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'36 Schwinn Double (curved) Bar Roadster

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I’m ready to take her on my first Schwinn DBR ride. Mounted another Wald #3 but straight stem. For my first ride, decided on the patina’ d Torrington 26” wide handlebars, and because it came with her initially. The only decent and very used old matching set were these finger grips, that came from another prewar ’37 Schwinn. Worked out, since one of the original finger grips was not in the best of shape.

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I believe we have a name for this old girl. After I was done working on her, I had brought her in our back 3rd room, our office. That way I can look at her while I’m working. My wife comes in, and says, “What’s that smell?” “Probably the old dirt and grease that is still on the bike and I had just lightly lubed the chain,” I replied. After she closely looked at the bike as she is uncleaned, which barely fit in the room, and just enough to walk by, she says “Cochina.” “That's right, just the way I like her," I replied. "Cochina, hmmmm I like that.” That’s what we will name our ’36 Schwinn DBR. "Cochina" in Spanish means filthy or dirty girl, perfect name for this old girl.
Thank you for that great story
 
While I was looking at the newly mounted drop stand, I noticed something and wanted to make a change.

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Decided to change the drop stand position. When the stand is up, the horizontal line of the stand sagged a bit; it wasn’t in line with the rear chain stay. I’ve seen in the catalogs, that some are this way. Removed the chain guard for a better look. Thinking to myself, how it would look better if the drop stand was in line with the lines of the chain stay. So I took a Wald fender clip, and drilled a second hole. The idea is to raise the clip higher hence raising the drop stand at the tail when up. Maybe it was a good idea and another reason to dock the tail length of the rear fender anyway.

Before
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After
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Before
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After...much better
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While I was at it, I was thinking of the constant pressure of the fender caused by the drop stand when up. For some reason this drop stand sits behind the fender when the drop stand is positioned in the clip. I wanted to strengthen the fender tail. The idea was to reinforce where the clip would go. So I took an old chrome fender, and shaped it to the newly docked rear fender tail. I didn’t want the fender to tear again, so hopefully this will prevent from that happening again. After all said and done, looks much better to me now all aligned. What do you think? Now just have to figure how I’m going to get the rear of Cochina up higher when the stand is down, but that’s for another time.

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Looks much better this way with the stand in alignment with the chain stays.. Looking good.. RideOnn.. Razin..
 
For this old Schwinn, the hockey stick is appropriate, the correct look and chain guard for Cochina, a '36 with the flat fender braces . Thanks Razin.
Your welcome and your also right about the "stick guard" does in fact look the part... I picked up a pre war CWC Roadmaster with this guard and they really POP on the old bikes.. Enjoy and RideOnn.. Razin..
 
Just thought I’d share. I love riding this old Schwinn DBR. Cochina has been my rider lately, and my wife and I ride daily. Well I made the mistake of airing up the rear tire above the max 30 lbs. Why I thought it was okay to air the tire higher, I don’t know; wasn’t smart of me and knowing it’s an old tire too. The front tire I left at 30 lbs. No long ago, a friend of mine noticed the side wall of the tire tearing near the bead of the tire. Even though I had another used set of tires available I didn’t want to give up on the very used Carlisle Lightning Dart look on Cochina; I like the look of darts so much. So I did what I used to do when mountain biking. I got my wife’s heavy duty needle, a super long string of flat wide floss and stitched up the side wall tear. The old rubber was no longer pliable so did the best I could. Not my best stitch job either due to the checking side wall, but did the trick. Then soaked up the stitched area with rubber cement both inside and out. I then took a very old throwaway US Royal Chain tire, cut 7” length area of the side wall and rubber cement in place between the inner tube and the inner side wall. I have since swapped the tires, placing the stitched up tire to the front. To my surprise, these old Carlisle tires are still holding on.

I’m sure some of you or most of you are probably thinking, “What is this guy thinking? Just replace the damn tires.” Yeah, that’s what everyone is saying. And since I don’t have any spare BW Lightning Darts, what do I have to lose. So until I find another BW Carlisle darts, or until these old tires give way, these stitched up old rubber will stay on Cochina for now.

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First noticed the tear

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Close up of the tear

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Throwaway old chain tires, so cut away piece of side wall

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My stitched up tire

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I know, it's not a pretty look, but it's working for now
 
Just thought I’d share. I love riding this old Schwinn DBR. Cochina has been my rider lately, and my wife and I ride daily. Well I made the mistake of airing up the rear tire above the max 30 lbs. Why I thought it was okay to air the tire higher, I don’t know; wasn’t smart of me and knowing it’s an old tire too. The front tire I left at 30 lbs. No long ago, a friend of mine noticed the side wall of the tire tearing near the bead of the tire. Even though I had another used set of tires available I didn’t want to give up on the very used Carlisle Lightning Dart look on Cochina; I like the look of darts so much. So I did what I used to do when mountain biking. I got my wife’s heavy duty needle, a super long string of flat wide floss and stitched up the side wall tear. The old rubber was no longer pliable so did the best I could. Not my best stitch job either due to the checking side wall, but did the trick. Then soaked up the stitched area with rubber cement both inside and out. I then took a very old throwaway US Royal Chain tire, cut 7” length area of the side wall and rubber cement in place between the inner tube and the inner side wall. I have since swapped the tires, placing the stitched up tire to the front. To my surprise, these old Carlisle tires are still holding on.

I’m sure some of you or most of you are probably thinking, “What is this guy thinking? Just replace the damn tires.” Yeah, that’s what everyone is saying. And since I don’t have any spare BW Lightning Darts, what do I have to lose. So until I find another BW Carlisle darts, or until these old tires give way, these stitched up old rubber will stay on Cochina for now.

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First noticed the tear

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Close up of the tear

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Throwaway old chain tires, so cut away piece of side wall

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My stitched up tire

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I know, it's not a pretty look, but it's working for now
The fact that you did all that work to let that original tire live a little longer is one of the reasons we became friends, im willing to bet. I will use original tires until i have none left to use before I buy new ones.
 
I agree it is time to replace the tires. Keep the old tires for display.

True "dry rot" is where the cord of the tire loses its structural integrity and tears (as opposed to what people call "dry rot" today when the rubber loses its elastomer and the sidewalls crack). The rupture can lead to an accident if you are riding the bike when it happens. Ruptures can happen at the sidewalls or in the tread with true dry rot in a cotton cord.

Often if one area of an old, cotton chord tire is rotted and goes, there are other areas in danger of having the same happen. True dry rot can also be insidious in that the outside shows only a minor crack in the rubber, but inside the cord is bad and then tears. You may not know there is a problem until the thing just gives up. Areas of the tire undergo repeated stress and release cycles as the wheel turns, so a weakened area of cord can go at any time.

If you like the old chain tread design, try a set of John's reproduction chain treads. If you want a cheaper option, other brands still make tires in this size. They just won't be quite as nice as the reproduction chaintreads.
 
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