So I found a Schwinn Le Tour in a dumpster downtown and decided to fix it up into nice Fixed gear cruisin bike. The first attached picture is its "before" pic, the second is what Ive stripped it down to know after a couple of hours of pretty intense work. EVERYTHING was rusted shut, stripped etc. im having troubles with removing the fork and the chain wheel/cranks. If you've got advice feel free to leave some.
yeah it will be. What spurred this is a friend did something similar with an old Varsity and it turned out awesome! I already bought some really nice fixed hub wheelset, it was an amazing deal. The colors im goin with are a glossed powder blue frame, orange rims and grip tape.
They make a lot of different colored pedals and chainrings out there too. Getting into matching colors can be tedious work though. I'm probably going to throw a blue chainring on my bike one day to match all the detail work on the frame. I had thought of making my drivetrain and rims/hubs have red details or be entirely red, but that would be an expensive adjustment. I already plan on getting a Sram X0 drivetrain, so my money is getting burned a bit and I'm just going to get their blue one. For a chainstay protector, I'm going to use some fizik handlebar wrap since they have a metallic blue. It would be cool to have the extra money for red hubs/rims to go with a red detailed X0 drivetrain, but that would cost me hundreds more. Any parts you are salvaging or just the frame?
Damn nice bike. A pretty sweet handlebar wrap you might like is some cork: Profile Design Cork Bar Tape at JensonUSA.com im just salvaging the handlebars, fork and the frame the rest i either have a better piece for or its rusted as balls lol
That's some cool looking bar tape. Thanks for the advice. I definitely like how it would match my bike considering they do that camouflage styled pattern of the black and blue. I'll pick that up once all the current tape I have is ripped up. That could easily be a while though, but it still looks good in the mean time. The way my chainstay looks with a wrap isn't my biggest concern anyways, but it will look nice when it is done. It would be nice if they had a red/white instead of just a red/white/black that way I could wrap my road bike's chainstay, but oh well. I'll figure things out with that later. I haven't gone road cycling in a while anyways. this is what I'll be wrapping the chainstay with when I get my mountain bike back:
I got a new wheelset: EighthInch Amelia Fixed Gear Wheelset 700c Black, White, Silver, Lime Green - Cycling Closeouts and a new chain. im feelin good aboot it, so far no real progress on the frame fork other then ive cleared 90% of the rust. I think im going to need a couple 1mm back hub spacers to even out the difference between the large front gear and tiny back.
I got a new wheelset: EighthInch Amelia Fixed Gear Wheelset 700c Black, White, Silver, Lime Green - Cycling Closeouts and a new chain. im feelin good aboot it, so far no real progress on the frame fork other then ive cleared 90% of the rust. I think im going to need a couple 1mm back hub spacers to even out the difference between the large front gear and tiny back.
To remove your fork, you usually dismantle it from the top with an allen wrench. The internal headset could be worn out and need greasing, so that could result in some problems. as for removing your crankset, you often need a special tool for it if an allen wrench cannot do it.
Thanks man! I got the chainwheel off, sanded it down appropriately, got the chain off and its ready for its paint job! I left my ipod in my friends car so ill upload pics tommorow Edit: the top tube of the fork is welded in place lol
It may feel like it is welded in place, but I doubt that it actually is. Unless of course we're talking about different parts. It's basically the piece that holds the fork inside the bike frame as the fork doesn't just spin around in the frame tube on its own. That part is called the headset and you usually need a specific tool to remove one and even then it takes a good bit of forcing. It could be welded in, but that hardly happens. I've seen weirder though
Its not welded to the frame, but to the fork. the owner of this bike must of been insane! There was electrical tape wrapped really thick all over the frame and breaks wired backwards. We speculate he was asian lol i call it top tube from when id bmx hahah
Damn, that's weird. Some people do some odd things to bikes. Sometimes it is beneficial, like wrapping an expensive bike in reflecting tape to prevent robbery. But this one is beyond me..
It's a bitch to remove, which is a good deterrent for theft. That and it is easy to identify or follow.
Odyssey Twisted plastic pedals, from my bmx bike thanks man! RIP Ipod, who the fuck knows what haooened to it hahahaha
^^I remember you telling me you rode fixie? Have you seen Line of sight yet? Yes I know random bump for this old thread lol