My Mid-60's Sears Road Bike... (pic heavy)
 

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Like it! That should clean up pretty well, with the appropriate amount of elbow grease.

Thanks, I'm hoping it will!

This is a continuation of a conversation I started here: http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...storation.html

Now that there are pics, it should answer some of the q's from the other thread. Any input is appreciated.

Thanks.

That's really nice! I love the anodized brake levers, among many other details. I guess the rear wheel isn't original, too bad about that. Is the front hub a Normandy? You should be able to find a matching one for the rear.

Thanks, I have a limited idea of what most of this stuff is... new to this.

I was bummed about the rear wheel, the Joytech hub looked newer than the bike. But the rim is a Weinmann.

I was going to pop into O'Reily's and grab some Blue Magic metal polish...

Cool project. Another Austrian Steyr. BTW: Forum member Billy K. (sorry don't know his handle) has an identical frame / fork in beautiful original condition; same color but labeled Ted Williams. Was this Ted dude some HOF cyclist? lol

I love the paint!
Looks like its probably due for new grease everywhere, which means tackling the cranks. good luck, I've never worked on cottered before. There are lots of resources out there about it though, heres one: Cottered Cranks

You'll have to choose whether to keep it original or upgrade to cotterless cranks. Either way the bike looks really neat, should be a lot of fun! Keep updates coming as you go along

My plan is to keep this as original as I can. This was a total curb find I grabbed because I thought it was cool.

I have seen a bike online from a Bill in North Carolina... same paint, same everything but with the Ted Williams on the frame... Here it is:
http://oldtenspeedgallery.com/owner-...s-sport-racer/

And another:
http://oldtenspeedgallery.com/owner-...-sports-racer/

Really nice condition for an older bike, and the components are nifty. Forget the tin foil unless you like scratched chrome. Use the metal polish, and whatever rust is left after that counts as patina. This one is entitled to a little patina.

Something about the various Steyr bikes, though there were always some appearances of cost-cutting present, the overall look really captivated me many long years ago!

I was never, never able to find a decent road model one in the larger sizes though, so when a lower-level one finally showed up nearly 2 years ago, I sprang for it and accepted it's mass-produced details, it's welded-on flat dropouts, welded/swaged cotter crank and "precision steel" frame tubing.

No regrets for me. This cheap model (in a thankfully large enough size to offset the extremely lax 71-degree frame angles) turned out to be perhaps my favorite ride, even sporting only 5 cogs here in our hilly region. I like the style, and I like the ride.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8087/...4e22f069_c.jpg

And BEFORE, after some early cleaning and setup:
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8357/...23938973_c.jpg

The Sears is a very cool bike. I rather like the older lower end stuff.I do not recall ever seeing this model before.

Yeah, it's kind of funky, I like it.

Previous owner put reflective tape all over it, safety first I guess. :) I'll have a go at it with a heat ***...

With Campy Record gears and Weinmann Vainquer brakes etc I don't think we can call it lower end. It was certainly at the top end of the Sears line, but also better than what a lot of make bike companies were selling at the time. Raleigh comes to mind.

You are right of course,this must have been the best bike sears sold at that time.

I got your PM, thanks, I am unable to reply due to < 50 posts.

Was "Ted Williams" a baseball player? I had a outfield glove from Simpson-Sears (Canada) that was Ted Williams signed in the sixties.

Ted "The Splendid Splinter" Williams was, yes. And a notorious womanizer and overall hard livin' kind of guy.

Apparently he lent his name to Sears, went on everything from bicycles to shotguns to outboard motors.

I shared a "Ted Williams" barbell set with my big brother back in the 60's when I was about 7 years old.

Has anyone ever seen a bike like this one (OP's bike) in a larger frame size?

Looks like 56cm, had one pass thru my hands many moons ago (pre-internet days for me) in this same color and same size.
I knew nothing then, it was given to me, was a little small for me so I parted it out. I still have the derailers. The frame was donated iir, hoping it didn't go into the trash.:o

Ted Williams' favorite soda was Moxie. I wish you could get it outside of Cleveland and parts of New England.

Supposedly they blew their ad budget buying up sugar and nobody liked the stuff if they didn't have ads telling them to stay with it for a few cans. Then the price of sugar plummeted and they didn't even get their competitive advantage there.

Boy that's a nice bike. Chrome lugs and everything. I'd try polishing with oily tin foil before taking acid to it but maybe these guys know it won't hurt the paint.

Aluminum foil is fine to use on chrome, it's steel wool that's bad. There is a lot of info on polishing chrome with aluminum foil on all of the Harley and hot rod forums. Some metal polishes are not suitable for chrome as well, so make sure to get chrome polish.