Kasual Klunker (Formerly "The Ratical Rustin' Hornet")

[WillWork4Parts]

If you are using the hi-stop hub from this picture in your previous post, make sure the tabs at the (bike's)left side of the spring are inserted into the slots of the brake side race properly. It sounds like that's what's pushing the driver to be always engaged.

 

[razinhellcustomz]

If you are using the hi-stop hub from this picture in your previous post, make sure the tabs at the (bike's)left side of the spring are inserted into the slots of the brake side race properly. It sounds like that's what's pushing the driver to be always engaged.

View attachment 1722119

Is that a Bendix 76 hub? Austin's is much earlier I believe....

 

[razinhellcustomz]

Thanks! I did: 1952.

Hey Austin, did you get the Hornet sorted out enough to make the ride? Would be a shame if you had to miss your ride...

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Hey Austin, did you get the Hornet sorted out enough to make the ride? Would be a shame if you had to miss your ride...

No, unfortunately not. Not only have I yet to resolve the issues with the bike, but the forecast shows that it's supposed to rain right when this bike show/cruise happens. On top of that, I have no real way of knowing whether or not the ride's even happening, as the Facebook group doesn't seem to mention it every month. I would've taken my other bike, Shoestring, but between the weather and starting a new job tomorrow, it's just not going to happen.

That said, as bummed as I am about how this panned out, it's not so bad. I can probably still fix the coaster brake based on what was suggested earlier or use a different set of wheels, the chainring flip is easy, just inconvenient due to all the grease, and I may be able to sort of the headset issue somehow. I just need to slow down and sort this mess out before I do anything else. I'm still going to build this Schwinn the way I've shown, and I can still do it without spending a ton of money. It just might take a little more time and a little more cash than expected. Right now, I'm just taking a break while I prepare for other things.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

If you are using the hi-stop hub from this picture in your previous post, make sure the tabs at the (bike's)left side of the spring are inserted into the slots of the brake side race properly. It sounds like that's what's pushing the driver to be always engaged.

View attachment 1722119

I don't know what kind of hub it is, but it's off a late-model department store Huffy-type bike. No older than 20 years at most. That said, that could be part of the problem. I couldn't disassemble the hub quite the way I wanted as one of the race nuts was stuck on tight, so I kind of had to reassemble it backwards. Odds are I might have messed something up in the process. Plus it's hard to see what may be wrong when everything's coated with grease. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Bike from the Dead]

#1, try taking a round file to the top of the head tube and make sure their is no rust or derbis keeping the race from seating properly, #2, making sure your sprockets are seated properly in their crank set and on the hub and #3, the brake clutch needs to also be greased properly or they do tend to hang up on the old style Bendix brakes and the bearings need to stay in the cages as sometimes you need to bend down the little spacers with a pliers and grease the bearings well or they won't spin freely in the hub races... Good luck and I hope this helps.. RideOn...

1. I need to get better photos of the issue with the headset, but part of the problem is that although I'm using actual Schwinn bearings, bearing cups and races, the bearings sit as high as the rim of the cup, and the race can't sit on the lip of the cup. I could probably get around this by mixing and matching bearings and cups, but I didn't have the time nor energy to mess with it then. I can still sort that out down the road.

2. Sprockets were all seated properly, no wobbling. But I may need to flip them around so they both bring the chain closer to the tire. The chain stuck so far out it'd scrape the outer inside edge of the chain guard.

3. This isn't an old Bendix hub, I don't think. It's a wheel off a late-model department store Huffy-style bike, so it's only 20 years old at most. Also, I don't skimp on grease. In fact, I may use too much, if that's possible! I can try adjusting the cages to see if that'd help, but I'm worried about messing them up. I could probably rob parts off some other wheels I have if push comes to shove.

 

[Freqman1]

No, unfortunately not. Not only have I yet to resolve the issues with the bike, but the forecast shows that it's supposed to rain right when this bike show/cruise happens. On top of that, I have no real way of knowing whether or not the ride's even happening, as the Facebook group doesn't seem to mention it every month. I would've taken my other bike, Shoestring, but between the weather and starting a new job tomorrow, it's just not going to happen.

