a local body shop. Brand new alloy wheels & new whitewall were added along with a new feather-style chainguard.
Once again, no progress pics but the before and after photos are like night and day.



Pink?!?!  The only better color for a guy's bike would have been....???






After. Now that's a bike a guy can ride with pride.



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'62 Schwinn Typhoon

This bike was purchased in late November of 2008 in Chicago, which is the home of Schwinn.
You'd think a classic Schwinn like this would get a little respect down there.
Well, not this one. It had been brush-painted red over the badly chipped original red paint, and the brushed-on red was also in sad shape. The stock Schwinn wheels had been replaced with Murray wheels. The fenders were from some lightweight bike. The stock chainring had been replaced with one from a Stingray(still Schwinn, so that's alright). Mirrors had been mounted to the handlebars in holes drilled through them. For some reason, the headbadge was being held on by screws that were several sizes too large. This meant that the holes in the frame were also now too large. This old Typhoon must have been built from leftovers and was too far from original to even think about a restoration.

In February of 2009, I disassembled the bike and sent the frame out to to a local body shop
to be sandblasted and painted with automotive quality paint. I went through all the bearings, cleaning and regreasing them. A few new parts were ordered for the bike to help with the new look. It got some new street tread balloon tires, new handlebars, and a new silver chain.

I didn't keep very good photo records of the rebuild.
The first pic shows the bike as purchased(beauty, huh?), the second pics shows how it looked for the first few months after I got my hands on it, and the last two are the finished bike.
 
***Update 9/7/2009***  In the beginning of June I "borrowed" the wheels from the Typhoon to replace the rickety set on Angela's Skyrider. The Typhoon has been sitting in a closet since that time without
any wheels on it. I had Dad's old set of rusty, crusty, corroded wheels from his
pink Schwinn laying around and decided it was time to do something with them.
After some crust removal, new paint, and freshly cleaned and re-greased bearings
and brakes the Typhoon has some "new" wheels.

This is what it looked like the day it came home from Chicago. Ah, what a beauty! Yeah, right.