Schwinn Deja Vu Continental Update

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Above: The One Piece "Ashtabula" Crank before refurbishing

Above: I removed the Ashtabula 1 Piece Crank and de greased the bearings and cleaned and polished the cups. I lightly sanded the cups with # 600 automotive wet-sanding paper before re-polishing. I removed the ring-guard and large chain-ring for brass brushing and polishing with Turtle-Wax Chrome Cleaner Polish & Rust Remover.

Above: The fork had lots of surface rust and the sticker (graphics) were peeling off. I was a little concerned that it might not clean-up well. The lower head-set bearings had no grease what-so-ever and barely a trace that there ever was any.
I did notice the tires appeared to be original and still had plenty of tread. This tells me the bike was not ridden much and the bearings would probably be ok after a good soaking. I used white-Lightning Clean-Streak" on the head-set bearings. Quick Tip: After I dry-off the bearings, I like to shake them. If I don`t hear the bearings rattling around in the jacket, I know they are not clean yet. Be careful that they are completely dry and wear safety glasses. You do not want to get de greaser in your eyes.

Above: The fork after cleaning and polishing. I was able to peel-off the stickers by hand with a little help from a razor blade. Next I used Goo-Gone to remove the adhesive residue from the stickers. After that I went over the fork and crown with Turtle-Wax Chrome Cleaner Polish / Rust-Remover. After polishing I touched -up the bad spots with a Brass detail brush, then re-polished. I had to do that twice to get it this good.

Above: The original stem and shifters. The stem looks pretty good, it just needs a little cleaning and polishing. The shifters are very savable but just too bulky. I decided to replace them with some more compact Sun-Tour stem shifters. I will also be eliminating the suicide-Levers for the same reason. This will also allow me to install some vintage looking brake-lever hoods.

Above: The stem re-mounted after cleaning and polishing with the refurbished Sun-Tour stem shifters. The handlebars are FUJI NITTO engraved. The originals are on my MotoBecane Special Sport. If you enlarge the photo it looks like there is a little residue still on the bars from the original tape. What you are actually seeing is where the adhesive ate through the finish on the bars. I don`t think I have ever seen this before.(at least not this bad) The bars will be re-taped and it will not be visible, I`m not too concerned about it.

Above: This pic shows the original saddle. It will be replaced eventually with a much nicer brown racing saddle. The seat-post was in excellent condition. That is "no doubt" due to the fact that it has never seen the light of day (:

Above: This is not the saddle I am going to use. I just wanted to see how it would look. I did polish the post and collar (Turtle-Wax) and clean-up the seat mount hardware. I think this saddle will look good on the red Schwinn though.


Below: A few more self explanatory pics from the restoration

Till Next Time, Ride Safe and Remember to always RESCUE,RESTORE&RECYCLE
Cheers,Hugh