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I thought I might share my recent bicycle project that I have been working on this past winter. I know a lot of the photographers here are also bicycle enthusiasts so I thought it would be appropriate to post.
The project: Schwinn Deluxe Hornet
The Goal: Breath life back into an old cruiser so it can cruise around the lakes again.
The History: The bike was built in either September or October of 1949. I purchased the bike from my boss for 100 dollars and three antique handguns about a year ago. The original owner had brought the bike into Penn Cycle to have work done on them back in the mid 90's but while they were being fixed he passed away. The bikes were then left to his son who used them as part of a trade in on some new bikes which he purchased from my boss.
The Bike as I received it:
Breaking it down
For stripping the bike I decided to go the route of using a chemical stripper. I picked up a jug of the generic brand stripper at Menards and went to town on the bike. A few hours later I was starting to wonder if I had done something wrong.
I decided that maybe it was the stripper so I headed off to the hardware store to pick-up a jug of Zip Strip paint remover. I've used this on the last cruiser that I had refinished and had much better results. This time I invited a few friends over who also had frames they wanted to strip. A case of Premium Grain Belt, some heavy rubber gloves, a couple of paint brushes and the can of Zip Strip and the paint was just falling off the frames.
Getting thigns ready
Because the bike had already been repainted at some point in its life I decided I wasn't as concerned with trying to restore it to its original form. With that in mind I decided to have the bike powdercoated instead of liquid painted.
While the bike was off to the powder coaters I got to work gathering parts and getting the old parts back in shape. That meant a whole lot of 000 steel woold and chrome cleaner.
The old saddle was falling apart so thanks to a friend my bike has a nice new classic seat.
All painted up
I think it turned out looking really nice. It is a really deep, glossy, red with just the faintest glow of gold flake when in the sun.
First thing I decided to do after getting it painted was to face the bottom bracket and headset and chase the threads on the fork. The painter did a good job of covering up all the major holes on the bike but there was still a little bit of overspray. Not to mention the bike is 50+ years old so straightening things out again could never hurt.
Think it looks better now or then?
The last thing I put on was the headbadge. I decided to hand paint the headbadge myself and if you look closely at it (in person) you can tell I did but I actually think that kind of adds to the whole bike in the fact that it gives it even more of a personal touch.
Adding a few personal touches:
With the bike fully assembled I had a few small extras I wanted to add. The rear light actually is activated via a switch under the saddle.
Spring is here!\
Well the snow has finally melted here in Minnesota and I was able to get the bike out on the paths for a trip around the lake. Still haven't gotten the decals finished up yet but overall the bike is done. It rode like butter and got quite a few looks. I'm really looking forward to some sunny days to get a nice look at how the gold flake will shimmer in the light.
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Originally Posted by mtbbrian
You should post that over on MTBR and let them all drool over it 
