Schwinn World 5-24-09

Above: Today I began the restoration on the Schwinn "World". As you can see in the photo I have removed everything but the crank set.
Above: Note the pic of the tire. The 27 x 1 1/4 gum wall tires have almost all of the original tread. But as you can see the side "gum-wall" is dried out and literally coming apart as I pry the tire off the rim. That`s why I`m always annoyed when I see a bike for sale with the "original tires" that are "like new". I don`t give a rats pa-tootie if the tires have all the nubs and all the tread. If they are 25 year old gum-walls they are shot (99.9% of the time). And don`t even get me started on cables!... lol
Anyway I managed to remove the threaded head-set bearings and soak them in the cleaner for about 45min. Let me see if I can insert a picture of that?

Cool there it is. Now what that actually is is carburetor parts cleaner. It is available at any good auto parts store. CAUTION!!! READ THE DIRECTIONS carefully it is serious stuff.
For the parts that I spray clean, I use a product called White Lightning Clean Streak. It can be found at your local bike shop or at many on-line bicycle parts & accessories stores. I did have to use a little WD40 on the seat post and a pair of vice-grips. Here is a good tip. If you clamp onto the seat post with vice-grips to help remove it. Clamp onto the very top 1/2 in or so of the post. That way if you scratch it, it won`t be seen as that part of the post is inside the collar that mounts the saddle to the post. I did manage to clean up the frame. First a good wash, then the Meguiars Three Step Polish . It looks really good but I did not have time to take a photo. So tomorrow I plan to rebuild the head-set (after I clean-up the fork). And polish and mount the brakes. And clean-up the derailleurs and at least start working on the wheel-set. That will be 'after my ride". If I can get an early start maybe I can get a few wild-life photographs. I was not able to get a pic of each part coming off the bike. But I will try to photograph each component as it is refurbished and re-mounted. Ride Safe and Remember to RESCUE-RESTORE & RECYCLE Cheers,Hugh