# klunker kontent..this could be fun..



## da'HOOV (Jan 3, 2009)

Sorry, but this is the only pic I have right now...just a teaser I guess. I don't know what make or year (pre '50?) it is, the nice clean lines just appealed to me. I like the rear facing dropouts :thumbsup: The paint is worn but has a great patina, think I'll leave it alone.


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## djmuff (Sep 8, 2004)

Nice! Rear-facing dropouts indicate pre-war, though yours look a little different than mine. Mine's a '41, and the paint looks the same.


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## bikerboy (Jan 13, 2004)

Very nice potential there. I agree you should not paint the bike. Patina is beautiful.

So, any idea what type of build you will pursue? My old boss when I worked at a bike shop in college had a similar style frame (not Schwinn) that he built up with BMX and mountain parts. If I recall correctly, it had Rhyno Lite rims laced to a generic alloy front hub with a BMX caliper brake and the rear wheel had a roller brake rear hub. Chrome BMX fork, generic MTB handlebars and Odyssey one piece cranks rounded out the package. Even with fairly lightweight parts (at least compared to what existed in the 1940s) it still was a tank. That frame had to weigh 15 lbs. I would imagine this Schwinn is no lightweight either. I have always wondered what those old Schwinn frames weigh.


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## da'HOOV (Jan 3, 2009)

djmuff said:


> Nice! Rear-facing dropouts indicate pre-war, though yours look a little different than mine. Mine's a '41, and the paint looks the same.
> 
> View attachment 429192


The paint looks real similar, what make is yours, Schwinn? I've got a fork like that withoout the struts. It looks weak (no offense, I mean that style not yours  ), How "noodly" is it and do those struts do anything? My frame doesn't have the adjusting screws on the dropouts, maybe older?

I'm actually thinking of having some disk mounts added to the frame and on a more stout fork that I have. I suppose that's sacrilegious but I think it would be pretty cool.... a newer lighter weight disc SS wheelset on the bottom and a somewhat period correct top end.

Hey, it's my bike right? :thumbsup:


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## da'HOOV (Jan 3, 2009)

oops, double post...


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## -Anomie- (Jan 16, 2005)

djmuff's is definitely a Schwinn, the paint is a dead giveaway. I can't tell from the photo Stan, does yours have exactly the same paint? If you want to build it up as a true "klunker", Alan Bonds' website is a goldmine of details on how he (and CK, Joe Breeze, et al) did it back in the day: http://clunkers.net/

Seriously think about building a legit clunker out of that. If that IS a Schwinn, you could build it up to be a replica of Gary Fisher's bike (same color), or just a period correct "original" mountain bike. It might take more time to gather the correct parts, but no one here (or anywhere else for that matter) could disrespect you or the bike for doing it right. Whatever you do, don't repaint it, the original paint is golden. Nice pick up, wish I could find one for myself :thumbsup: .


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## da'HOOV (Jan 3, 2009)

*great link, thanx anomie*

it looks alot like Otis's bike...I like it :thumbsup:

...picture grabbed from clunkers.net...(is that ok to do?)


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## bushpig (Nov 26, 2005)

Post some pictures as you build it up! Nice looking frame.


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## tductape (Mar 31, 2008)

Looks like a 40/41 DX to me, but then my eyesight is bad and thats an awful small picture....
Enjoy the project,
T


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## Slimpee (Oct 3, 2007)

da'HOOV said:


> T
> I'm actually thinking of having some disk mounts added to the frame and on a more stout fork that I have. I suppose that's sacrilegious but I think it would be pretty cool


PLEASE don't do that!!! If you want a "modern" clunker i'm sure you could find one to build.


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## chefmiguel (Dec 22, 2007)

Nice project Stan! Its your bike and you will do as you wish but I really think you're underestimating the fun potential of a coaster brake. Think of it as singlespeeding without all those fussy levers and cables etc.


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## da'HOOV (Jan 3, 2009)

*I won't hurt it..*



chefmiguel said:


> Nice project Stan! Its your bike and you will do as you wish but I really think you're underestimating the fun potential of a coaster brake. Think of it as singlespeeding without all those fussy levers and cables etc.