That said, as bummed as I am about how this panned out, it's not so bad. I can probably still fix the coaster brake based on what was suggested earlier or use a different set of wheels, the chainring flip is easy, just inconvenient due to all the grease, and I may be able to sort of the headset issue somehow. I just need to slow down and sort this mess out before I do anything else. I'm still going to build this Schwinn the way I've shown, and I can still do it without spending a ton of money. It just might take a little more time and a little more cash than expected. Right now, I'm just taking a break while I prepare for other things.

I’ve found that having a job cuts into my bike time. On the plus side it does provide the funds I need for my hobby!

 

[Bike from the Dead]

I’ve found that having a job cuts into my bike time. On the plus side it does provide the funds I need for my hobby!

Yeah, I'm literally going from "free-time" to "full-time!" It's going to be tough getting used to it, but at least I now have a steady source of income!

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Okay, sorry for the lack of updates. After realizing that there was no way I'd get the bike done by October 30th, I decided I needed a short break to try to calm down and relax before I continued working more on this Schwinn. Between that and starting a new job that sadly didn't work out, it wasn't until just earlier this week that I got around to copying and editing the progress photos and videos from last Friday. Here's how it all went down, to the best of my memory:

First thing I did Friday was run all the way up to my dad's shop in Sapulpa to pick up the handlebars and fork parts I had clear coated earlier that week. Once I did that, I ran to Wal-Mart for my chain... only to find that that particular store didn't have any in stock. So I had to spend more time on the road driving to another Wal-Mart that was further away from home to get my chain. Fortunately, I got my chain for just under $10 (before tax,) and I was on my way home.

Once home, I began reassembling the Hornet. First, I installed the bearing cups and seat clamp.

I tried my best to get the "Schwinn" scripts on the bottom bracket bearing cups to sit level with the frame. It's the little things...

Next, I installed the bottom bracket assembly.

Then the seat...

I decided to reassemble my rat trap springer fork next. One minor catch though: I needed a shim to fit the Schwinn race to the Murray fork. So, I hopped on Shoestring and rode out to one of the main roads surrounding the neighborhood to look for supplies. Now, sure, I could've just walked over to one of my neighbors and asked if they had any empty soda cans I could use, but I wanted to help tidy up the neighborhood, at least a little bit. Luckily, I found plenty of aluminum cans dotting the side of the road, so I did the responsible thing and picked up a few of those irresponsibly-discarded aluminum cylinders to bring back home, where they'd be properly recycled.

Much better.

Once Dad came home, he helped me get the rest of the fork assembled. I'm surprised how smoothly that went for my first try ever putting one of these forks back together.

I put the fork on the bike, and ran into the same issue I had when building Shoestring: there was a small but sizable gap between the crown race and the bearing cup. This was puzzling, since the bearing cups, bearings, and crown race are all genuine Schwinn parts. I tried digging though my collection of other crown races I had at home, and yet I still couldn't close that gap. I still felt that if nothing else went wrong, I could just let that gap slide, but that's not how it would pan out...

After fighting with the coaster brake for what felt like hours, I got that all reassembled. I plopped on the back wheel, trimmed my chain to length, and that's when this project came to a screeching, grinding, sticky halt. First, while I did get both the chainring and sprocket to line up correctly so the chain would spin correctly, I had flipped the sprockets to face out, instead of facing in. I think I did this mostly to clear the tire, as it's a 2.35" wide tire, but I'm trying to remember if the chainring looked like it'd hit the frame if I had it flipped the usual way. Either way, with the chainring and sprocket facing out, I could not get the chain guard to go back on the frame without the chain scraping against the chain guard. If that was where the problems ended, then I'd just leave the chain guard off, but there was a bigger issue going on inside the coaster brake hub...

Not only does the coaster brake hub not sound too happy, but at lower speeds, it's catching on something that stops it from freewheeling. Take a look at the videos I posted on ratrodbikes.com and see what I mean.

