# 1956 firestone bicycle



## woodtickgreg (Dec 21, 2019)

I've been working on a friends bike since the spring here and there. He might get it back by next spring.......maybe. he asked me to do a tune up on it but after looking it over and seeing its collector worth I decided to do a light restoration on it.
Heres some pics of this little gem.

This is what is referred to as a tank bike because of the fough fuel tank.


 called a speed chief.


 It was manufactured by the Cleveland Welding Company ( aka cwc) for AMF and sold to firestone.


 Pretty cool bicycle licences held on with a lead crimp.


 Model and serial number for either AMF or Firestone.


 Its missing the front fender light which is nearly impossible to find, but I came up with a cool replacement for it.


 So up on the work stand it went........



Stanley the cat approved as usual.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 21, 2019)

I tried to get him to sell me this bike but he said he can't because his momster in law gave it to him. I said if she ever passes I get first dibs, lol. Of course he knew I was kidding and got a good chuckle out of it.
The bike gets a complete teardown and inspection.


 This is a very unique style of seat post. It doesn't use a clamp like a traditional bike does. It has a swedged post with a through bolt that pulls the wedge up like on a handlebar gooseneck. Pretty cool and unusual. Luckily I got it out after 60 plus years.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 21, 2019)

This is going to be a detailed restoration thread if your into that kind of thing, it's been ongoing for quite some time, because I have no time, working for a living sucks!

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 21, 2019)

This is the main serial number that was on the bottom of the crank bracket, it's what I was able to do the research on to date it.


 The frame got some of the paint touched up with a rattle can to preserve it. Not a complete sand down and repaint because the decals are not available anymore, it's worth more to a collector with the original decals intact.


 It will look better and stop the little rust that It did have.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 21, 2019)

Once the frame was done I turned my attention to the wheels. They where pretty rough, I stripped them down and lightly sanded them in preparation for painting.


 One is sanded and ready for paint.


 Hung in the outdoor paint booth.


 That looks much better!

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## TimR (Dec 21, 2019)

Love seeing folks bring things like this back to their full glory! Well done Greg, looking forward to more!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## woodtickgreg (Dec 21, 2019)

TimR said:


> Love seeing folks bring things like this back to their full glory! Well done Greg, looking forward to more!



Old bikes, tools, and machines are a sickness of mine, lol. Oh and an occasional sewing machine too!

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## Bigdrowdy1 (Dec 21, 2019)



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## woodtickgreg (Dec 21, 2019)

The front hub had a pretty bad rusty section and the chrome flaked off. It was a made in Germany front hub. I had an old Schwinn front hub that was also made in Germany and was in great shape so I used it as a replacement. My friend will get all of the old original parts back.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 21, 2019)

A box of new spokes, a cleaned and repacked hub and a freshly painted rim.


 wheel got a new rim strip, tube. And new cream colored tire. And a trip to the truing stand.


 These tires are gonna look cool with the white frame and teal colored fenders and other parts.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 21, 2019)

Next was the rear hub, it's a New Departure brand. It's an internal brake disc design.
This is the internals of it. In pretty good condition actually. Once cleaned the bearings and races showed no signs of wear, neither did the brake disc.


 

 
This is the brake disc pack, steel and brass. The hub originally used oil and not grease for a lube, some of the hubs had an oil cap on them, this one didn't.







Getting a good soak in a bucket of wd40 for cleaning.


 Cleaned parts.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 21, 2019)

The rear hub shell needed some love. It's not chrome but zinc coated I believe. It got a trip to the wire wheel and then to the buffer.


 

 

 Rusty nuts got wire wheeled too.

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## ripjack13 (Dec 21, 2019)



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## ripjack13 (Dec 21, 2019)

Nice. I'm going to enjoy this one....

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 21, 2019)

This hub originally used oil for a lube but that's kind of a pain as it eventually leaks out and would make a mess of the rear wheel as you ride it. So I used a light bodied grease instead.


 All assembled again.



Now for the bad news. I cant get the sprocket off to get the spokes in! It's totally rust welded to the drive cone and not worth trying to get it off and damaging the cone. So I have to take it apart again to get the spokes in and lace it to the rim, then re assemble it to put it on the truing stand and true it up.


