1961 Speedster - bringing it back to life

[Superman1984]

Pulled my '64 Speedster out of dumpster - 2 speed hub is a nice pick; what I need is a black and white messenger seat to make it complete. Anybody got one to trade me? ThanksView attachment 1399161

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Post a Want Ad in the Wanted to Buy Forum. It does help.

 

[GTs58]

If you were me you would blast the frame, fenders and guard and then shoot some fresh paint. If you never did this to a bike as a kid it's about time you did one.

Seriously, I would repaint it just for the fun of saving my childhood bike. It's not worth having it professionally painted and there is an off the shelf blue spray paint that's not totally exact but the color is pretty much dead on. Call it a Refurb, not a Resto, and it might be a fun project if you're into that kind of thing.

 

[Rivnut]

Put on some rubber gloves, put the bike back into the OA bath, and take a red scotch brite pad to it.

 

[chaparralian]

Pulled my '64 Speedster out of dumpster - 2 speed hub is a nice pick; what I need is a black and white messenger seat to make it complete. Anybody got one to trade me? ThanksView attachment 1399161

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Beautiful bike. I was able to get a blue seat for my speedster via EBay a couple weeks ago. Keep lookin!

 

[Steve Baltera]

Try some fine bronze wool ( Hardware Store has it ) and polishing compound .It will remove the rust and not the paint.Give it a nice patina

 

[Rivnut]

@Upchuck79 I took this one off of a ‘63 Traveler. If it’s something that you think you’d be interested in, PM me and we can negotiate.

 

[RustyHornet]

Love this bike! I have it’s twin! In pretty much the same shape, maybe worse than yours. It’s the first middleweight that’s ever really caught my attention. I plan to do an OA bath like you, keep it ratty and enjoy it! I’ll be following along with yours and hopefully getting to mine soon! This one has a Bendix Red Band 2 speed kickback.

 

[Knez68cougar]

After a decade of thinking about it, I've finally decided to bring the 1961 Speedster my parents bought me when I was a kid back to life. I'm midway through the process and wanted to share my experience here. I had no idea how peaceful all of this could be. The other day, three hours went by without notice as I was un-kinking my old, rusty chain - Evaporust bath, pliers, WD-40 bath, pliers, working stubborn links back and forth; it was like the world didn't exist. Here's the full before photo. More to come.


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So cool. I like to see anything old lovingly restored... bikes, toy trains, old cars, houses, anything. Great Job. What did you use to clean up the rims? I recently put a set of new WW on my '66 panther and cleaned it up a little

 

[rollfaster]

Keep it up, these Speedsters ride great!

 

[chaparralian]

Keep it up, these Speedsters ride great!

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Hi Steve. This is such a great bike! I'm looking to replace my pedals, as the ones I have are newer ones with reflectors. From the looks of yours, they look original with nuts on the inner side of the pedal, yes? Can you let me know the dimensions of them and if they have Made in USA or Germany around the inner portion? Thanks so much!!!