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Another 1936 Schwinn…

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It’s a vital tool for the ’36 La Salle and future projects, so I decided to include this. Just last Sunday, I attended the Stockton Swap meet. Met up with John @Livmojoe, right when they opened the gate. Smaller than usual, but Swap meets are fun nonetheless. We ran into our friend, Gary Guail there as well as @slick. Close to 3 hours in, I think we hit most of the area except for the last two aisles.

Let’s go back 6 weeks, and there was one posted by @gymmanager on the CABE advertised on FB Marketplace. John tagged me, but by the time I contacted the seller, I was #2 in line. At that price, slim chance.

Fast forward to last Sunday at the swap when we were thinking that would be it for the day. It was getting warm and we thought we’ve seen most of the swap already. Maybe we would double back since we got there early and more vendors will setting up. Well the last isle we haven’t seen yet, not sure who saw it first, but there it was. A nice commercial Park repair stand complete with base and tray. As soon as I saw it, I wanted it. Earlier that morning, I witnessed John working a ridiculous deal with a seller. Sold! That’s a story in itself, but after that, I’m calling our friend the “Negotiator”. So as we wait for the seller to arrive, I asked John to do his thing and get a deal for me on the stand. Happy to report, the stand is in my garage. I was given a nice portable bike stand from a dear friend and have been using it since. But I see why…this Park repair stand is awesome; I’m stoked to own this one.

16 new old pro Park repair stand.jpg

That's @Livmojoe "The Negotiator" in the middle and Gary Quail on the right

16a new old pro Park repair stand.jpg

Park repair stand is so dang heavy. Needed assistance.

16b new old pro Park repair stand.jpg


16c new old pro Park repair stand.jpg

Spent some time cleaning the stand. It's in wonderful condition.

16d new old pro Park repair stand.jpg

Older plastic tray

16e new old pro Park repair stand.jpg

Couple of "C" clips missing and will order a replacement for the rubber clamp cover soon. Already in use for this project.
 
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Some brute persuasion needed. First, setup the crankset. After a dry fit with new prewar BB cones, I noticed the distance between the left side crank and chain stay was a little too close. I mean it would work, but it would be better if I can give it another 1/16” or so. The distance on the drive side looked good. So I did what @mr.cycleplane had explained to me one time. I tightened up the crankset and BB. Brought the bike inside and laid the bike on its side, took a long pipe from the handle of my floor jack and slipped it over the left side crank, weight on the right side crank, and gave it a couple of tugs. Happy to report, it worked. Thanks Tyler for the tip.

17 crankset installed.jpg

Crankset and steerhorns in place with Wald #3 stem

17a drive side crank before.jpg

Drive side crank (before)

17b left side crank before.jpg

Left side crank (before) Too close for my liking

17c left side crank persuasion.jpg

@mr.cycleplane tip did the trick

17d drive side crank after.jpg

Drive side crank (after)

17e left side crank after.jpg

Left side crank (after). Much much better

17f crankset is good to go.jpg

Crankset done

Second, the drop stem. I picked up this drop stem at the Stockton swap the other weekend. I like these stems; I have this model drop stem on a couple of our prewar bikes. And since I was planning to use wide 30” steerhorn bars, my thought was this stem would give us just a little more distance away from the rider. There was a reason why the stem was so cheap; I guess I didn’t look it over very well. Steering tube portion of the stem was out of round and when I put the bars in, the stem was leaning down on the left side. I was talking with @slick, and he said you just need to massage that area to make it round again. And to straighten the drop stem put the bars on and use that for leverage to straighten. Went to my buddies with a monster vice, placed and two brute push on the right side and pull on the left, the stem is now straight. Again a couple CABEr tips did the trick. Thanks Chris.

18 drop stem options.jpg

Options...going with drop stem for now. Not using the deco stem yet, which came with the steerhorns. Once setup and test ridden, I'll ask my wife what she likes best. Who knows, could go with Wald #3 in the end.

