I've bought my childhood Schwinn...

[CurbDawg]

Hi, I'm Steve...

I've been on here a while now but haven't logged-in for some time! I used to attend the over 30's BMX Jams at Terminal 1 Skatepark but haven't been to anything lately. If anyone remembers I was the guy who used to do long fakie sliders across the skatepark...

I was originally looking for a flatland bike so I could have sessions with my friend Darren who I believe is also a member on here, but then I stumbled upon a Schwinn PowerGlide that had my name on it! (not literally).

I had a Hydramatic back in '98 which I loved and was one of my favourite bikes of my past, so when I saw the PowerGlide I bought it instantly!

This was me back in '98...

Untitled by Steven Burns, on Flickr

And this was yesterday!
Untitled by Steven Burns, on Flickr

The Powerglide is tattier than it looks in the pictures so I'm going to smarten it up, although I can't decide whether to modernise it or keep it looking original. The bars are too rusty to salvage so I was going to add some kneesaver style bars and maybe a 3pc crank and some chrome rims perhaps? I want to keep it rideable as I'm not really interested in getting it spotless.

What do you guys think? Any ideas?

[griff]

If you’re going to ride it just give it a clean for now
Let’s see a close up of the bars - you might be surprised how well they come up with a bit of TLC

[CurbDawg]

I'll get a picture tomorrow... They're very rusty, far rustier than anything else on the bike!

[CurbDawg]

I think you'll agree that the bars are beyond TLC...

Untitled by Steven Burns, on Flickr

Untitled by Steven Burns, on Flickr

I've gone over the forks with wire wool and Autosol and they've come up a treat... I wish I'd taken more detailed pictures of before and after now because they were really tatty before...

Untitled by Steven Burns, on Flickr

I've temporarily fitted some modern bars I had kicking around, but I can't decide what to replace them with...

Untitled by Steven Burns, on Flickr

I think modern bars look too big, although they feel better than old bars IMO. Any suggestions? I'm also unsure of what kind of seatpost to buy as the original says it's a 26.6... Surely that can't be right!?

Here's a pic of my modern skatepark bike... I've tried to keep it looking a little retro but it's no carpet queen, it gets plenty of use!

Untitled by Steven Burns, on Flickr

I've also ordered some brand new gyro cables for the Schwinn... I must say I'm really enjoying breathing some life into the old dog!

[In2bmx]

 

[CurbDawg]

Tonight I continued working on the bike... I used wire wool and Autosol on the inside of the forks. A quick before and after...

Untitled by Steven Burns, on Flickr

Untitled by Steven Burns, on Flickr

Next I stripped the crank and replaced the 44t sprocket with a 25t one so I can run a modern wheelset, and I re-greased the bearings at the same time...

Untitled by Steven Burns, on Flickr

Untitled by Steven Burns, on Flickr

Untitled by Steven Burns, on Flickr

And finally I fitted the new wheels...

Untitled by Steven Burns, on Flickr

I'm now running a freecoaster hub

Next job is to fit new gyro cables, which hopefully are in the post!

[Midschoolfool]

I had one of these. Had it painted in pink with silver glitter. Looked like a can of the Hubba Bubba drink that was doing the rounds at the time. Gold Hydraglide decals.


Upgraded mine over time. Gold alloy cranks, better pegs new seat etc. Loved it. In ways I wish I had just stuck with it as the geo was excellent and it rode like a dream. Bloody strong too, I did some stupid drops and gaps on that thing.


Then I started buying really high end stuff, resulting in a ?2000 bike being stolen. That kinda ended the mid school for me.

Always on the lookout for one. Would love to do a throwback to the one I had, in pink and gold.