Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 2,107
Bikes: Trek 800 x 2, Schwinn Heavy Duti, Schwinn Traveler, Schwinn Le Tour Luxe, Schwinn Continental, Cannondale M400 and Lambert, Schwinn Super Sport
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For a restoration, you could clean and then paint the original Schwinn rims. Older Typhoons rims were painted white with black pinstripes. If it were mine, I'd get aluminum 559 etrto rims. Old school looking bmx would be anodized in a color, however, that can be hard to find and it could be pricy when you find it. I would then go with silver. I think that would look best with candy red anyway. Then you would have a great variety of tires to choose and light weight wheels.
I would keep the coaster brake and keep it simple when building new wheels. You go with an aluminum hub(s) and a freewheel. Then you will have to source a BMX brake. If you keep your forged fork you may not be able to put a brake on the front. If you can find a tubular fork, it is a good upgrade. Get a BMX stem and Cruiser handlebars.
I like the one piece crank. A nice upgrade is to get the steel spider so that you can change front chainrings easily. It looks BMX too.
Decades ago, I built a Schwinn Heavy Duti with a King Sting fork. I kept the Bendix coaster brake and built it with red anodized aluminum wheels, a red anodized chainring, a red anodized Schwinn rack and a BMX stem. The bike was painted black. So, it has the old Schwinn cantilever frame to BMX cruiser look that I think you are after for you build. I still have the bike. Some day I have to take it out and get pictures and ride it around.