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## woodtickgreg (Dec 21, 2019)

ripjack13 said:


> Nice. I'm going to enjoy this one....


It's funny how so many of us have similar hobbies and interest and not all of it revolves around wood. It seems we all just like working with our hands.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Great Post 1


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## woodtickgreg (Dec 21, 2019)

Cleaned up the front fork best I could without damaging the stenciled red paint accents or repainting it. Greased the bearings and re installed it.


 bicycle parts from the 50s and 60s are so amazing, so much better made and heavy duty heat treated parts. Cleaned up well and no signs of wear.


 Re packed the bearings and installed.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 21, 2019)

So that's what I got done over the last 6 months or so. Pretty slow but as I said work sucks!
So I have the rear wheel to finish up yet, and this pile of tins and parts. Nothing else will get painted, it's just cleaning and trying to straighten some of the dents out of the fenders.


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## ripjack13 (Dec 21, 2019)

Greg, have you ever heard/used a rust remover called evapo-rust?
Amazon link 

I'm in a fb page for 60's & 70's muscle bikes, and some of those guys swear by it...


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## woodtickgreg (Dec 21, 2019)

It's awesome stuff but a little spendy for me. I have always gotten away with the mighty wire wheel. I work with so much metal and large parts that I would need to buy it by 5 gallon jugs to fill plastic tubs with. For small parts gallon jugs are ok.


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## Sprung (Dec 21, 2019)

ripjack13 said:


> evapo-rust



I'm obviously not Greg. 

But I will speak highly of Evapo-Rust. I use it for removing the rust from smaller pieces/parts in machine and tool restorations. Stuff is awesome. Saves a ton of time removing rust from small parts. Everything gets a decent soak and wash with a mix of Simple Green and water, then rinsed well, before going into the Evapo-Rust to remove dirt and oil.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 22, 2019)

I do see evapo- rust comes in a 3 1/2 gallon bucket with a dip basket but its $60, I may have to pick one of those up for my next restoration project. Only problem I can see with it is I would have to find a home for it in the basement so it doesn't freeze in the winter in the garage.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 22, 2019)

Well I took the rear hub apart again so I can get the spokes in it. At least I wont have to re grease it, lol.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 24, 2019)

Made a hub shiner for the front hub. Just a strip of leather and a reflector, polishes the hub as you ride. Makes a tink tink tink sound as you ride and the spokes hit it. I'll be making these for some of my other bikes.
Used a green reflector to match the colors of this bike.


 


 


 This will be mounted on the bike so that the reflector faces the front.


 
I'll make one for the rear too when I get the wheel done.

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## ripjack13 (Dec 24, 2019)

woodtickgreg said:


> a hub shiner for the front hub. Just a strip of leather and a reflector, polishes the hub as you ride.



Interesting. I have never seen those before....

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 24, 2019)

ripjack13 said:


> Interesting. I have never seen those before....


They are definitely old school. Used to be a common thing on bikes in the past, especially single speed bikes.


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## woodtickgreg (May 28, 2020)

Really got sidetracked on this. Working on the rear wheel today. It has a very unusual 4 cross spoke pattern, that's so it can use the same length spokes as the front wheel. It took me a few attempts to figure it out, but it came out good.
It's a start! Lol.


 It took 3 attempts to get it right. Now I need to put the guts back in the hub so I can get it on the truing stand.


 Spokes are all tightened up and the wheel is true.

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## T. Ben (May 28, 2020)

I’ll have to send you a pick of my old lady’s John Deere bike. Not sure what year but I think it’s 60’s -70’s

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## woodtickgreg (May 28, 2020)

Wheel got a new rim strip, tube, and tire, and one of my hub shiners with reflector.

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## woodtickgreg (May 28, 2020)

Next up will be working on the tins. Doing the best I can to straighten dents without painting, trying to keep this as close to original as possible.

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## Herb G. (May 28, 2020)

I haven't seen all white balloon tires since I was a kid. They are a bear to keep clean.


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## woodtickgreg (May 28, 2020)

Herb G. said:


> I haven't seen all white balloon tires since I was a kid. They are a bear to keep clean.


Yeah but they sure look cool! These are actually cream colored.


