1959 Schwinn Corvette
Boise Bicycle Project's Bicycle Preservation Society #17
A bicycle love story.
In 2008 I was in the now defunct Schwinn Bicycle shop on Vista Avenue in Boise, ID. It was when the cantilever frame cruiser style bicycle first caught my eye. There were two classic Schwinn bicycles, pink, fenders, cargo racks, built in head lights and all. I'm not sure of the model. I dropped a hint to my husband. That year for Christmas he bought me a pink Electra cruiser. I enjoyed my cruiser immensely, but those pink Schwinn’s stuck in my mind. The next time I was in the store, of course they had been sold.
Fast forward to the March 4th, 2020 Boise Bicycle Project weekly newsletter . Preservation bicycle number seventeen was showcased for adoption. It was love at first sight. I dropped a hint to my husband that night, saying it would be a fun project we could work on together, restoring the rust and dirt caked historic bicycle. The next day, immediately after work, we rode to BBP to check it out for fear someone might adopt it before us. I was not letting this Schwinn moment pass me by like I did in 2008.
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving. - Albert Einstein
We became the proud parents of a Schwinn Corvette, born June 1, 1959! Little (no pun intended) did we know that the coming stay-at-home order would provide us ample time to soak, scrub, buff, polish, and completely rebuild the Corvette. Unfortunately, my husband was sick the first few weeks (sinus infection, not COVID 19) so I did most of the cleaning. He helped a lot with the bearings and loosening nuts/threads that were nearly rusted in place.
I wanted to preserve as much original parts of the bicycle as I could. Luckily, we have a friend who restores historic bicycles as a hobby. He gave some good advice and a starting off point. So, I made a trip to the auto supply store and picked up a gallon of rust dissolve, various turtle wax products, metal polish, latex gloves, and some shop towels. Then I began taking the bike apart, one nut and washer at a time, taking pictures and labeling parts as I went to make sure it all went back together correctly. My first time ever completely rebuilding a bicycle!
The wheels were the original Schwinn S7 rims. The spokes were pretty shot, one was missing, most were rusted and quite brittle, so they were scrapped. I was able to submerge the rims in a tub of rust dissolve and the rust simply rubbed right off with a light touch and a green scrubby. A little chrome polish and they definitely did not look sixty years old!
The front hub needed a little soak in the rust dissolve, but it cleaned up nicely. The rear hub was coated in a protective coat of oil and dirt. Once that was cleaned off, I discovered it was a Sturmey Archer SW Three Speed hub. After reading about three speed hubs in my husband’s copy of Anybody’s Bike Book I learned a few things;
- Taking apart the hub was far above my bike wrenching experience,
- Oil injected in the hub zerk, not grease is recommended to lubricate the internal components of the hub, and
- The mechanical design of planet gears around a sun gear has been around since before 1900 and is still the concept behind the modern automotive transmission.
Fortunately, when I was in Georges bike shop picking up new spokes and nipples, I met Brock, Georges Sturmey Archer guru. I asked him if auto oil would work inside the hub and he recommended a bike specific oil. Once the bike was completely rebuilt a month later, I did have Georges service the hub. Brock found a nine page article all about the Sturmey Archer SW Three Speed hub if you like to read more about it.
Cross Section of a Sturmey Archer hub.
Basically, the SW was not in production for long before the more common AW hub replaced it. It is rare to find a working hub today, but I was in luck, Brock got it shifting with the new cable and housing I bought. The original shifter on the handlebars still worked too!
Learning to rebuild the wheels was my favorite part of the whole rebuild. Sadly, but understandably due to coronavirus, BBP closed their doors to all except people whose only mode of transportation was a bike. I was not able to use my membership to learn how to rebuild the wheels from the amazing teacher mechanics at BBP.
YouTube taught me how to string the spokes. Park Tools website taught me there are four different elements when truing a wheel; lateral true, radial true, dish, and spoke tension. BBP loaned me an extra truing stand and I was able to do the lateral and radial true at home. At that point in the stay-at-home order BBP was shifting to a full-service bike repair shop, so I was able to drop the wheels off and Saxton completed the wheel rebuild with their dish and spoke tension tool.
That is the original indicator chain. Even though you can buy new Sturmey Archer indicator chains, they are not designed for this hub. Go ahead and scroll back up to look at it before!
The Corvette was nearly disassembled except for the bottom bracket and headset. It took muscle and finesse to loosen the threads on both without causing damage. The bearings in the bottom bracket were still well greased and in good condition.
The headset was so rusted the handlebars did not turn. There were several areas on the bicycle where grease or oil not cleaned in decades were like trying to remove hardened tree sap. The headset bearings were like this and had to be soaked in gasoline to remove the old dried grease. They cleaned up nicely, greased, and the front fork was turning smoothly.
The white wall tires and pedals came from our friend who restores vintage bicycles.
The chain was not salvageable, but BBP set me up with a new one.
Other than new brake pads, the original Schwinn breaks and break levers cleaned up nicely. All new cable and housing from BBP. Someday I might switch out the housing for white or tan.
The fenders had the least amount of rust of all the components. I scrubbed the non-chrome parts to buff out what oxidation was on the steel braces.
A little chrome polish had the fenders looking shinier than before.
The rust on the stem and handlebars came off easily and the Schwinn grips had some wear but were in good working condition.
The Stewart Warner Cadet bike speedometer/odometer might need the attention of a watch repair person. I cleaned all the grime and rust off but was not able to get it to operate when I took the bike for a ride.
The original headlight was missing from the mount, but the bracket was still attached to the handlebars. I found a modern replica for $12 on Amazon. It is chrome not plastic fortunately and fit with the original bracket, as the one that came with the new light was not as beefy as the original.
The frame itself definitely could tell some stories. There were scratches, rust, and wear spots. The original Schwinn stencils were worn off the top tube and chain protector but some of the horizontal tube stencil was still present. The Schwinn shield on the headset was still in good condition too.
The frame after three coats and buffs of turtle wax.
The child seat had seen better days. The frame received a rust dissolve bath and cleaned up nicely. The pad was not salvageable, but I was able to sew a new seat pad and back rest with some oil cloth I picked up on Amazon.
I agree with Jimmy that I would not feel safe with a child riding in it. I wanted to keep the bike as close to when I adopted it, so now I have a unique cargo rack. The front rack was the original Schwinn double hinge cargo rack. It may have seen a crash or two as it was slightly bent, but still in great working condition.
My guess is this was a mother’s bicycle. Not just for the obvious reason of the child seat on back, but because the seat was set quite low. I am average height, five foot seven inches, and once the Corvette was put back together, I had to raise the seat a few inches and even then, my size ten feet hit the child seat foot pegs. I think it was ridden by a smaller person or else someone who did not mind their knees in their chest. Even with three speeds, it is a heavy bike and takes considerable effort to get it up to speed. Hard to do if you could not fully extend your leg on the down pedal.
For me, my vintage Schwinn cruiser dream from 2008 has come true. It is even sweeter because I restored the bicycle on my own with the help and guidance of knowledgeable mechanics, friends, and family. I plan to use it for short errands and excursions around the Bench neighborhood because the two times I have ventured down off the Bench I have had to push the Corvette back up the hill! The easiest gear just does not give me enough to get back up onto the Bench. When I see you out and about I will be sure to ring my jelly bell!
In order to succeed, you have to fail, no? You ride a bicycle, you fail; you try a few times, you succeed. - Jacques Torres
