Monday, March 20, 2017

A tale of two bikes

I'm still putting some finishing touches on Zoe's Motobecane. Zoe has been riding it but the men's frame is not as user friendly as it was when she was in her twenties and she wants a step through frame so I got one for her and it arrived today.


These are both Schwinn frames. They are the women's version of mine. The blue one is the one I will be building for my oldest daughter, Jenny. It was made in 1955 or 1956. The burgundy one will be Zoe's. It was made May 6, 1949. They are going to be very similar builds so I will be doing these two at the same time.

Jenny's will have a porteur rack like mine while Zoe's will have a wicker basket. They both will have 10x1 drive trains. The top tube comes into the seat tube where a front derailleur would be so they will only have a rear derailleur but they will have 10 speed cassettes. Otherwise they will be similar to mine.

Jenny's bike will be a patina restoration. I will rub out the existing paint and polish it up. I will have Zoe's frame powder coated red. It goes to the powder coater on Thursday.

The first step on both bikes is to widen the rear stays for the wider hubs. Let the build begin.