# My 68 Ramshorn basement rescue



## indiana dave (Nov 7, 2015)

Figured I'd post the finished (well mostly) basement rescue 68 Rams horn


. Got this out of a friends parents basement along with a couple Lil Chicks, and an Excersizer. It had regular bars on it, and I bought them all thinking it was a regular Fastback. Week later I getting it on the work stand and notice the chain guard. Whoa! So I began searching for the correct bars... Found some pricey NOS ones, but wanted some to match the patina, as I wasn't planning on repainting anything. Finally scored these, with brake levers, stem and bar tape for less than most of the NOS ones I'd come across. Still cost as much as I'd paid for all three bikes. Took the whole bike apart and replaced all the bearings, polished up all the chrome, and cleaned the frame. Put it all back together with new Schwinn cables, brake pads, new chain, and repop tires. Still want to clean the wheels up a little more, get new cable frame clamps, and get repro decals for the shifter. Also am going to order a repop seat so I can ride it, and not worry about damaging the perfect original one. I know it's not perfect, but I was going for preservation, versus restoration. Plus, I'm on a dad of three girls budget. LOL
There was a Pea Picker in that basement, also, but her brother has dibs on it. Still working on trying to get my hands on it!


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## rollfaster (Nov 7, 2015)

Great story Dave, and an awesome bike!


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## Sambikeman (Nov 7, 2015)

...........Nice Job Dave, I Agree With The Preservation Over The Restoration ..........


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## vastingray (Nov 7, 2015)

Great find it ve got the correct seat for it if your looking for one  love the blue Ramshorn


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## Dave K (Nov 7, 2015)

Cleaned up great!!!!


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## vuniw (Nov 7, 2015)

Great find! I'm still waiting for the day that I stumble into a basement and find a Rams Horn


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## dave429 (Nov 7, 2015)

Looks great! I tried to rescue a fastback today out of a guys backyard. It had been sitting out there a while and he thought it was worth a fortune. Unfortunately most of it was rotted away. Sad thing is he kept 2 old huffy ten speeds in the garage and put all the Schwinn's outside so he could get a vehicle in there. I didn't buy the bike, he wanted way to much and it would have been too expensive to restore. Glad you found a nice bike. Thanks for sharing!


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## indiana dave (Nov 7, 2015)

It's got the correct original seat in mint condition. I'm wantint a repop one to put on to ride it without risking cracking the original


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## vastingray (Nov 8, 2015)

Original seat would be  silver glitter


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## sfhschwinn (Nov 8, 2015)

Nice find. Just thinking maybe since it has the blue seat and had regular bars it may have been a regular fatback and at some point in its life the chain was changed to a rams horn one?


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## indiana dave (Nov 9, 2015)

Hmmm Google image search finds many pics with blue seat and white seats.
Based on the fact this has the unique pedals, I'd think the bars and possibly the seat were swapped, if anything. The seat is in nearly perfect condition, so may have been replaced at some point.
Is there any documentation on groups of serial numbers that were built as Rams Horns?
Maybe we should start a registry? Then we may see a pattern.


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## stingrayjoe (Nov 9, 2015)

Dave send me a PM


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## bricycle (Nov 9, 2015)

Very nice!
How much for the pond?


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## indiana dave (Nov 9, 2015)

bricycle said:


> Very nice!
> How much for the pond?



Have never considered selling...
Many man hours into it though, so it wouldn't be cheap.
plus the wife and kids love it...


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## krateman (Dec 24, 2015)

I don't think the chainguard would've been changed out, but who knows. I'd love to have a Violet '67 Ram's Horn or a Black one. Violet was not available for any model in '68. Sorry about that. I would've loved to see a Violet Krate or a purple one.


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## sfhschwinn (Dec 24, 2015)

Here's my February 67' Violet. Bought a lot of 3 bikes and krate fork, after selling everything, this one was free except I had to change all of the chrome parts because they were to far gone- didn't cost much and I think with the extra $$ from selling the other bikes, it still came to be free. I believe the Coppertone Rams horn is the most desired and then the Violet, but the Violet is the rarest and would command as much as a coppertone because of that


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## indiana dave (Dec 25, 2015)

sfhschwinn said:


> Here's my February 67' Violet. Bought a lot of 3 bikes and krate fork, after selling everything, this one was free except I had to change all of the chrome parts because they were to far gone- didn't cost much and I think with the extra $$ from selling the other bikes, it still came to be free. I believe the Coppertone Rams horn is the most desired and then the Violet, but the Violet is the rarest and would command as much as a coppertone because of thatView attachment 260731View attachment 260732



Sweet rams horn. Love that color.

Sent from my HTC Desire 510 using Tapatalk


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## mcmfw2 (Dec 25, 2015)

*68 Fastback*



sfhschwinn said:


> Nice find. Just thinking maybe since it has the blue seat and had regular bars it may have been a regular fatback and at some point in its life the chain was changed to a rams horn one?




Color Coordinated seats with silver mylar ribs came in 1969 for Fastbacks and Stingray Deluxes.  The correct seat for a 1968 Fastback & Stingray Deluxe would be silver glitter with silver mylar ribs.

Mark


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## sfhschwinn (Dec 25, 2015)

mcmfw2 said:


> Color Coordinated seats with silver mylar ribs came in 1969 for Fastbacks and Stingray Deluxes.  The correct seat for a 1968 Fastback & Stingray Deluxe would be silver glitter with silver mylar ribs.
> 
> Mark



That's why I said the seat was probably changed to or it could have been a late 68' and sold as a 69.


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