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## Don Van Dyne (May 29, 2020)



Reactions: Funny 1


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## woodtickgreg (May 30, 2020)

Yeah I know this is a long build this time.


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## woodtickgreg (May 31, 2020)

Worked on the firestone again today, working on the tins, pounding out dents and cleaning up. 
Tank doesn't look to bad from the outside..........


 But open it up and theres 60+ years of rust.


 Wire wheels and scotch brite pads took care of most of it.


 I then brushed on some shellac to seal it up a bit. Shellac sticks to anything. It should be good for another 60 years.


 Just some of the tools I use to straighten out dents in fenders and sheet metal, worked on a couple dents in the tank too.


 I mounted the front fender, tank, and wheel. The fender light was missing, about impossible to find the original. I found this one at the big Ann Arbor bicycle swapmeet, it's close. My friend doesn't know I found a light for it.


 
It's going to look like an old board tracker with the cream colored tires.

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## woodtickgreg (Nov 28, 2020)

I worked on the old Firestone project today. Started with cleaning the rear fender and rack. The used a hammer and fender dollies to straighten out all the dents.



Here you can see how bent up the rear fender was.



Ready to go back on.



Back on the bike with all new stainless steel fasfasteners.



I went to install the rear wheel and found out the new tire profile is too big and wouldn't clear the fenders even though they where the same size as the 26x2.125 originals. So new tires are on order, same color but 26x1.175

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## Gdurfey (Nov 28, 2020)

Wow Greg, great job. Missed this thread originally. Love to watch your work and detail.

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## Nature Man (Nov 28, 2020)

After a brief hiatus, you are back at it! Sure like the progress reports! Chuck

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## woodtickgreg (Nov 28, 2020)

Thanks guys, this project is a little different as I'm trying to keep it as original as I can but still give it a refresh. Minimal paint work so I can save the original decals as they would be about impossible to find. It has a very cool patina that needs to be preserved. Im doing this for a friend just for the love of doing it.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 5, 2020)

I found this cool little white rear fender reflector to go with the look of the bike for its era. The original was long gone, I have no idea what it looked like either. But this one is a good match I think.





Next I worked on the pedals, you would never find them in this color. They are Wald brand pedals and where probably made to the bike manufacturers spec color.



Wald brand, made in USA in the 50's



One done and one to go.



I took them apart, wire wheeled everything, greased the bearings, and cleaned the pedal blocks with some simple green and a fine wire brush.



Then I sprayed them down with WD40 and wiped them off to bring the color back and protect the metal.



The seat post is an unusual wedge style, it gets cleaned up too.



After a trip to the mighty wire wheel.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 5, 2020)

The seat is in pretty.rough shape so I have to be carefull with it, you will never find another like it. Im just going to clean it with simple green.
I took the spring assembly off of it to clean it.



I did repaint the frame and spring assembly.



I'll show more as it progresses.

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## Mr. Peet (Dec 5, 2020)

Greg, I remember in the 80's that my brother used an old 3 part EverReady flashlight, took head and used 1/4-20 bolt to fasten it to the fender and had replaced the clear lens with a red reflector. It was a chromed piece, I think with vertical lines. Don't think they had anything like you used back then. No clue. 

Do you think the original for your friends bike was metal with a plastic reflector? This build has been great. Reminding me of some good and bad times when my one brother tried running a bike shop as a teenager.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 5, 2020)

Mr. Peet said:


> Do you think the original for your friends bike was metal with a plastic reflector?


I do think it was a metal framed piece, probably round but not really sure on the shape. I could have easily found a round metal one, but I think the shape and color of the white one go with the color scheme and style of the bike.

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## DLJeffs (Dec 5, 2020)

Greg - I missed this thread but it's really cool. That bike was in great shape to begin with and you're getting it even better. Love it.

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## ripjack13 (Dec 5, 2020)



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## ripjack13 (Dec 5, 2020)

You already have the round one. But it looks like from looking around for about 20 minutes, that it is indeed a metal framed one....


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## woodtickgreg (Dec 5, 2020)

Thanks for looking, but those are from a Monarch, not the same. This Firestone was made by Cleveland Welding Company, CWC. And there was no witness mark's on the paint to indicate a wrap around reflector frame like that. And just one single bolt hole.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 5, 2020)

See this round style is probably what it had, this is a different year with a different rack.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 5, 2020)

This is probably the correct light in the right color, but you'll never be able to find one in that color.

