# '66 Schwinn Twinn build



## SchwinnSchwing (Jun 9, 2017)

Picked this 66 up for $45 last month. Tore it down right away. Color is going to be gray primer with red rims & white tires. Going to do some light custom stuff as well. Got some white pedals & white & silver chains on the way now. Almost finished sanding the frame down to paint it


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jun 11, 2017)

Oh I love when the creative juices flow. Decided to rotate the rear fender back & down so it sits almost on the ground. Had to remove & move the fender stay brackets. One was too short in the new position but the one from the front fender was the perfect length where I need to mount it.


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jun 11, 2017)

Was originally going to use the stock Twinn front fork on this one but decided to go springer since it was given to me & already has a fender I can use. The front fender on the twinn had a big hole from the mounting screw pulling through. Just have to paint it so it's no longer PINK


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## kwoodyh (Jun 11, 2017)

OMG I love that! Bad to the bone!


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## TR6SC (Jun 11, 2017)

I like your choice of passion Schwing, tandems are the bong!


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jun 11, 2017)

I was sitting there & noticed that front fender staring at me that I wasn't going to use. I figured why not fill back in the 12 or so inches I rotated the rear fender. So I cut that thing down & will have basically 2/3 of the wheel fendered. The cool part is they'll overlap right at the fender mounting crossbar in the frame so it'll look like 1 fender without having to weld anything. Winner winner chicken dinner


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## kwoodyh (Jun 11, 2017)

So you're saying all that and a chicken dinner? Too much!


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jun 12, 2017)

mailman just brought some more minty fresh white goodness


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jun 12, 2017)

Sadly a still need a THIRD chain since it's a twin. Wish someone made bike chains with more than 112 links


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jun 15, 2017)

More goodies arriving. Old style rear wheel kickstand & a triple trumpet squeeze horn.....honk honk


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## TR6SC (Jun 15, 2017)

SchwinnSchwing said:


> Sadly a still need a THIRD chain since it's a twin. Wish someone made bike chains with more than 112 links



They do. Go to eBay and search Garage Opener Chain. Good quality and they're giving it away. PS Don't let anybody else know!


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jun 16, 2017)

TR6SC said:


> They do. Go to eBay and search Garage Opener Chain. Good quality and they're giving it away. PS Don't let anybody else know!



Unfortunately I'm one of those anal people that like to match my chain to my bike. So I'm using white & silver linked chain right now. I've only found the colored chains in 112L so far


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jun 17, 2017)

Did some painting today. Painted the cranks & fender supports in a textured granite finish for a little contrast with the gray frame. The second close up shot shows it pretty well. Also painted the rear fender & masked it off to re do the stripe. Going to do it in red. Also added a little "flair" at the bottom on top of the pinstripes. Got the springer forks painted too. I need to pick up a nice little round reflector for that small hole at the bottom of the fender


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jun 18, 2017)

Got the striping done. A few small bleed over spots that I need to tidy up but it'll do for now. Also found a small reflector to fill the lower hole on the rear fender. Had a motorcycle plate frame reflector laying around & it's perfect


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jun 19, 2017)

Got the springer painted & re assembled. Did the fender supports in that textured granite that I used on the cranks. Gives a nice contrast to the gray fender


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jun 20, 2017)

New Harbor Freight pipe wrench 1
Seat Post 0


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## kwoodyh (Jun 20, 2017)

Kerrr snap!


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jun 21, 2017)

While I'm waiting for my large drill bit to arrive in the mail I decided see what things were looking like. Ran into my first major snag. The fender support that I rotated way down on the rear fender, hits the rear wheel kickstand. Have to figure a way around that so I can keep both. I was originally going to use those stock front bars but have since ordered some half moon bars with a 31" spread


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jun 21, 2017)

Here's my kickstand dilemma. The fender support is going to be in the way at any position below where the kickstand sits when it's up (basically 90 degrees). But I have to have a support down there or the fender will flop around & catch the tire. My first thought is to try to bend the support in enough to clear the kickstand but still not hit the spokes. Not even sure if there's room to do that though & I don't have a spare support to test with. Don't want to start bending the good one I just painted. Any suggestions are welcome.


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jun 29, 2017)

Bars came yesterday. 31" spread half moon's


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## TR6SC (Jun 30, 2017)

SchwinnSchwing said:


> Here's my kickstand dilemma. The fender support is going to be in the way at any position below where the kickstand sits when it's up (basically 90 degrees). But I have to have a support down there or the fender will flop around & catch the tire. My first thought is to try to bend the support in enough to clear the kickstand but still not hit the spokes. Not even sure if there's room to do that though & I don't have a spare support to test with. Don't want to start bending the good one I just painted. Any suggestions are welcome.
> View attachment 485078



Not sure I've got the whole picture, but what if you move your fender stays to the inside of the frame. And what about washers to spread the stand a bit?


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jul 2, 2017)

I'm not sure if there's room to put them inside the frame on the sprocket side but I'll look into that. Can't space the kickstand out with washers because it has a tab that needs to be able to touch the frame so it holds it in place & keeps it from pivoting. I need to go pick up some new fender supports that I can experiment with. I already painted the current ones before realizing they need to be fabbed a little


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## kwoodyh (Jul 2, 2017)

I'm not sure if there's a solution with that kickstand and the fender brace? You might have to choose the one you like best?


