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09-16-08, 01:50 PM
I originally posted this over in the Classic 'n Vintage forum, but after hanging around a bit, I think my projects fit this forum better. Anyway, here are my projects...go easy on me, I'm new!
First, in the summer of 2006 I picked up this bike at an estate sale for $3:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/94/233383620_ce6c7c9e91.jpg
It was rusty and brush-painted, but the tires held air, it actually rode down the road nicely, and I dug the style of the chainguard and crank. I decided to make it into a beach cruiser. While I was stripping the paint, I unearthed enough of the badge to see that it's a Vista, and a bit of internet research told me that it was a mid-level bike at best, so I'm comfortable that I'm not ruining a major investment.
I stripped and sanded that whole fall, but in November 2006 my wife gave birth to our twins. Since the twins are kids #3 and #4 in our family, the Vista Cruiser project has kind of just sat there:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3207/2743313276_72e0602044.jpg
When it's all done, I'm picturing it with a springer fork, ducktail fenders, and some sort of 70's-ish metal-flake paint.
So given that I have this bike sitting in a (ironically enough) diaper box, I guess I was a fool to pick up another project, this one slated to be my oldest daughter's next bike:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3267/2742473511_e569b18e89.jpg
Yup, it's a: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2367/2742474609_2946ea9699_m.jpg L'il Chik, and it was my dad's wife's kid's bike. It's uber-rusty, but I'm planning to dip all the parts in an oxalic acid solution that I read about on another forum. It's been kid-painted with some sort of baby-blue paint that I'm hoping will come off with WD-40 or some kind of solvent, without removing the Schwinn paint as well.
I'm thinking that with just some extreme clean-up and rust removal, and new tires and chain, this'll be a nice bike again.
Okay, whatcha all think? I'm crazy, right?
First, in the summer of 2006 I picked up this bike at an estate sale for $3:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/94/233383620_ce6c7c9e91.jpg
It was rusty and brush-painted, but the tires held air, it actually rode down the road nicely, and I dug the style of the chainguard and crank. I decided to make it into a beach cruiser. While I was stripping the paint, I unearthed enough of the badge to see that it's a Vista, and a bit of internet research told me that it was a mid-level bike at best, so I'm comfortable that I'm not ruining a major investment.
I stripped and sanded that whole fall, but in November 2006 my wife gave birth to our twins. Since the twins are kids #3 and #4 in our family, the Vista Cruiser project has kind of just sat there:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3207/2743313276_72e0602044.jpg
When it's all done, I'm picturing it with a springer fork, ducktail fenders, and some sort of 70's-ish metal-flake paint.
So given that I have this bike sitting in a (ironically enough) diaper box, I guess I was a fool to pick up another project, this one slated to be my oldest daughter's next bike:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3267/2742473511_e569b18e89.jpg
Yup, it's a: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2367/2742474609_2946ea9699_m.jpg L'il Chik, and it was my dad's wife's kid's bike. It's uber-rusty, but I'm planning to dip all the parts in an oxalic acid solution that I read about on another forum. It's been kid-painted with some sort of baby-blue paint that I'm hoping will come off with WD-40 or some kind of solvent, without removing the Schwinn paint as well.
I'm thinking that with just some extreme clean-up and rust removal, and new tires and chain, this'll be a nice bike again.
Okay, whatcha all think? I'm crazy, right?