bigbossman 

I picked up a lowly Schwinn Super Sport carcass last summer, intending to strip off the Shimano RSX brakes and derailluers for building my daughter's Battaglin. I ended up going with Campy on that build, so I tossed a Shimano 8 speed Sora group on the Schwinn and built it out.

As received:


As finished, yesterday:

East Hill

Is that for your daughter as well? Those are some spiffy wheels on there for a bike to be flipped!

Nice red/yellow combination there.

East Hill

USAZorro

Them's some mighty long crank arms for such a small framed bicycle bbm.

bigbossman 

Those are the stock wheels off of my 2005 Giant OCR. No great shakes, heavy AND flexy, at least for my size. They are no great shakes, but are more than adequate for this bike.

This bike is not for my daughter - she only rides Campy equipped bikes. I built it up with The Cinderella in mind, and am building another, a cute little Centurion, as we "speak". You just might see a few of my bikes on the course when you're out there.

The frame is a 54cm, and the cranks are 170mm. They do look long in the photo, but they should work out fine for the next owner, whoever that is.

East Hill

I know if I didn't have a bike already, that Schwinn would be pretty snazzy (and red!). We'll need photos of the Centurion, of course .

East Hill

jebensch

After several years of loyal service including serving as my first tear-down/build-up, ol' Trekky has earned a makeover. It's an 85 but I'm going to model it after Trek's high-water-mark a few years earlier. Seattube logos....ahhhhhh.

Before:

gr23932

It's now fully complete but here is my Colnago Mexico Oro that had all the gold plating flaking away. Here is the link to the thread with the before pics. https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/326205-colnago-mexico-oro.html





Here is the latest thread with more pics>
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/394880-colnago-mexico-oro-unpacked.html

TheKingFiphtin

Oh my...

I don't usually stray from single speeds, but this bike is gorgeous. Wow.

brandenjs

Not near as nice as alot of the rides in this forum,but this was a great thrift store find. It did'nt really need alot. This bike rides great and I love this color blue. Hopefully the Schwinn fans like it..

Before:



After:

Bikedued

Join the Le Tour over improver's club. I got this one on Saturday, a couple of years newer than yours. I LOVE the color, just about the best I've ever seen on a Le Tour. I installed new wrap with Weinnmann non aero levers, Brooks B.15, lever hoods, DT shifters, etc etc.... This is a before and during, as it now has Golden arrow derailleurs and cranks off of a Bianchi local ebay find. It rides very well. For some reason Schwinns always fit like they were made for me. The after pics are too come.,,,,BD

Before, direct from the Salvation Army. $44.23 with tax.



During, after a LOT of quickly done hard work. LOVE this bike!




And after. Converted to Golden arrow! I also rebuilt the BB while I was in there. There was a silver line on the axle, that was all the damage. This bike was a garage queen deluxe. There was not a speck of grease in the BB. It was bone dry. There was also no evidence that it was even packed at the factory. Disgruntled worker perhaps? Rides as nicely as my Trek 560.

Done!

schleven

not necessarily "classic" or "vintage" but quite a transformation for a free junkyard find:

Before:


After:


Everything done by hand.

redneckwes

Before, rust and minor dents not shown.


During, rust and dents are gone.


After.

luker

that is beautiful! what is the color?

dudewtfhillary

gorgeous bike, schleven.

WNG

Agreed! The Sirrus turned out beautifully. Nice to see a 89 Sirrus here. I think it qualifies as C&V...it has downtube shifters!

My personal Sirrus project is stalled by a JIS to ISO headtube/fork conversion. The original fork was lost to an accident.
I will be going for a more industrial look of silver, gray, black combos. Keep it stealthy from the bike thieves.

schleven

Thanks everyone.

The color was straight out of a white label Rustoleum can. Hand sanded, primered, wetsanded, painted, wetsanded, painted, then baked.

It blistered in a few areas that had to be re-wetsanded and painted. Not the most durable of jobs but I can always just give it a little roughing up/spray to touch things up.

bigbossman 

Here's my latest, ready for resale. Subtle differences, nothing major - a good cleaning and polishing, new tires, and new tape - but it spiffed up pretty well. I also removed the dork disk and reflectors because they were rattling, as well as the brake hoods because they were rotten and cracked:

Before:


After:

bigbossman 

Here's one I did early last December. I found a forlorn little Cavaletto on CL, and turned it into a snappy little road bike. The co-ed the bought it was thrilled, and sent one of her bike-seeking friends my way about a month later.

How I found it:


How it left me:

purevl

Out of curiosity: Why did you replace the cranks but not the pedals?

bigbossman 

Because the market dictates it.

Most of the bikes I sell draw duty as campus or city bikes, and almost all of them end up in either S.F. or Berkeley. Triple cranks are a value-add because both places are hilly.

The small bikes (like this one) go almost exclusively to co-eds at Berkeley or in S.F. They like platform pedals, so that's what I put on. I used to put on nice vintage pedals with toe clips and straps, but they almost always ask if I can change them.

Evidently, city girls don't like toe clips, and I'm all about pleasing the ladies.

lotek 

I know you've seen this before but its my favourite before/after set
before:


after:

Otis

Still not "after" but some more "in-between". Here's the parts back from the plater with a fresh coat of nickel. Not bad considering how rough this stuff was!

splytz1

^^^

That is just so farkin' cool. Well done! Can't wait to see the end result!

Yogurt

Otis I cannot wait to see that bike finished! I'm glad the bike found you.

cyclotoine

WOw otis, it looks like you had absolutely everything replated! Was there anything missing? This promises to be a really awesome resto! What are your plans for finishing the frame?

My question is are the races in the hubs a pressed in piece? And either way does this mean that the bearing races in the pedals, BB and hubs were plated? Or not? How did you deal with that as I imagine they must have been in rough shape.