I'm not sure what went wrong when I reassembled the coaster brake hub, but it was a huge pain in the rear to put back together, given that the cone nut that was supposed to come loose didn't, so I basically had to reassemble this whole thing backwards. I would not be surprised if that played a part in the hub not acting right. Either way, I didn't want to risk destroying the hub. At this point, it was already late at night, and I only had one more day before the 30th to finish this bike. On top of that, it was going to rain the next day, and right around when that bike ride supposedly happened, so it would be highly unlikely I'd get to test-ride the bike, even if I somehow corrected all the issues I ran into by the end of Saturday. And to top it all off, I had a job that I was starting on Halloween, so I needed to get ready for that. With all that in mind, I had to face the music and throw in the towel until I could properly sort out this mess.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Fast forward to Tuesday. The job I had started turned out to not be a good fit, so to help me not get dragged down by how that panned out, I decided to run up to Sapulpa to run a few errands and to grab a few more wheels and tires to test out on my Schwinn. I didn't get home until it was dark, so I shot the photos yesterday. I want to get that rear wheel examined so I can still use it, but I'm not so sure I want to use those brown wheels and cream-colored tires now. Plus, I might have better luck using some other wheels in my inventory than trying to make the ones I had been using work. Here's what I brought home to try out:

Most of the whitewall tires I've got are either bald or dry, but I figured it was at least worth trying some out on this bike, especially now that the white paint on the frame no longer looks cream/orange-colored. I also have these black tires with pink-ish stripes that are perfectly usable that I want to try out. I might even be able to go over the stripes with some red paint to give them a better look.

I've also got this one black 26" x 2.125" tire that, though the sidewalls are cracking, still has plenty of grip to it.

Now, I'm not about to switch which fork I'm using just yet, but I kind of want to see what this might look like on my Schwinn Hornet. There's a few problems though: first, the steerer tube is way too long. Second, the dropouts are not crimped into the rest of the fork very securely. In fact, they are ridiculously loose! I don't know what the best method is for fixing these forks, but if there's a way to fix them without messing up the original paint too much, that'd be awesome.

I also grabbed this fork for the crown race.

I pulled these aluminum wheels off another freebie bike I had in storage to potentially use. They're a little rough, but I could probably clean them up and use them. Main reason for grabbing these is for the chrome-plated hubs.

I've got another similar set of aluminum wheels that are in much better shape though, and I might not have to do anything to them other than swap the axle on the front wheel to make them usable. I also have a set of wheels that are largely identical to the ones I had on the Hornet, with the only noticeable difference being the color. If I need to, I can rob parts from the coaster brake on this set to fix the ones I was trying to use earlier. Or I can just use these wheels and paint over them to get them to match the bike better.

I also have this rear wheel and mountain bike tire I pulled off the same bike I got the above springer fork from. I'd rather have street tires on this bike, but there are a few gravel trails I know of close to home that'd be fun to check out. I haven't really done a klunker-style build before, so this could be kind of fun to try out! Besides, any tire can be a street tire if you don't care enough! Just look at half the Jeeps on the road today! I also grabbed the other skinnier wheel and tire just to see if that'd be something I'd like.

I also grabbed these 2 freebie mountain bikes for the tubes and tires. I'm not sure whether I'm going with knobbier off-road tires on this bike or not, but I'm open to trying something different!

One small problem that might stop me from using these tires is that some of them have a number of cracks throughout. I really don't want these tires to pop underneath me as I'm riding. I've already had one too many scrapes while riding; I don't need any more.

I'm not 100% sure what the next step in this build will be, but I know I want to get this bike built as soon as reasonably possible. I haven't given up on it yet. That said, now that the paint is no longer as rusty as it was at the start, I'm thinking about changing the build name for this bike. I've been thinking of calling it "The Halloween Hornet" since I bought it right before Halloween, but maybe there's a better name for it than that.

Also, if I decide to go for more of a Bomber/Klunker-style build on this bike, I'm wondering if I should enter it in the Off Road Build Off. Admittedly, I don't ride my bikes all that hard and fast (and I especially don't like taking my bikes off any sweet jumps,) but it would be nice to have a bike that I could ride on flat dirt and gravel trails where my other bikes would struggle to get a grip on the loose surface. I don't know, it's something to think about.