I actually already have 2 coaster brake bikes, they are cool. For this one I have one of those bolt on rear adapters (uni-something?) so it won't hurt the frame and the fork isn't vintage so welding won't hurt it. I can always return it to "stock" but I thought it would be a fun diversion. Still in thought mode


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## GregB406 (Dec 19, 2005)

This is fun. I am watching with rapt attention. I have a 40 DX (I think) but have no intention of converting it as I knew the original owner. However I am slowly klunking my 89 5 speed cruiser, and so I am very entertained by these various klunker projects.

In Montana a cluster of klunker fans got together twice for some semi-radical shuttled cross country outings last summer. I road my 89 twice and had a great time. 

I recommend getting out on your creation once finished and scaring yourself with some friends on a good rousing klunker ride. These should not just be "hanger queens".


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## GregB406 (Dec 19, 2005)

good friends, marginal bikes.
Formula for a fun day.


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## scooderdude (Sep 27, 2004)

*Me too*

Mmmmmm..... I've got something brewing, too, a '40/41 La Salle-badged Schwinn DX. I plan to race it. 

Wheels just now back from being built, all NOS vintage stuff (1937 Morrow coaster / Suzue high-flange front, Ukai 2.125" pimpin gold rims, 14/15 db, 3-cross, black nips). Now have fat knobs mounted. Tange TX1200 fork in route. TA 180 crank w/50t TA ring, B-72 saddle, turned-down billet seat post, Ashtabula stem, MC bars, etc., soon to be mounted up.

Hope to have it finished in time for a debut at the Central Coast DH series starting up in a couple weeks. Here's a mock up with a 1" fork i had laying around, spaced up a bit with HS spacers to replicate a 16" a-c distance.


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## muddybuddy (Jan 31, 2007)

Has anybody run one of those repop Monark springer forks on a klunker? Just wondering how they would do off road.


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## tductape (Mar 31, 2008)

Here is my 41:


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## scooderdude (Sep 27, 2004)

Aemmer said:


> Here is my 41:
> 
> View attachment 429580


That's purdy. :thumbsup:


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## ericb49 (Aug 11, 2006)

da'HOOV said:


> it looks alot like Otis's bike...I like it :thumbsup:
> 
> ...picture grabbed from clunkers.net...(is that ok to do?)


I took the pic...and I run the site...I says it's OK as long as pics don't get used for ebay/CL scams :thumbsup:

scooter - that DX is turning out niiice, if you need Morrow internals after your DH runs ping me 

Aemmer - that paintjob turned out purdy, using a modern Wald fork?


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## thebigred67 (Mar 29, 2005)

da'HOOV said:


> Sorry, but this is the only pic I have right now...just a teaser I guess. I don't know what make or year (pre '50?) it is, the nice clean lines just appealed to me. I like the rear facing dropouts :thumbsup: The paint is worn but has a great patina, think I'll leave it alone.


Sweet seat,... is that still serviceable?


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## tductape (Mar 31, 2008)

Eric, that had better not be a Wald fork. Pretty certain it's the original (all four layers of paint matched including the Schwinn). Spent way too much time sanding and painting it to not be. I do have a TX1200 also, that I may end up using.

View attachment 429607


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## ericb49 (Aug 11, 2006)

Aemmer said:


> Pretty certain it's the original (all four layers of paint matched including the Schwinn). Spent way too much time sanding and painting it to not be.


 hard to tell from the pics with the shiny blackness, I'm sure it's original - love the Aero stem too!


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## tductape (Mar 31, 2008)

Old picture, it's been switched out for an Ashtabula now. You made it too easy too speck parts off of Alan's website.. What a wealth of information..


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## da'HOOV (Jan 3, 2009)

*pic update*

I finally got off my lazy azz and took some pics. It's got different paint than the Schwinns so I'm not sure what it is. The welds look pretty nice and it turns out it takes a 1 1/8" headset :thumbsup: and it has shims in the headtube for those to fit. This seems odd, I thought (although I'm sure no expert) that the early bikes were all 1"? It's all good, makes fork selection way easier ( stuck the chrome one in there just to see). I've got a line on a single speed, coaster brake wheelset so I might end up with just coaster or add a disk on the front if I use that fork.


