stolen..now back! gem in a pile of BSO frames...

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Voltron

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Was down at the local co-op bike shop where they always have the pile of terrible bike shaped objects.. And peeking out was one that looked a little different. It was a Schwinn Rocket, which was from the days when they were hiring motorcycle designers to make linkage rear end frames. 5"travel, with cartridge bearing pivots. I just stuck a wheel I had sitting around on it for now to try it out with a back pack battery, but it looks like a mid drive might tuck right up under the main frame.
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Just goes to show it's worth looking at piles of discarded bikes...you never know what's in there! It's a great feeling taking a bare frame, digging into my parts pile, and the riding around on an e bike an hour later :)
 
Awesome bike man, awesome find! 15yo? Nice shape.

I thought it was single pivot with geometry somewhat similar to my klein until the closeup. Also I guess kleins don't have 5" suspension :cry:. Nice, imo total xc/enduro middrive with nice room for a custom batt in-frame.

Will you pass it on, stick with hub, or try a middrive?
 
Yes, it's seems barely ridden before it got half stripped and then donated, where it was waiting in the pile with a bunch of Magna types for complete tear down and junking. And yes, def heading toward some type of mid drive, possibly left side drive to not have the pedaling force and motor pull on the same side....but maybe crank drive won't wack it out too bad at moderate power levels, esp as the chain tension seems really isolated from the suspension and didn't bob during hard pedaling...anyway, it's a keeper :)
 
If I'd seen that at the flea, I'd have grabbed it. good picker eye.
 
Fantastic find; don't know if Schwinn and GT were owned by the same conglomerate by then (as they are now), but if so it might have been designed by GT's guru (Might be Jim Busby) which would be a big plus. IMO, GT's have always had one of the best systems for isolating suspension and pedaling forces (and I've owned a few that I rode the hell out of).
 
That is some monkey motion rear end lol what did you give for it??? Its better than some bikes I would have past on it but I have seen a lot worse like the cheap Genesis V2 that seems to be popular with this form .
 
There's definitely some crazy swinging around going on back there... I undid one end of the shock to look for loose pivots or stiff ones, and watching it all hinge around as I moved the wheel was interesting. It had one little creak that was the one under the BB that that just needed a little tightening, and a knock that turned out to be the derailleur hitting the chainstay, not the frame itself, and the disc brake mounted right up, and having ridden it now I can truly say it isn't horrible. :)
As to getting it out of the pile, the co-op is right down the street from me, and I've steered a lot of free parts and people their way, so I said what's up with that one, they said you want it after we get all the parts? The next day the bare frame was waiting...It's a win win
 
Try looking for a 2001 intense tracer you can find whole bikes for around $500 as you can see the frames make very good base for a e bike . And you can still get parts for them I don,t know if the FSR will hold up to a DD but I have been ruining a low 1500w for 2 yr now
 

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I already have an FSR... and this one is more about being a rolling piece of wackyness than worrying about performance... plus it has a cool shape for swinging some kind of crank drive up for ground clearance, and space in the frame for a battery... and it was free, sooooo... And the gf already loves riding it, which matters more than any performance difference :)
 
aaand that's why you really keep an eye on old aluminum.. found a crack in the headtube coming from the upper cup... hard to break that one to the gf that loves the bike already. On its way to the local frame builder, hopefully to roll another few miles...


Always weird seeing a pile of parts that ten minutes before was a functioning ebike.
 
Normally, AFAIK, most aluminum alloys need to be heat treated after they are welded. Wouldn't mention it and say do it and let the chips fall where they may, but the head tube isn't the place for a precipitous fracture.
 
Valid concerns, luckily the local guy is a real pro, and the crack is small, so confidence is high that the repair will go well. That being said, I don't love old aluminum, and this whole project was sort of a lark when the frame fell in my lap... would prob just ditch it but the gf was so sad because she likes the ride already... her face when she came home and saw the parts pile was like a little kid with their first dead pet :(
 
Something like 50% strength is gained/recovered by the heat treatment and aging for 6xxx alloy, though any major strength recovered for 7xxx is mainly from just the aging. So technically most people just make the 6xxx structure a little stronger if not heat treating. Could become tricky of course when trying to weld to thin tubular frames though, so depending on the crack location maybe an extra outer sleeving might be a viable avenue.

I hope you let us know any details the fabricator can pass on. I'm still keeping an eye on my klein :wink: thanks mainly to you. I did research for that and the light fabrication I've attempted and learned that heat treating and aging just recovers strength, but the continued 'aging' beyond that leads to defects and weaknesses developing as the alloys continue to harden and become brittle.

It also seems like the 6xxx alloys on bike frames are more prone to failure over time than for example 7005?
 
It lives again..... full penetration weld on the crack, reamed and faced with the Park cutter and the cups very gently pressed back in.

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It has actually been together again for a month or so...that's about my normal posting pace :). There were a few moments of "wait, if this last washer doesn't fit here, then that whole other piece is wrong....hmm." But all the lightbulbs clicked on, and no parts were left, so it seems right. So much more nerve racking assembling when you know it's going to be somebody else riding it. The gf likes the backpack battery for making the bike more incognito parked at work, and is the daily driver for her. Yet another person seduced by the marvel of electrons :)

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The moody "home safe from the darkened streets" shot...
 
Nice find!

I had a aluminum framed Nishiki break around the seat post and then had it re-welded by a local fabricator, ugly welc but solid (his machine wasn't really designed for such thin tube) but good penetration, and it worked fine, but ya, gotta be careful with aluminum!

That is why I stick to steel when it comes to frames for the most part. :)
 
The final chapter.... Stolen in daylight from outside of my gf's work. Bike thieves are scum. It was right after her b day when I put a new front wheel on that she helped lace up, and a new 52 tooth front crank because she wanted to pedal up with the motor harder and a new front brake. It was a big hit to the innocence for a sweet young woman :evil:
 
Thx for the kind thoughts Fingers.

And it was locked with a medium size Kryptonite chain with the big blocky padlock. Got her an Abus Bordo hinged bar type lock for the new bike for starters, and looking at bike alarms too.
 
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