Schwinn Twinn Project Beginnings.

A few years ago, I was riding my bike with my daughter in her trailer, and I saw a dad and his daughter riding a tandem together. Shortly after I saw an ad for a Schwinn Twinn on Craigslist, so I rushed to North Dallas to pick it up, with visions of taking Anna to school on our tandem when she gets a little older. Once I brought it home I left it on my back driveway for a long time - it had already spent the past decade outside, and I didn't figure it would hurt having it outside at my place for a little while. I had every intention of rebuilding it, but that was when Reed started having health problems, and it kind of got pushed to the back of my project list. He and I had joked about riding it together since I got it, and a few months after he died I decided that I needed to actually do something with the bike, rather than letting it rot away in my driveway. My neighbor, Drue, knows the folks over at Xtreme Powdercoating and he offered to take it over there for a coat. This was in August of last year, and once I got the frame back I realized that the frame looked too nice to put the original rusty parts back on.  Feeling guiltier than ever, I put the bike back in the closet and "forgot" about it until now. I'm at a between point in all of my other projects, so I think it's time to finish what I started. When Xtreme Powdercoating did the refinish for me, they were kind enough to take pictures of the process, so I'm going to go ahead and share those with you. I have already started cleaning up the rusty chrome and it is coming along very well; Schwinn chrome is very easy to rehabilitate, and the bike should look pretty fantastic when I'm done.

Fork and chainguard primered

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Sandblasted frame

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Silver Undercoat

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Applying Translucent Blue

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Final Coat

More Blue

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Final Product, After Curing

If you have a bike that you want to finish, you should consider powdercoating very seriously. A bicycle paint job be three to four times the cost of a powder job, and will be a bit less durable. Powdercoat is actually a baked on finish, and is very durable and very attractive. You would be surprised how many finish options are available, so if you are considering a refurb job, go talk to the guys at Xtreme and see what kind of options they have available to you.

I'm going to take the bike to the shop this weekend to get the headset cups and bottom bracket cups reinstalled, and then I'm going to scrub scrub scrub. I've already started the wheels and they are coming along nicely. I'm also going to try to figure out how to freshen up the two tone Schwinn seats that go on the bike - this isn't going to be a restoration, as I won't be putting new stickers on or anything, but I am going to do my best to make the whole thing look sharp. Thanks again to Drue for brokering the deal, and thanks to Xtreme Powdercoating for doing such a tremendous job.