Two more kid's bikes

Even though I find children to be annoying, I will still work on their bikes. I believe it is important to get children to learn to ride as early as possible because they should grow up to be independent adults who can get themselves to their place of employment while they get exercise and have less of an impact on the environment. Riding a bike has to start at some point.

I cleaned these bikes and removed the front brake if they had one. After I cleaned them, I checked the tires and replaced them if necessary.

I think this is a cute bike for a cute little girl. I was skeptical of replacing the front tire with an orange one, but it worked out nice.

I cleaned and waxed this little cutie as well.

More Bikes

Since I started late yesterday, I will make a longer post today. The next few bikes contain mostly original parts.

This Sears Free Spirit which was built by Schwinn is my second favorite after the Schwinn Thrasher.

Sears Free Spirit C. 1970s

This beautiful bicycle has thick, heavy, stainless steel rims and was built to last forever. I polished all of the stainless steel including the handlebars, rack, fender supportsn and rims. I washed everything really well before reassembling the rack and femders. I cleaned the tires, and waxed the entire bike except for the rims, brakes, and drivetrain. Unfortunately, It can still use some work in repairing, or replacing the hub in the rear wheel.

The next bike is a Specialized Hotrock(?) I have before and after pictures. take notice of the handlebars and wheels.

Before

Before

After

After

What a difference, leaning, polishing, and waxing can make an old. worn-out bike look like new!

Volunteer work at Kraynick's

I have been doing some work on refurbishing old donated bikes and cleaning them up. The first bike I restored was the Schwinn Thrasher shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1:  Schwinn Thrasher single-speed conversion with BMX Handlebars.

I was inspired to do this as an old BMX bike turned up in the pile of donations. I started cleaning the old bike and noticed that there were no brakes. After I notice the brakes were missing, I asked Rocky, the owner what should be done. He said I could do a build so I took the handlebars and crank set off of the BMX bike. Prior to working on the BMX bike, I was polishing stainless steel using aluminum foil and degreaser. Since the Schwinn has a large amount of stainless steel, I removed the handlebars, Derailleurs, crank set, bottom bracket, and cassette. after these parts were removed, I polished the frame and wheels using the aluminum foil method. Next, I installed the BMX crank set and handlebars, a single speed sprocket onto the rear wheel, and re-installed the tires and filled them with air. I installed the brake levers from the Schwinn onto the BMX handlebars and installed a new cable on the rear brake because the original cable was too short. I reused the old rear cable for the front brake.

After installing the wheels and chain, as well re-assembling everything, I sprayed wax onto the frame, seat, and tires.

Here is a video of me riding it.