Brownie gets a new owner and soon to be facelift

A couple of weeks ago my Dad decided to part with all of his antique Schwinn bikes. He had 2 matching his and her blue singlespeed cruisers, a banana yellow tandem and a brown 5 spd cruiser. He had just recently bought a new Townie and thought it would be best to get rid of the Schwinn's. I tried several times to talk him out of dumping them but he sold them anyway. Luckily my brother in law bought the tandem so it will stay in the family. I thought about buying it but really didn't have a place to keep it. The brown 5spd went on Ebay for $30. I threw a bid down for $31 just for kicks not really needing the bike but hey if I won it cool I'd think of something to do with it. After the ebay time expired I was the only bidder so for $31 I just scored an antique Schwinn cruiser. The brown 5 spd was probably in the worst condition of all the bikes he had but the more I thought about it I realized what a cool bike it could be with a bit of work.

Labor day weekend my folks drove into town and presented me with my prize. I'm actually pretty excited about the possibilities this bike might have, Melinda on the other hand gave me that look.

In Johnson City there is a bike shop that specializes in restoring old Schwinn's just like this one. The owner Dave will do just about anything you want, take it back to it's original glory or build something that you will never see anywhere else. I plan to take old "Brownie" as my Dad nicknamed the bike over to Dave and have him bring it back to life with a new paint job and some new parts. I seriously doubt the new color will be brown but I've yet to make up my mind yet. I'm leaning towards white with alot of chrome, the aftermarket bmx bars are definitely coming off in favor of a flat bar. Singlespeed or gears I've yet to decide but she will get a new set of tires, something a tad bit wider and more curb hopping friendly.

My goal is to keep it as a cruiser but something a little more sleek. I really ought to show it to the Local Cult Hero, I'm sure he could come up with some really cool. He known for putting together some really interesting bikes.

Got an idea I'm open for suggestions.