1964 Flamboyant Lime J38 Stingray find

[Schwinn Sales West]

Great find Chris/Sean, speaking of running the goose neck to high people have re-posted my OG pic of me on my optioned out 63-4 standard on FB and big topic of discussion is how dangerous the neck looks! well only I would know how "Funny" that is because I was running a cycle truck neck I robbed of my dads bike and it's all the way down in the fork.

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You were always a Rule Breaker! The sticker under that seat says NO TWO UP RIDING! LOL

Cool to have the documents of yesteryear. I'd bet when you took that photo you never thought we would be talking about your handlebar stem fifty years later.

John

 

[mrg]

Learned a lot from people picking my picture apart, didn’t realize it has a non-crimp sissy bar but the funny thing was people said it must be a 65 because the yellow oval Slick well I purposely skidded a lot to wear out the Knobby so my dad would buy me the yellow oval Slick!

 

[60sstuff]

Chris, thank you for the additional photos.

I can assure you that doing wheelies does not flex the fork "back". When you come down, the fork flexes and bends "forward".

The problem with the original 7/8" ID thin wall steerer tubes was that kids raised the handlebar stem up to the point the stem lug was into the threaded portion at the very top of the steerer tube. The steerer tubes are weaker where the fork threads stop. If the rider runs the stem high, and use a hi-riser bar (extra leverage), you stand a good chance of breaking a pristine Flamboyant Lime Green fork. Your stem height looks fine to me. The breakage of forks was a safety issue and that is why the industry adopted the smaller 13/16" diameter stem size as the industry standard. This allowed the use of the same one inch headset and allowed for a thicker steerer tube.

So, how would you determine if it's bent or not? The first thing to try is a road test. Can you ride the bike with "No Hands" easily, or is "it twitchy" and will not track by moving your weight on the seat? Basically a fork that is bent back has reduced rake (camber) and it will not track as easily. It's like riding and feeling the difference in frame geometry between a road bike and a track bike with steeper frame angles. If it's twitchy, just drop the fork out and use a straightedge to compare the steerer tube to the fork legs. The fork legs have a taper, but you can still see if the middle of the fork leg aligns with the middle of the steerer tube.

The most likely place for the Ashtabula fork to bend is right under that chrome fork trim cover. The weakest point of the fork is the horizontal part that connects the leg to the steerer tube. It's also the easiest place to straighten the fork. Before we get into how to straighten the fork, lets first determine if it's actually bent, or if it's just my old eyes.

You have a very nice piece of Schwinn History. It's obvious that you have taken a good deal of time to detail the bike, it's beautiful. If you determine that the fork has a slight bend to the rear, I'm certain you would want to correct it since everything else is perfect on your bike.

John

Hi John,

Our terminology is different but means the same.
I say the fork gets bent “Out” and you say the fork is bent “Forward” when slamming down from a wheelie.
Either way this causes the fork to bend at the bottom portion of the tube (lower bearing race) which causes the front tire to rub on the down tube when the wheel is turned around. Kids will be Kids.

An article in the December 1965 Schwinn Reporter addresses the problem with the early 63-65 Stingray “steerer tube”.
I call it a “tube” that the ”stem” slides inside of.
The article calls it a fork stem …. confusing.
At any rate this safety concern was remedied starting in 1966.

Ironically the only years of the Flamboyant Lime Stingray (63,64,65) are also the same years of this thin wall fork tube.

Below is a photo of a 9-5 Lime fork with the thin wall fork tube that takes both the early stems (Bare and MAX HT).

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

Hi John,

Our terminology is different but means the same.
I say the fork gets bent “Out” and you say the fork is bent “Forward” when slamming down from a wheelie.
Either way this causes the fork to bend at the bottom portion of the tube (lower bearing race) which causes the front tire to rub on the down tube when the wheel is turned around. Kids will be Kids.

An article in the December 1965 Schwinn Reporter addresses the problem with the early 63-65 Stingray “steerer tube”.
I call it a “tube” that the ”stem” slides inside of.
The article calls it a fork stem …. confusing.
At any rate this safety concern was remedied starting in 1966.

Ironically the only years of the Flamboyant Lime Stingray (63,64,65) are also the same years of this thin wall fork tube.

Below is a photo of a 9-5 Lime fork with the thin wall fork tube that takes both the early stems (Bare and MAX HT).

View attachment 2036672

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View attachment 2036674

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

So Chris, it comes down to "is your fork bent, or not"? Can the bike be ridden "easily no hands", or is it "twitchy"?

John

 

[60sstuff]

So Chris, it comes down to "is your fork bent, or not"? Can the bike be ridden "easily no hands", or is it "twitchy"?

John

See post #18.
It rides perfectly with no hands.
The only thing “twitchy” is me.

Thanks for all the responses.

 

[60sstuff]

Update ….. more day 2 for this B4 Flam Lime J38.

I decided to add the early Schwinn ball type lamp that has just the right amount of decades old patina that matches the bike perfectly.
I recently purchased this lamp with bracket, but no lens from a fellow CABE member.
The inside of this lamp is extremely nice, no rust through. Plus it works as designed.
Thank you coasterbrakejunkiePaul.

PS, I needed to make my own lens so I found the perfect size clear pak on this door knob shield.

 

[GTs58]

Do the lenses on those lights have to be pushed in (installed) from the outside?

 

[60sstuff]

Do the lenses on those lights have to be pushed in (installed) from the outside?

Yes.
They push in from the outside past 4 small nubs that are designed to retain them.
The factory plastic lens are very fragile and they tend to fall out of the lamp and haven’t been reproduced.

 

[koolbikes]

Yes.
They push in from the outside past 4 small nubs that are designed to retain them.
The factory plastic lens are very fragile and they tend to fall out of the lamp and haven’t been reproduced.

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Hey 60sstuff, appreciate the info on the replacement lens ... had to go to Home Depot for some items and purchased a couple of the door knob shields ... used the shield as a template to cut and leave a 1/8" edge above the crease... Works Great! ... Fits Snug!
Only addition I made was to put a headbadge screw in the hole at bottom for extra security so it won't pop out when riding over bumps.