1947 Schwinn New World Lightweights

[SirMike1983]

I bought a pair of New World Lightweights from this forum. I had decided not to take on any more projects, but couldn't resist trying a couple old Schwinns. It's a his and hers pair, both post war, but only by a couple of years. I've made some progress cleaning them up. I've done both sets of bars and stems. I have done one set of hand brake levers. I have done the chainring on the men's frame, as well as the brake calipers on the men's.

Bike Shed Blog will have progress updates on it more regularly. I also did a brief tutorial entry on re-building early Schwinn-built calipers (not the later W. German type "Approved").

 

[s1b]

Great job and nice bikes!

 

[SirMike1983]

The always messy job of cleaning out the bottom bracket and crank assembly:

http://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/2012/12/schwinn-new-world-cleaning-up-one-piece.html

 

[SirMike1983]

Chain loosening and cleaning:

http://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-smell-of-cleaned-chain.html

Fender dent removal and shaping:

http://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/2012/12/repairing-dents-in-fenders.html

 

[SirMike1983]

Using a hybrid Oxalic Acid and wire brush method to clean up the fenders:

http://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/2012/12/schwinn-new-world-removing-rust-from.html

 

[SirMike1983]

In the past couple weeks, the tires have arrived, and I got a chance to clean up the chainguard and rear wheel:

http://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/2012_12_01_archive.html

 

[SirMike1983]

Nothing like a warm weekend to get a few things done on the New World bike. That old, black Schwinn paint polishes up pretty nicely.

http://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/

 

[SirMike1983]

Some more work simulating aged cad plating- tonight putting "age" and "wear" onto the finish to blend with a period bike.

http://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/2013/01/simulating-cad-plating-part-2.html

 

[SirMike1983]

Front wheel is cleaned and lubricated, now to true it up

http://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/2013/01/truing-bicycle-wheel-schwinn-new-world.html

 

[shawn57187]

Are you going to polish up that rim?

A secret I discovered for removing old caked on grease from around spokes and other hard to reach places on a hub is to first dissemble everything. Then I bathe everything is gasoline using an old paintbrush. Gasoline dissolves that dried tar substance pretty quickly. Then I follow up with a light pressure washing and finally go over everything by hand with extra fine steel wool and WD40. It makes the rim look like new -- totally safe for all your plated surfaces! I've used this method to remove some pretty substantial and difficult dried grease.

I'm not sure about painted surfaces, but I'd imagine gasoline might do more harm than good.