Project Bike

For years, I've been looking for a replacement for my favorite bike as a kid - it turns out it was a bicycle built for Sears by Huffy, and only manufactured between 1969 and 1971 - the "Sears Screamer 1". It had 'butterfly handlebars' that curved up, then down, then over - just like in the picture. Today, these bikes are referred to as 'muscle bikes', and are in high demand. I showed my sons this bike, and saw the longing in the eyes of my 10 year old.

The next day (2 weeks ago now), we went to 'BikeWerks' - a local used bike shop - to see if they had an old Spider bike, or something even close to the Screamer. After looking at a couple of bikes, my son chose a 'folding bike' with 5 speeds that had a horrible green paint job. He said "We could paint it", and so $40 later, the project began.

The next day, I went to the downtown Home Depot, walked into the paint department, and stated: "I Need A Stripper".

Once the laughter subsided, I added that it should be environmentally friendly, and not peel the skin off my lap when I pour it on thick. ;?> CitriStripper did great work on the old paint, and Krylon spray primer was quick work as well. My son wants the bike to be painted ORANGE, but the orange at Home Depot seemed too bright to him, so we went with a color at Lowes. But once it was on-the-bike, the Valspar orange paint crinkled, and cracked, so today I'm going back to the Depot to find a can of Rustoleum Orange Gloss.

In the meantime, we replaced the old cracked 20" street tires with "urban camo" tires, and are thrilled with the result. Before putting on the tires, we used steel wool to remove spoke rust, and shine up the rims. A coat of metallic 'chrome' paint, and the wheels now look ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!! I'm planning to spend some time on the bike this weekend, and will post 'before' and 'after' shots to show the work.