New Edition To The Two Wheeled Stable

FZ1riderNY

FZ1riderNY

Moderator
i180.photobucket.com
I have a funny story to tell. About 3 or 4 months ago, my landlord asked me if I wanted a bike that he had in the garage to give to my son. I went to look at it and it was an old decrepid white 10 speed. Jesus himself couldn't raise that bike from the dead. I told him that I hadn't had the room at the time so I passed.

Now it's Wednesday and I'm doing the Pod Light Mod and again my landlord comes out and asks my son if he still wants the bike. I'm thinking to myself, "Oh God, not more junk to stow away". As he and my son walk to his garage I hear him say, "just look at it, it's a Schwinn".

I'm now in my garage working on the FZ and 5 minutes passed and my son turns the corner with, NOT a junky white 10 speed, but a VINTAGE 1960 SCHWINN PANTHER III 3 SPEED!!! Fully complete with the exception of the dual headlight. My friggin jaw dropped to the floor!! It only needs new tires and tubes and the tank halves and headlight. I checked on both Ebay and the Schwinn Forum, (Yes, even Schwinn has a forum), to see what they were going for. The cheapest I could find was selling for $625.00 dollars and that was only a single speed!

The bike has a three speed internal hub. No derailer. It's an amazing looking bike and I don't think the landlord had a clue as to what he actually had stored away all these years! We are going to start cleaning it up this Saturday and restore it to nice condition. It is quite a bike to say the least. I checked the serial number and it was built on August 18th, 1960. It just turned 49 years old.

Here are some before pics of the new ride for anyone interested in vintage bikes, and NO it's not for sale. Sorry;)

SchwinnPantherIII004.jpg


SchwinnPantherIII006.jpg


The pulley system that changes the speeds in the internal hub....
SchwinnPantherIII007.jpg


SchwinnPantherIII001.jpg


SchwinnPantherIII005.jpg


I'll post some more as the restoration progresses.
 
Last edited:
Nice find! That'll keep Richie on two wheels until he can buy his own motorcycle. Hey down the road he can sell it and use the money for the down payment on a Yamaha :D
 
Mountain bikes are how I started the two wheel madness. As Tony said, that is a down payment. Is Richie able to get a job yet so that he can start coming up with more moo-la?

Or do you have one clean apartment, in hopes that you'll be able to contribute to the madness?
 
BroHay said:
Mountain bikes are how I started the two wheel madness. As Tony said, that is a down payment. Is Richie able to get a job yet so that he can start coming up with more moo-la?

Or do you have one clean apartment, in hopes that you'll be able to contribute to the madness?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, he's only 15 and has to wait until next March to be able to work at least "on the books". Right now I want him to concentrate on school. If he doesn't maintain first honors he will lose his scholarship. This coming Spring however I may just use my tax refund and pick up a used Ninja 250R for him to start riding on. It will be against his mother's wishes but what the hell, that never stopped me before!
 
It winds up that this model Schwinn was only produced in 1960 and 1961, so its kind of rare, especially in a 3 speed model. Most were single speed models. For now at least I am going to restore it a bit. All the chrome is good except for the rear rack. I may just have it stripped and re-chromed. As for the fenders, they only need to be polished as well as the rims. The paint is in good condition and they say to only clean it up and not to strip the decals. I've seen them in a restored condition on the Schwinn forum and they really look nice when finished.
 
Wow

Thanks for sharing this. When i was 12 in 1960 i managed to get the bike shop to sell me one of these for 2.00 per week. I will never know why he decided to sell it to me on time but he did and i will never forget the day i rode it out of the bike shop. This brought back a flood of memories for me, as it was my first "new" bike and it was the cats meow. I think of it often but never thought i would see one again. It was blue just like yours. Kind of a sappy story i guess but it sure made my day to see this. Thanks again for sharing your good fortune.
 
Nice find, and a reasonably priced way to introduce your son to refurbing 0ld stuff. I had one like it when I was somewhere in the 10-12 year old range so it would have been close to the vintage of the one you have. That carrier up front brought a lot of stuff anlong with me and I considered that to be the nifftyest thing on the bike. I have no idea what happened to mine. That was 50 years ago. There's something heart-rendering about finding something like that bike that you know was near and dear to someone a lot of years ago. Treat her tender and you'll be rewarded.
 
:stunta]:SWEET Ride Billy. I have restored a few Schwinn's myself. Even though I have a pretty nice Mtn bike my favorite bike to ride is my 3 Speed Schwinn (internal hub too). One point I learned the hard way after spending an hour trying to force the wrong new tires on is that most bike shops don't have Schwinn tires, which usually take a special Schwinn size. Like S5,S6,S7. I have had good luck with bike tires direct for my Schwinn tires. Definitely do not strip the old paint off the frame if you are even thinking about reselling. Everyone on this forum has been a great help. If I can return the favor don't hesitate to drop me a line. Like if/when you decide to change out the shifter cable. The cable crimp that goes inside the ferrel can be a bit of a hairball

Kenda S-7 Schwinn 26" at BikeTiresDirect
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top