L A R R Y L U J A N: Blood Sweat and Tears & Flaming Hearts A fine pair of Schwinn kustoms-the ultimate in father/son cruisin' |
I decided to build a custom 5-speed Schwinn. I took a 10-speed Schwinn Varsity that I had lying around and removed the gears and one shifter. Then I got the small front sprocket and put it on a Sting-Ray crank. Let's not forget the chain and derailleur. Now that we have the power train, let's go to work on the frame. Now I cut out my 1/16" steel plates for the tanks and the half-moon plates for the rear of the frame. |
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For the Lad: Blood Sweat and Tears I bought this bike at a local thrift store; it's a 1977 20" Schwinn. There's a lot of kids and clubs out here in Southern California. So, it's fair to say I jumped on the bandwagon of creating a custom bike. I made this decision because the wheels, handle bars, seat, etc. were not original. I stripped down the bike, and was on my way to creating a custom bike, not just to look at but to ride! |
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Then, I used the piece of shifter bracket I had cut from the Varsity and welded it to the downtube of the frame. My next step was to assemble the bike for my son to test ride. I then found that I needed to weld ¼" I.D. tube to the right lower chainstay, to use as a guide for the shifter cable. My next step was to prep the bike for the bodywork. |
I then primered and sanded to prepare for paint, which is a black lacquer base. The idea for the flames came from an early '80s issue of EasyRider, to give it that nostalgic look! |
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For the Dad: Flaming Hearts The idea for my new bike, Flaming Hearts, came from ReeCycles and the GT Dyno Kruisers. A little bit of that, and a little bit of this. |
My choice of frame for this project was an old '79 Schwinn Cruiser. Since I had a frame to work with, I was thinking of a way to apply that kick-back look. Starting with the rake of the neck, I removed 1½" from the top bar. I applied very little heat to the bottom bar. Then I removed the center post and subtracted 3 ½" from that. At this time the bike was assembled in its raw form. Welds were done here and there, so I could test the ride before going any further. I continued building the frame by adding tank plates and rear half moons, etc. Now, after a week riding this bike in its rough form, checking for any problems, I'm happy to see that my work is now ready for the next step. My bodywork is now done. My choice of colors is red & white. Overall color is a white base with red flames. Once again I took the idea from a hot rod Harley magazine. I bought new rims and black wall tires, seat, u-bars, and grips. I really enjoy riding this bike. It was really fun building it. |
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