18a, straightening before.jpg

If you look closely, the stem is tilting down on the left

18b, straightening after.jpg

Stem is now straight

18c, crown nut slides now.jpg

A now rounded steering portion of the drop stem
 
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The Troxel saddle that came with this ’36 Schwinn was not correct and needed to be replaced. A friend needed that exact model, so the Troxel is now in Texas. Searching for a long spring Messinger B1 Deluxe, I asked around and even for just a chassis of one. A while ago, I acquired a very used leather B1 Deluxe but only the top and pan from Tyler @mr.cycleplane. Another friend was selling a Messinger sliding chassis (short spring), and it was Tyler’s idea that I use both to create one. I have held on to these two pieces and even tried to sell the two at swap meets with no success obviously.

18e Messinger B1 Deluxe.jpg


18d Messinger B1 Deluxe.jpg

Saddle top I picked up from @mr.cycleplane

I did a trade with my friend Gary for his long spring B1 Deluxe, really nice top with a killer profile saddle, and noticed the chassis was not as nice. Then I thought what if I used the ratty top that I have and the long spring chassis from Gary’s seat? Condition wise, the two items look better together, so that was my plan.

19j Messigner B1 in trade.jpg


19i Messigner B1 in trade.jpg

Love the profile on this B1 Deluxe pan

The front carriage bolt was entirely stripped and the nut was fused onto the bolt. Soaked with PO for days on in didn’t work. Also the many attempts to unloosen by me, others, the previous owners, created a round hole from a square opening in the bottom pan to secure the carriage bolt in place. Now that I needed this top, I manually cut the carriage bolt in half. I was then able to break down the seat top, bend and hammer the round opening back to square and straighten the bottom pan along the sides.

19 Messinger B1 Deluxe.jpg


19a Stripped bolt.jpg


19b bolt cut.jpg

Cutting the bolt took a while...

19c nose pan for carriage bolt fixed 2.jpg

Pan opening at the nose repaired back to square...

19e my little helper.jpg

My number one helper...

19h pan straightened.jpg


The B1 top that I had is different where I needed bolts to secure the chassis to the pan rather than the three nuts like the B1 I got from Gary. I was told that my saddle top was designed for the short spring sliding saddles. Otherwise the chassis and top seemed to match up fine. Down to the neighborhood ACE hardware, and after two trips, second time bringing both tops, we were able to find the right size bolts for my B1 top. It was an uncommon bolt size, not your standard, I believe M7. Used standard carriage bolt up front. Cleaned up the pans with the help of my granddaughter.

19k new hardware.jpg

light painters tape to protect the top from handling...

19l slimming down the carriage bolt.jpg


19m slimming down the carriage bolt.jpg


19n slimming down the carriage bolt.jpg


19o slimming down the carriage bolt.jpg


After assembly, this B1 Deluxe looked like it was meant to be for this project. This saddle, condition wise, looks similar to the saddle on our ’36 DBR, and matches the condition of our ’36 La Salle nicely. I'm stoked with the results.

19q my new old B1 Deluxe for '36 La Salle.jpg


19r my new old B1 Deluxe for '36 La Salle.jpg


19s my new old B1 Deluxe for '36 La Salle.jpg


19t my new old B1 Deluxe for '36 La Salle.jpg


19u my new old B1 Deluxe for '36 La Salle.jpg


19v my new old B1 Deluxe for '36 La Salle.jpg


Now to find a chassis to replace the nice B1 Deluxe top I got from Gary. Anyone?
 
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After I posted the seat this morning, a friend told me that the chassis didn't look right. Didn't look like it at first, but after close inspection, the three side wire frame was twisted just a bit and and out of square. So this afternoon, I broke down the rear part of the chassis and did some tweaking. Also I had widened at the rear two flat metal pieces of the main chassis right where the handle is. This was definitely an improvement from before.

20 straightening out the seat chassis.jpg


20a straightening out the seat chassis.jpg


20b straightening out the seat chassis.jpg


20c straightening out the seat chassis.jpg


20d straightening out the seat chassis.jpg


20e straightening out the seat chassis.jpg

Better now...
 
Went for a nice day trip to the coast this past weekend. Picked up the wheelset that Gary Quail laced up for me. Gave him all the pieces to build up a wheelset a couple of weekends ago. Last week, I had asked @PlasticNerd if he had an older Morrow hub with clean races. I bought a Morrow online, but condition wasn’t what I had hoped. That’s why I asked. Gary happened to find a shell stamped F3 for ‘36 in good shape. I bought it, and Gary Quail picked it up the following Friday morning. By the weekend, the wheels were already laced up and trued.