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## Nature Man (Dec 6, 2020)

Amazing you were able to color match the pedals! Love your restorations! Chuck


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## woodtickgreg (Dec 6, 2020)

Nature Man said:


> Amazing you were able to color match the pedals! Love your restorations! Chuck


I didn't color match them, lol, the manufacturer did that. I just cleaned them up.

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## woodtickgreg (Dec 6, 2020)

Simple green cleaned the seat pan up nice. I have to be carefull with this seat to try and preserve what is left of it because again you would never find another one like it. Its a one of a kind made specifically for this bikes production run and for no other.



The top cleaned up ok and the simple green removed some stains, but there are some abrasions on it that need to be dealt with.



A couple of coats of white shoe push really did the trick.



I bolted the seat spring frame and clamp assembly on after painting it and cleaning up the hardware.



The seat is back on the bike for a minute. Im going to advise my friend to not use it and put it in storage, a more comfy seat can be used for riding and that will preserve the original. I think I have a nice troxel or messenger white seat that will look correct and be ok for a user on this bike.



The bike is almost done, the cream colored tire on the front will be swapped out for white tires that will fit better in the rear. Hear you can also see the front light and rear reflector that where missing. My friend doesn't know about the lights yet. Next up will be the handlebars and kickstand while I'm waiting for the tires to come.

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## woodtickgreg (Jan 30, 2021)

Well I found some new cream colored tires, Schwalbe brand which are very good quality. Higher pressure too. They also have a cool reflective band on them, this pick is with a flash to show that.



And no flash



Bike is almost done. Handlebars are to far gone to save so I'll look in my parts stash to see if I have something close to the same bend, or buy a new bar.



I took the stock seat off to save it.



And put this white troxel brand seat from the same era to use if he wants to ride it and not damage the incredibly rare stock seat.



The left crank arm is bent and will need to be straightened.



Here you can see where the crank arm has chipped the paint on the frame. It now hits the kickstand too.



Almost done.........

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## DLJeffs (Jan 30, 2021)

This is so cool Greg. But what's the deal with the thread bobbin and hackle pliers on your tool rest? You sneaking in a little fly tying while you wait for boke parts.

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## woodtickgreg (Jan 30, 2021)

DLJeffs said:


> This is so cool Greg. But what's the deal with the thread bobbin and hackle pliers on your tool rest? You sneaking in a little fly tying while you wait for boke parts.View attachment 201517


Nah, that came in a box of sewing machine stuff, lol. I actually don't have a use for it, I don't tie flies.


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## woodtickgreg (Feb 27, 2021)

Today I got the crank arm on the bike straightened and now it clears the frame and kickstand.


And with that the bike is done. I can't wait to give it back to my friend. I think he's going to be happy.



I did this restoration as if it was my own, I took my time, did it right and with a lot of pride. It's almost new. I found an exact match for the handlebars and a vintage white seat for my friend to use when he wants to ride it, and it should be riden. I preserved all the original paint and decals. And left the original bicycle license tag on it. It's just a very cool old bike, I hope it will last another 70 years. It'll definitely outlast my friend and I. Lol. This bike is worth at least $1,000 and maybe more to the right collector. This one is very rare. I told my friend that he's not allowed to ride this one on a dirt road, I built other bikes for him for that.

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## DLJeffs (Feb 27, 2021)

Very cool restoration project, Greg.

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## Nature Man (Feb 27, 2021)

Decadent bike! Congrats for seeing it through, and thanks for posting the progress! Your friend will be eternally grateful to you! Chuck

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## 2feathers Creative Making (Feb 28, 2021)

Awesome. I love the look of the old bikes

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## woodtickgreg (Mar 23, 2021)

My buddy came and picked up his Firestone today. He was super happy and impressed with it. I only charged him for the materials, he kept trying to give me more but I wouldn't accept it. I told him I was happy to work on such a rare bike from 1956. That one gave me joy. He needs a couple other bikes for his property up north, ill sell those to him. This one wasn't about money.

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