Technical & Reference Section > Tech and Restoration
The last restoration from me. The Pink Schwinn.
Midschoolfool:
TBH this was not going to happen. When I finished the Pork I decided enough was enough, and it was time to stop collecting. Not for financial reasons, but simply because I had what I wanted and there was nothing left. When I began my journey in 2013 I had decided on te following.
Standard STA. Got. Rebuilt twice, the second time with all NOS parts. It's an absolutely stunning machine tbh.
T1 Barcode. Took me a while to find one at a reasonable price, but got there in the end. Another one smothered in NOS, and another stunner.
S&M Dirt Bike. Turns out it was an NG, but still I just wanted a period S&M.
Specialized Fatboy Hemi. Always wanted one, got one. Very happy with how it turned out.
Morales. Again, never thought it would happen but found one really cheap from Germany. It's still ongoing and will be finished soon.
A 2Hip. Started out as the Root Down, then found IMO their most iconic bike.
The rest? just me wanting to work on bikes.
However, through all of that time there was one bike I really wanted.
In 1996 I had been off the bikes for about three to four years and on the drugs. Hard on the drugs tbh. I never did anything lightly. Any way, by '96 I had been clean (weed and E) for a year and was bored AF. I had fallen away from the crowd I used to hang with an had become far more autistic in my nature (because I was, I just didn't know it at the time) and was a bit of a loner. I still went out and saw people etc, but a lot less than before. I was having trouble sleeping, so I would be up all night. Mostly watching TV or listening to music. Then one night in '96 whilst waiting for the baseball on C5 (always been a Phillies fan, ironic I would end up living out there and going to loads of games ! surreal man !) and the X games was on. Eh? I thought BMX was dead !!!
Fell in love again. Now back in those days it was all still pretty manual. What I mean is finding a BMX was quite difficult. I ended up getting the Yellow Pages out and calling around. Now this is where it's funny AF. I phoned one shop and said "Do you have any BMX bikes?" and the guy goes "Yeah we got some Scwinnns". I was like "Who?" and laughed and put the phone down. I phoned around some more and phoned Evans in Croydon and ended up buying a Haro Shredder.
I hated it :LolLolLolLol:
It was really long and very low slung. It rode OK I suppose, but I just never really liked it much. Then after riding up to a bike shop I noticed Ride for sale on their counter and bought it, then subbed. I had the Haro for about a year and sold it to my cousin after reading a review of the Schwinn Powerglide. That is why it is ironic. Any way, the review stated it was the best bike they had ever tested sub ?200. It came with four pegs and a U brake on the rear. It was also strong, and had really good geometry.
So I bought it for 179.99. From Cyclesport in Grantham. It was delivered whole, which was novel. It was also put together really nicely. I immediately fell in love. I rode that bike everywhere and anywhere for two solid years. I would go out around midnight, and learn new tricks and just ride around. I felt free, really free. Free of the drugs, free of the dicks who I used to hang around with and had found my old passion.
I did upgrade it over time, and eventually had it painted Hubba Bubba metallic pink. I put on gold Hydraglide decals, and gold Maxy Cross cranks NOS I got for about 25 quid IIRC. They came with an unsealed American BB.
Every one knew that bike. "The Pink Schwinn" it was known as. I should never have sold it, but did. That was a bellend move tbh, as it would result in me getting smacked over the head with a bar and losing a bike I spent nearly two grand on.
Any way, we move on. Fast forward to 2013 when I got back into BMX again and I started looking for a Powerglide. Wasn't happening. Looked for a Hydraglide, also wasn't happening. Now what I did not realise then or in 96 was this was Schwinn's first year back into BMX at a quality level. The company had gone on making stuff, but just regular bike stuff. So the PG and the HG were their first year models back. And that is why they are hard to come by. As they had no real standing in BMX and had to make a new name for themselves. This is bad enough anywhere, but the UK probably got even less.
I did remember the following year they brought out the Powermatic and Hydramatic which were pretty much the same only different colours, but I could not find one of those either. I did find quite a few Joey Garcia Automatics etc, but the frame is different so I didn't bother. It was also a dirt based bike, which I did not want.
Fast forward to last week. A frame popped up on Ebay, I won it for the opening bid.
The first thing I want to do is make it look like my one. So, given it was pink I needed white primer.
Then of course pink.
And then of course the metallic element.
Decals I am still working on/planning, but they will be gold. A new head badge is needed so I bought that.
And I found some 3pc Schwinn cranks very similar to the Maxys I had.
I have removed the second chain ring, bolts and spacers. I need the bolts for my Morales when I assemble the bash etc. I got this for a seat.
Because you can't fail. Will cover that in pink leather. I found these on Bankrupt Bikes for 4 quid a set. They are for a MTB with a grip shift, so one is shorter than the other. So I just bought two sets. I was going to try and remove the outer pink part and flip it, but when I got them today I realised that the logos alternate, so I don't need to.
I have held off buying anything else just for now. The bike needs a 1" fork and that is tricky. That said, I have figured it out and have parts in my watch list including the fork, sealed 1" threadless headset and 1" clamp on stem. Right now though I have a busy schedule, so did not want to be bogged down with more deliveries. That can all wait for now :)
Like I said, I am working on the decals. Will post up some concept art at some point when I have the frame because I need the dimensions and angle of the tip in the bottom tube. Basically as you can see, the decals never looked quite right because of the tube bend. So I want to angle them slightly so they follow the frame properly. On next year models they put Schwinn on the TT and the bike model under it.
Midschoolfool:
Started the decals. I decided to go custom. IE, this will be my signature bike.
The frame arrived today. It's caked in grease and mud but it's in great shape. No dents, no dings. Makes a bloody change :LolLolLolLol:
BTW going back to the decals. I had the gold "Hydraglide" decals on mine. They looked like this.
I asked my buddy with the big printing shop if he could do them. He said he hates foil (well, his printer does). I was a bit bummed. Thought maybe stencil the strokes and then cut some gold vinyl. Then I found out you can get inkjet foils now. They came out last year.
I don't have an inkjet. Mine is a step up (thermal). It's kinda like between and inkjet and a laser. If I can get a decent print (it is literally only red and black stroke, the white won't be printed) I can put them down and then clear over it all.
Midschoolfool:
Got these also.
The emblems on the end of the grips are the old one.
Midschoolfool:
Got some pink leather for the seat.
Midschoolfool:
Then stripped said seat and removed the black vinyl.
Am off home tomorrow, so work will resume when I come back in a couple of weeks.
I might sneak over early, we'll see. If it's too hot to be in my flat I will.
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