Thank you @PlasticNerd and Gary Quail. A worthwhile trip for my wife and me, seeing and taking care of old bike stuff, visiting a friends, and enjoying the entire day in beautiful Santa Cruz.

21 Morrow hub shell stamped F3.jpg

Really nice F3 stamp Morrow

21a Morrow hub shell stamped F3 and G.jpg

'36 Morrow on the left and '37 on the right

21b wheelset done.jpg


21c wheelset done.jpg

Thanks Mr. Quail
 
It’s time to address a drop stand on this project. This early Schwinn version was not their best setup. Tried it on this ’36 La Salle, worked, but didn’t like the way the stand looked on this bike. When the stand was down, it leaned forward too much and didn’t align with the vertical fender brace. When the stand is up, it was too long past the fender which places a lot of stress and causing the common fender tear that you see often. And lastly, sagged when up, didn’t align with the chain stay.

1 leaning too forward.jpg

too much forward lean

1b way too long.jpg

Look at how much to modify. You understand why fenders tear.

Time to modify this early Schwinn version drop stand. Drilled out the original rivets. Brought the ears and legs to my friend Devon, who welded in the 4 holes, 2 on the ears, and two on the legs. Mounted a rear wheel to mock up the stand, carefully making sure I had the setup right, lining up with the vertical fender brace, the chain stay, and shortening the stand not too much that when down, the tire is rubbing on the stand but enough that the stand, when up, doesn’t go way past the fender. Got to comprise a little on the latter two.

1c ears and legs seperated.jpg


1d ears and legs seperated.jpg


1e lining up the stand when up.jpg


1f using a Schwinn clip.jpg

Will not use an original tempered Schwinn clip

1g how much I need to cut off the length.jpg


1k drilling first before cutting to length on the legs.jpg


1l bending first before cutting to length on the legs.jpg

Simulating from a later version Schwinn drop stand. For some reason, this stand had straight legs.

1m bending first before cutting to length on the legs.jpg

better

I cut the legs down removing around ¼” off the length. Drilled holes on the legs, and once I mocked up the legs on the ears, carefully marked where I needed to drill. This was important, because if off just by a little, it will not line up to the vertical fender brace. I know, because I had to do this twice. That meant filling in the holes on the ears a second time. My mistake.

1n drilling first before cutting to length on the legs.jpg


1o new holes drilled (first time).jpg


1p refilling a second time.jpg

Filling in my mistake. Don't mind my amateur welding.

Once everything was cut and drilled, dry fit nicely, what type of fastener options did I have? Originally fastened with cold rivets, I wanted to do the same. Didn’t have any of course. My friend recommended a 16 penny construction nail. It’s the same process, and to my surprise, it worked like a charm. Elation on my part.

1u ready for final assembly.jpg

After clean up and rounding the tops of the legs

1v cold rivet using 16 penny nail.jpg

My buddy's idea of a cold rivet...

1va 16 penny nail.jpg

...using a common 16 penny construction nail.

1vb cold rivet done.jpg


1w Original cold rivet.jpg

Original rivet

1x cold rivet done.jpg

our version of a cold rivet

I also upgraded my rear fender tail reinforcement specifically for the drop stands. Remember on my ’36 DBR, I added an additional metal cut from an old fender? When I was searching to do the same on this ’36 La Salle, I realized the fender tail of lightweight Schwinn fenders had this lip at the bottom. Makes sense and stronger. So that’s what I ended up using. And while I was at it, I also replaced the first mod on “Cochina” with this new and stronger upgrade.

1r strengthening the fender tail for drop stand.jpg

After cutting and shaping, primed and painted. Left one is for our '36 DBR and right one is for this project

1rb strengthening the fender tail for drop stand.jpg


1rc strengthening the fender tail for drop stand.jpg


In the end, the changes on the stand came out great. Yeah, it took some time and several days to make it right. For me because I dig these drop stands on old bikes, it’s worth the effort I think. Hopefully this could be of service to those who are on the fence about these stands. If setup correctly, these drop stands are awesome.

1z drop stand final.jpg


1za drop stand final.jpg


1zba drop stand final.jpg
 
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