So I started out with a non-operable 1968 Schwinn which belonged to my wife's grandfather. She wanted to keep the bike and ride it. It's not particularly collectible so I decided that a budget refresh was in order. Here are my expenses:


$10 - Orange parts bike (later gifted frame to my brother who's making it into a sweet, internally geared cruiser for his GF)


$7.95 + tax- Chain (Thanks Paul, Argonne Cycle) (Installed price!)


$5 - Replacement axle nut (Thanks Mosaic Community Non Profit Bike Shop!) (Missing since we've had the bike)


So under $25? Not bad for a sweet, OEM cruiser!


I started by taking off the fenders and chainguard, they were in rough shape. I was going to replace the rear hub with the donor bike's but that was technically infeasible due to the narrow slot in the hanger on the frame, also I didn't want to have to ruin the aesthetics of the curved top bar by routing a brake cable down it so I just disconnected the shifter (simplicity sake, wife doesn't care, plus the S/A 3 speed hub has limited range). In short, we left it a coaster brake instead of converting to rear rim brakes as originally planned. I kinda like the aesthetics of the S/A hub anyway.


The bike was WAY too tall geared for my wife to ride it well so I replaced the crankset with the one off the 10 speed, with the larger chainring removed leaving only the 40T smaller chainring (the original was like a 48T).


I scavenged some brake parts and tubes off the parts bike as they were newer and in really good shape. I was going to switch out the tires for cream colored 26x1.5s but the cost of those would outpace the entire project. If wife rides it to death then maybe cooler tires are in order.


The cheng shin tires which were on it were actually in really good shape so I pumped them up to the max PSI and used Mother's Back to Black to get any "greyness" out of them.


The paint is a little chipped but I am going to leave it since it's a survivor.


I think it looks WAY cool without the chainguard or fenders. Wife wants a basket for trips to the library. What does everyone think?


(Be kind, this is my first foray into anything bike/bike mechanical related)