When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Project AEWRON 13

#eBayPartner    Most Recent BUY IT NOW Items Listed on eBay
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
Picked up these NOS rat trap pedals last summer for my old Schwinn, but after I got home I realized they were 9/16" for 3-piece cranks and couldn't use them on my one-piece Schwinn cranks, but as fate would have it they are perfect for my dad's bike project.
I never get rid of my mistakes for this reason. That's why I have so much stuff!!! :)
 
Are your rims straight sided / hookless bead? I’d bet they are. I know you mentioned that you wanna keep to a budget but may I suggest hook bead rims? If you are indeed respoking the wheels that would be a good time to up grade to alloy hook bead rims. Might want to research that a bit.

I know Sun rims makes a 27 inch CR-18.
 
Are your rims straight sided / hookless bead? I’d bet they are. I know you mentioned that you wanna keep to a budget but may I suggest hook bead rims? If you are indeed respoking the wheels that would be a good time to up grade to alloy hook bead rims.

Thanks for the suggestion, funny that you would mention that today...

I believe they are hookless, and the Continental tires just arrived an hour ago and they clearly state on the sidewall "MOUNT ONLY ON HOOKED RIMS"

You have a valid point about better modern alloy rims with a lip, and I don't disagree, but to be honest I was trying to keep the original steel rims for several reasons... the rims are saveable, enjoy the process of reviving the chrome, I like the look of chrome, save money, trying to keep it as era correct as possible, and part of the fun for me is "the feel" of all those older steel parts when riding it. I guess my two choices are... go with modern alloy rims with modern Continental tires, or keep original rims with old school tires.

Since so many people use the Kenda K35 and Sunlite CST638 for 70's and 80's road rims, I assume they are correct for hookless right?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/KENDA-K35-...re-Fixed-Gear-Classic-27-Bicycle/371189689546

Edit: Since this is a budget build that I'm only riding a handful of times in the summer, I'll probably go with Kenda K35 blackwalls on original rims (the gumwalls don't hold up as long).
 
Last edited:
Those rims are hookless... I have a 1987 Free Spirit Pinnacle. Quite a few bikes from that period had the hookless "steel" rims.

I currently run a Vittoria Zaffiro on my rear wheel. That tire is also marked "MOUNT ONLY ON HOOKED RIMS" on the sidewall. That tire hasn't given me any problems; I run it at ~70 PSI.

Just don't inflate it over 70 PSI, and keep an eye on the bead while inflating. If any part of the bead starts to become uneven or try to unseat, immediately deflate the tire and try again.

I have a post on my personal website discussing the topic: http://personal.garrettfuller.org/blog/2018/09/27/steel-rims-and-tire-pressure/
 
Thanks for the tips Garrett.

Forgot to mention yesterday, also found some NOS white vinyl at the bike shop for the bars, that will look nice with the white lettered frame decals...

tape.jpg
 
My condolences on the passing and loss of your Dad. I like your idea of using your fathers squadron logo for your head badge. My father was a bombardier on a B17 in WWII and I took his squadrons logo and had a gear shift knob with a brass insert of the logo made for my 34.
Pops Shift Knob.png
 
Last edited:
Thanks, my grandfather was also a B-17 bombardier, trained at Brooks Field in Texas, that shift knob is beautiful, great idea!

In addition to the head badge I made a "Warning Star" decal today to replace the "FS-12-SPEED" top tube decal, because I'm converting it to a 6-Speed and that was the plane he few in that squadron. I realize some people would think that's silly, but that is what this build is all about, taking a crappy Free Spirit and having fun transforming it into something special, because sentimental value is priceless.

He was stationed in Newfoundland and that Naval Base was part of the Atlantic Barrier, North America's early warning detection from attack during the Cold War (that's why the squadron patch has Paul Revere on it, instead of the British are coming, it was the Russians are coming, haha). They would fly 15-hour shifts from Newfoundland to the Azores non-stop 24-hours a day looking for threats. What is the big deal? Well in the late 50's there was no modern satellites, computers, etc. It was still done the old school way under brutal conditions, there was no cancellations or 2-hour delays even with sub zero temps and 30" of snow, they flew regardless of weather conditions, you cleared the runway and rolled out, no excuses. My father took a Super8 color camcorder there in 1959 and that reel-to-reel film was stored in his closest for 50 years. I asked him repeatedly to let me convert it to DVD before it was too late (linear magnetic recordings deteriorate over time) and he repeatedly refused. Well about 10 years ago he finally gave in and let me digitally convert to, then I edited it in Movie Maker adding music and put it up on YouTube. Over the past 9 years there has been 15k views and lots of guys who also served there have commented so that's been pretty cool, here is the link...


20190209_170508_resized.jpg
 
Last edited:
Made some good progress on Sunday afternoon...

1. Stripped parts from frame
2. Removed unwanted decals
3. Remove decal adhesive
4. Cleaned frame (paint a little nicer than expected)
5. Cleaned & re-greased bottom bracket
6. Cleaned & re-greased headset (one bearing damaged but had same size spare)
7. Cleaned and oiled rear derailleur
8. Separated crank arm/sprockets/chain guard to evaluate
9. Previously mentioned I'm converting it to a 6-speed to eliminate a lot of clutter, want to use smaller sprocket for desired gearing and it would have been easy if big sprocket was removable, but the smaller sprocket and chain guard only removable, so I'm going to have local machine shop cut the big gear off and essentially create my own spider, then attach the small sprocket to the spider...

decal1.jpg


decal2.jpg


decal3.jpg


frame1.jpg


frame2.jpg


frame3.jpg


bearing.jpg


parts.jpg
 
Back
Top