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## surly357 (Jan 19, 2006)

*cool binder!*

i love that seat cluster! the headtube would indeed have been for a 1"steerer, there's an inexpensive wald headset that has larger diameter cups than a bmx or road/atb headset. many old non-schwinn american frames including my rollfast ( 'klunker frame i.d.' post from a while back) use one of those. but if you have a cool 1 1/8 fork...........:thumbsup:


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## surly357 (Jan 19, 2006)

*wonder no more!*



bikerboy said:


> Very nice potential there. I agree you should not paint the bike. Patina is beautiful.
> 
> So, any idea what type of build you will pursue? My old boss when I worked at a bike shop in college had a similar style frame (not Schwinn) that he built up with BMX and mountain parts. If I recall correctly, it had Rhyno Lite rims laced to a generic alloy front hub with a BMX caliper brake and the rear wheel had a roller brake rear hub. Chrome BMX fork, generic MTB handlebars and Odyssey one piece cranks rounded out the package. Even with fairly lightweight parts (at least compared to what existed in the 1940s) it still was a tank. That frame had to weigh 15 lbs. I would imagine this Schwinn is no lightweight either. I have always wondered what those old Schwinn frames weigh.


i have 2 prewar schwinn frames just back from blasting- 7.7 and 7.8 pounds w/no fork.
(or paint.....)


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## kingsting (Sep 18, 2007)

da'HOOV said:


> I finally got off my lazy azz and took some pics. It's got different paint than the Schwinns so I'm not sure what it is. The welds look pretty nice and it turns out it takes a 1 1/8" headset :thumbsup: and it has shims in the headtube for those to fit. This seems odd, I thought (although I'm sure no expert) that the early bikes were all 1"? It's all good, makes fork selection way easier ( stuck the chrome one in there just to see). I've got a line on a single speed, coaster brake wheelset so I might end up with just coaster or add a disk on the front if I use that fork.


This looks like a Columbia Westfield paint scheme.


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## da'HOOV (Jan 3, 2009)

*wow, your good !*



kingsting said:


> This looks like a Columbia Westfield paint scheme.


I think you are 100% correct...not sure of the year though? The blue pic is a '41 Westfield Miami, the red one is a '41 Westfield Columbia. But both of those have rear axle adjustment screws, mine doesn't. The one on Ebay looks identical but no year is stated.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280311298184

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380098359931


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## kingsting (Sep 18, 2007)

Both of those bikes pictured above are earlier than yours. Notice the "stops" on the dropouts for the real axle mounted dropstand? These dissapeared around 1940 - 1941 with most manufacturers. (I have a wartime ladies' Colombia that still has them so they may have used them a little longer.) If I were to take a stab at the year of your bike, I would say it was made right after WWII. Do you have any other original parts? Some cranks, stems, axles, and coaster brake hub shells were date coded. There are some online resources that tell you how to read the date codes on older bikes.


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## kingsting (Sep 18, 2007)

I can't let you guys with the sweet DX models have all the fun. These are some of mine...

Here's my 41 Majestic DX. It started out in 1994 as a klunker project but now it's my daily rider, theif-proof grocery getter, and swap meet cruiser.










Here's an original 39'










And my 46' with a rare blackout New Departure two-speed hub.


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## bikerboy (Jan 13, 2004)

surly357 said:


> i have 2 prewar schwinn frames just back from blasting- 7.7 and 7.8 pounds w/no fork.
> (or paint.....)


That is surprising given that many steel MTB frames from the 80s and 90s weighed 5 lbs or more in some cases. I would have expected these old Schwinn frames to weigh around 10 lbs.


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## tductape (Mar 31, 2008)

That 39 os soooo coool. Aw heck, they all are. I'm just wanting one with a straight downtube also. DX or motorbike.


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## Repack Rider (Oct 22, 2005)

These photos aren't worth a thread of their own, but someone will see them here.

