Moms bike

My mom has a 1961 Schwinn that she has wanted fixed up so many years. For her birthday my wife and I decided that we would fix it up for her. We never realized just what we were in for. Thinking it would only take a weekend to do.
 We started to take it apart, most of it was not bad for being left outside for 15 yr (thank god Tucson is dry). Than we got to the handle bars. First the stem bolt broke off, then I had to chisel the top fork nut off. I had to cut the stem to get to fork off the bike. That let me get to the top of the stem where I heated the fork, cooled the stem, and had my wife stand on the fork while I took a pipe wrench to what was left of the stem to break it free of the rust.
We went to Bicas to get a used stem to replace the one we destroyed. The rest of the parts we found in stock at Ajo Bikes. Everywhere else would have had to order the Schwinn 26x1-3/4 balloon tire. Next thing we ran in to was getting the tire to seat properly to the rim. After trying for a day we took them back to Ajo Bikes to see if they could and after about an hour or so we just really filled them with air well over the max of 45 psi and they popped into place.
All of this took us about 5 days, most on the fork and stem. With the bike apart my wife cleaned all the bearings and races and we where able to get it all greased and put back together in a couple of hours. My wife spent a couple more hours on truing the wheel and today we give my mom back her bike in riding condition.


Before no seat or chain, rotted tires and dirt and bugs in every bearing and hole

the stem after getting it out, had to cut the top to get the handle bars off

After new tires, seat, chain, and every thing greased and cleaned