I read this edition of the Pandemic Diaries when it was only seventeen minutes old but just found the time to actually make a comment. A fine update you made in this entry and wonderful photos. For the record, we have your second season year round down here most years; not bragging or complaining, just stating a fact.
Can't wait to see the new rims, I'm a fan of "all original" but sometimes it makes sense to upgrade like in the case of the wheels. Plus older sizes of tires seem to be getting harder to find as years go by.
I have a Schwinn tandem bike from the early '60's that is in fair shape that some day I need to fully restore but it is far down on the list right now. The wife and I used to ride it when we first got married but when the kids came it got put into retirement, it has been at least 22 years since we have ridden it.
Have a great weekend friend,
Sult
Hey Sult! I would take the very worst of the second season not to have to suffer through the first! Lol. We're planning to, hopefully, fly the coop after the Holidays this year and be gone until spring. Everything is so uncertain with this virus and the economy that it's hard to say if we'll be able to accomplish that but I'm still hopeful.
I can't wait to see them either. It's going to be like Christmas morning. : ) I'm usually a fan of "all original" too, this is the only non-original mod I would do. The great thing about these Sun CR-18 rims is they make them in the original English 26 x 1 3/8ths size. You can squeeze in a more standard 700mm size rim but you lose a lot of clearance. The spoke and rim will be chrome and then the nut securing each spoke to the rim will be anodized black so it should give it a pretty cool custom look.
The tires are a little tough to find but a few manufacturers still make them. I should buy a couple sets of tires now, just incase they discontinue them. When our generation of vintage 3-speed fans get too old to ride the demand won't be there anymore. The axles on this thing feel like they're made of cast iron. The wheel builder taught me something I didn't know. There's a hole in the middle of the front hub and I always thought it was for oil (like the one on the back hub is) but he said it's actually meant for a grease gun. He said the new grease pushes out the old/dirty grease and makes the wheel spin like new. So I guess I need to buy a grease gun now.
A Schwinn tandem!! I'd love to see a picture of it. Those can be worth quite a bit these days. Schwinn made a high quality bike. That would be a fun restoration project.
Hope you and yours are having a great weekend my friend!
Eric