so it's been waaaaaaaaaaaay to long since i did a post but with good reason. it seems i fall into this blogger curse where i talk about projects i want to do, blog about them, get them half way done and then thats the end of it. they end up strewn across the apartment, in various states of completion to be picked up and finished at a later time. so i wanted to wait until i got my new project 90% done before i blog about it just so i can actually start and finish something for once. so here it is:
i've been talking and talking about getting a bike forever now but i was waiting for the right one to come along, so my friend jessie trash picks a lot and over dinner a few weeks ago i brought up the kind of bike i was looking for and it just so happens that she had one she trashed picked awhile ago thats been sitting in her garage forever waiting to be fixed up. so i made plans to go check it out the next day and it was exactly what i was looking for, only problem is, it's a girls bike. but i got over the whole "what will people think of me" bullshit a long time ago, as i like to say all the time, i do what i want, and if i want to ride a girls bike who cares... so my friend tara and i strapped it onto the back of her jeep and off we went. after some research i found out its a 1963 schwinn fiesta, and being a schwinn getting replacement parts was not a problem. so i started working on it and was in total vintage bike bliss when i remembered my sister jen bought a bike 20 some years ago that was way cooler and thought maybe she would want to trade. so i asked her about it, turns out she still has it and was willing to trade. her bike is a 1959 AMF Royal Master, another girls bike but not so girly looking than the schwinn. so i told her i'll fix up this schwinn and give it to her as a thank you for trading.. ok enough back story here's some pics of it before i started working on it..
so the quality of these pics suck, i took them on my iphone and didn't bother to get my regular camera out cause i was excited to start working on it.. it wasn't in that bad of shape, various rust spots on the paint, which was going to get a new paint job anyways, a lot of the chrome, actually all of the chrome had rust on it, and the tires were completely dry rotted. I ordered a new chrome fender light to go on the front cause there was no saving the original and a new horn to go inside the tank (unfortunately it doesn't fix.. ) my sister and i decided to keep it the blue and white paint scheme so i got this really awesome glitter blue paint and high gloss white and this is the result:
not bad for 2 weekends worth of work. all thats left is to clean up the rims a bit, nothing a wire brush and a brillo pad can't handle and i just need to get new glitter blue hand grips, a new chain tubes and tires and a wicker basket to replace the rusted out metal one. then, its all set to ride!
i'm really proud of myself too cause i was going to work on both bikes at them same time, but when i have to many projects going on at once i tend to get bored with it fast and they sit.. so i told myself this bike first, then mine. so expect a posting in a little while on the progress i'm making with my bike.. until then.....
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, August 6, 2008
at Wednesday, August 06, 2008
and is filed under
1959 AMF Royal Master,
1963 Schwinn Fiesta,
bicycle refinishing
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