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jul 2, 2017)

kwoodyh said:


> I'm not sure if there's a solution with that kickstand and the fender brace? You might have to choose the one you like best?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



That's what I'm thinking. & it will be the fender & fender stays that stay. I actually already put the kickstand on my black twin for now. Still needs to be fabricated so it sits in the right position. I need to adjust it so it sits forward under the wheel & not straight down. If you barely touch the bike now it rolls forward off the kickstand. I wanted to run it on this gray bike because I'm going for more of a vintage look with this bike & the black one has more of a muscle bike/Stingray look to it. But the black one has had the kickstand mount tube cut off the frame. I had to bolt up an aftermarket universal Schwinn kickstand & even when it's extended at the longest point, the bike is almost to the point of tipping over on it. So maybe I should just leave it on the black one. I do have the original kickstand with this gray twin but it & the little wedge piece are out of the frame. Is there a trick to putting it in?


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## kwoodyh (Jul 2, 2017)

I'm sure someone on here is the SME on kickstands, I've never attempted it but I'm sure it involves holding your mouth right and the earths rotation £¥<3/karma = successful installation? I don't have access to my Mortar Ballistic Computer but I'm sure it would determine cheese charges and elevation!


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## kwoodyh (Jul 2, 2017)

You might be able to fab a really really curved fender support?


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jul 3, 2017)

kwoodyh said:


> I'm sure someone on here is the SME on kickstands,



 I youtubed it & it's a piece of cake. Unfortunately the little stop piece that I DID have looked to me like something I'd never use last week & I threw it away ...GRRRR. I was sitting there holding it over the garbage can thinking, you'll probably need this later even though you don't know what it is now but said F it & tossed it.


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jul 3, 2017)

On a good note I got my free case of Rust-Oleum today. I had mentioned on their FB page that I couldn't find this color anymore & also mentioned the last time I used it, all  cans stopped working before empty. Even though it was 6 years ago this happened, they sent me a free case


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jul 5, 2017)

Now that I got the paint I was able to get some stuff done. It's coming along. Even the crappy old bearings were looking good after a cleaning. & I'm really digging the granite finish on the cranks


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## TR6SC (Jul 5, 2017)

Somebody's having fun!


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jul 6, 2017)

Decided the front fender was way too far from the wheel. Had to do a little "fab" work. Which consisted of adding a small extender at the top & shortening the fender brackets. I put the brackets in the vice & just flattened them an inch further up than they were, drilled a new hole & cut the old hole off. As I'm just about to drill all the way through the second hole the drill caught & literally twisted the bracket around the drill bit TWICE & also put a nice kink in it. & don;t forget these were already painted in that granite finish. I thought for sure it was toast. I uncurled it from the drill & pounded it back flat & was actually able to salvage it & no one will be able to tell. Pheww, that was a close one. Last picture is the bracket that got twisted around the drill


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jul 6, 2017)

I also had to pound in a section of the rear fender where the chain goes by it since I moved the stock fender that already had that. Came out a lot better than I thought it would. Just opened the vice up to the width I wanted the gap & set the fender over it. Then I covered it with a piece of cloth so I didn't mess up the paint too bad when I hammered it. (this is why they do all the fitting FIRST when building a custom car...lol)

 

 

 


The little details


 



Also ran into another snag. The stem wasn't long enough to get the springer bracket over it & still have room to get the top nut on. So I ground the lip of the top nut off & turned it upside down. Luckily the springer bracket hole was big enough to allow the tapered part of the nut to fit inside it & still go over the threads. I was only able to get half the threads on but it's good enough for what I'm doing


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jul 6, 2017)

Finally got the handle bar spacer I was waiting for so I could get the front bars painted & mounted. Just have the rear fender & tray to install. Should be all done by tomorrow. I also noticed the rear goose neck has a bend in it. You can see the rear bars sag to the right in the head on picture


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## kwoodyh (Jul 6, 2017)

It's a little tweaked, probably normal fatigue from the rear rider pedaling, right foot down stroke and left arm pulling up?


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jul 6, 2017)

If it aint one thing it's another. I went to put the chain guard on & realized I put the stupid front sprocket on backwards. I have it offsetting outward instead of inward.  It just time I guess


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## kwoodyh (Jul 6, 2017)

Assembly gods are watching and your Karma will kick in if you're not living right! Make sure when you assemble the kickstand it folds down and not up![emoji23]


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jul 15, 2017)

Got the rear rack baskets on & ordered the seats yesterday. As soon as they get here it'll be done. I was going to do the rear rack in white but decided to go with gray at the last minute.


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jul 15, 2017)

Can't forget the straps


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## kwoodyh (Jul 16, 2017)

Drill out the post? I've been wondering if dry ice might be able to shrink it enough to remove? I also have a stuck one i might try it on?


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## SchwinnSchwing (Jul 17, 2017)

kwoodyh said:


> Drill out the post? I've been wondering if dry ice might be able to shrink it enough to remove? I also have a stuck one i might try it on?



Yea, I ended up drilling it out with a 13/16ths bit I had to buy. Not sure if the dry ice would do the trick or not


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