This was my wife's first bike; she got it when she was 7 years old (it was too big for her then), and she never got rid of it. As long as I've known her the bike had been hanging in the garage. It was always kind of neat seeing it there, and we both knew it was something special even if it wasn't that valuable. Everything on the bike was original, including the dried out tires.
Last year we were cleaning something out of the garage and the Hollywood had to be put out in the driveway. Our oldest son asked me, "Daddy what is that?"
"That was my first bike," his Mother answered chiming in.
"Can you still ride it?""I don't know," she said. "I haven't ridden it in 30 years." It had been set aside when she got her first 10-speed.
I pumped up the tires and they still held air. Sherry got on the bike and rode it around the cul de sac for a bit. When she came back to the house she said, "Wow, it rides exactly how I remember it. Wouldn't it be neat if we could fix this up like you do the other bikes?"How could I refuse? So in secret, while tackling some other bike projects, I started to renovate her old 24" Hollywood for the purpose of riding around the neighborhood with me and the boys. Generally the bike was intact and in strong shape. It disassembled easily; even the fenders cleaned up pretty well. I even removed the integrated kickstand with the Park Tool KS-1 Kickstand Tool. I ordered a box full of new parts from Bicycle Designer, which specializes in lowrider bike parts:
- 140-spoke wheels with coaster brake rear
- Mini-ape handlebar
- Schwinn Krate pedals
- 24x2.125 whitewall tires and tubes
- Chrome seatpost (specific size for Schwinn frames)
From Electra Bikes I ordered:
- Leather Tiki-embossed saddle
- Leather Tiki-embossed grips
- Leather handlebar fringe
The fork dropouts had to be modified slightly, to fit the larger axle that came in the new wheel. Working on each dropout with a metal file made room for it. The headset and bottom bracket were both in great shape, so I packed them both full of hi-temp disc brake grease and put them back together.
The bike's resulting look was far cooler than I had expected. I normally don't like "Varsity Green," but after this bike was put back together the chrome really set off the color nicely. Despite the nicks and faded paint in places, the bike presents well now that everything shines. It really didn't take all that much work to turn this thing from a dud to a stud. And Sherry had a big smile after her first ride.
It was all worth it!
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