I spotted this very nice Hawthorne clunker in San Rafael today. I couldn't find anyone nearby who claimed it, and I didn't want to move it into a better photo location, so I got what photos I could get.

Are those really "Cruiser Mits?" I didn't notice until I was looking at these photos.










Sturmey Archer 90mm drums front and rear.



















I forgot to get a shot of the original Suntour thumbshifter. This does not look like a recent conversion to me. It's not really "Repack" worthy, and I doubt that it ever raced there even though it seems to be from that era. The brakes are wimpy and the chain would not stay on without a front mech.


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## jeff (Jan 13, 2004)

I like how they zip tied the extra d cable to the seat stay. 

What's a cruiser mitt?


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## scooderdude (Sep 27, 2004)

Repack Rider said:


> The brakes are wimpy and the chain would not stay on without a front mech.


That's pretty much a sleeper, from a sleepier time. Very stealth.

Those brakes aren't very good? I woulda thought they were the shat in their day. What kind are they?


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## Repack Rider (Oct 22, 2005)

scooderdude said:


> That's pretty much a sleeper, from a sleepier time. Very stealth.
> 
> Those brakes aren't very good? I woulda thought they were the shat in their day. What kind are they?


Those brakes almost undoubtedly came from a lot of Sturmey-Archer drum brakes that Gary and I purchased in 1980 when we could have spent that $2500 on much better things.

Sturmey-Archer brakes came in two sizes, 70mm and 90mm. On the 90mm version the non-brake side has a low flange, and you can't thread spokes through, so it has keyhole style and you hook the heads through. There is a real drawback to this.

On the 1980 Thanksgiving ride someone with one of those brakes flexed his wheel and popped the spokes out of the low flange on his front wheel. I sat down on the trail and built his wheel for him, captured on film by Dave Epperson for Action Now magazine. (You can keep this from happening by putting a sheet metal screw between each pair of spoke heads.)

The front has an extra long fixed arm, and it's a good idea to attach it several places, because they tend to twist. Looking at the photo, it seems like the rear arm is twisted.

There is a small amount of braking surface on the Sturmey and the brakes just never worked very well. The 70mm has even less surface. Sturmey drums are perfect for a town bike because they work when it's wet, but they're not good for much else. Of course, these brakes were never intended for off-road (ab)use.

Drum brakes make tire repair a real pain.


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## Repack Rider (Oct 22, 2005)

jeff said:


> What's a cruiser mitt?


"Cruiser Mits" were fat street tires made by Mitsubishi. They were pretty light skinwalls, with a street tread as you can see. They had a hard strip running right down the middle of the tread, and if you pumped them up to 80psi they rolled like road tires.

That was my tire of choice when I was riding road centuries on my Ritchey in the early '80s. When you pumped it up to high pressure, it got HUGE, and left no doubt that the guy who couldn't be dropped was a fat tire rider.

I just happen to have here a photo from one of those century rides, the 1981 Hekaton with 8000 feet of climbing. My buddy Buckwheat rode my Breezer, and I rode the Ritchey, both bikes with with Cruiser Mits. Two riders passed us during the ride, and we made them work to do that.


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## -Anomie- (Jan 16, 2005)

CK, the endless source of cool stories and early MTB info :thumbsup: . You really should write a book Charlie, or get a ghost writer to do the grunt work if you don't feel like doing it yourself. Hell, you've already given those of us on this board practically an encyclopedia worth of history and bike details, you should figure out a way to get paid for it!


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## Repack Rider (Oct 22, 2005)

Forgot to mention, on that hilly century, Buckwheat and I SMOKED the roadies on twisting downhills. We worked together and could stay with anyone at speed, and the only place they could get us was on the long climbs. I set up my bike with close ratio gears and road pedals, 15/16 spokes, alloy nipples, latex tubes and strapping tape instead of a rim strip for lightness, Ambrosio rims from Italy, the lightest made. It was great advertising, because if you can keep up with a guy on a Masi, he can hardly say your bike is crap. 

Oh yeah.

I could ride faster then.


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