2009 Schwinn Jaguar
This Schwinn Jaguar belonged to my Father. I bought it for him along with a woman's model for my mother. These bikes were ridden by my parents , my Nieces and Nephew and myself from time to time. My parents live out in the country, so this bike was mostly ridden on dirt roads and Florida sugar sand. Eventually my Nieces and Nephew grew up and stopped riding these bikes.
I took a visit to my parents property to recycle some metal and do some catching up. My Father told me that I could have the bikes for they no longer ride them. They were stored in a barn on there property. When I saw them, they were in pretty bad shape with some rust spots showing on the frame . The chain was rusted and the chrome on the cranks was badly pitted. As I stood there wondering what to do with this bike, I thought , should I scrap it for metal or should I turn it into a Banana seat cruiser bike !. I chose the later !!!
Schwinn Jaguar (a short history)
Schwinn first debut the Jaguar in 1954. It was part of their line of "middle weight" bicycles, meaning that the frame was lighter and it didn't come with so many bulky added components . Compared to their "heavy weight" counterparts from the late 30's to early 50's which sported front and rear racks , heavy chrome fenders , a tank with a horn and light etc. The Jaguar came standard with a Sturmey-Archer 3 speed rear hub, hand brakes, chrome fenders and balloon tires. This 2009 Jaguar doesn't quite come with the same quality components as the 1954 but the frame and basic layout are close to the same.
These are some of the before pictures of the bicycle.
I disassembled the bike down to the frame and checked all the components to make sure they were in good working order.
The frame had some light rust around the bottom bracket and seat tube. Most steel bikes that I have seen typically rust in these areas.
I used " Kurust" to neutralise the rust ,then color matched and touched up the paint with nail polish which is almost a perfect match.
After touching up the frame I compounded it and gave it a light coat of Carnuba wax.
Frame (before)
Bottom bracket (before)
Fork (before)
Headbadge (before)
Chain guard (before)
Pictures of frame after cleaning and polishing
I polished the headset and reinstalled it .
headset (before)
Headset (cleaned and polished)
Headset cups (installed)
Greased headset bearings.
Headset stack (complete)
Fork installed
The chrome cranks were rusted to the point where I could not remove it by polishing it or using aluminum foil to rub the rust out. So I had to sand them down and repaint them with silver Rust-oleum spray paint.
Cranks (before)
Cranks (cleaned and sanded)
Cranks (painted) and hardware cleaned.
Cranks (complete)
Next I greased the bearings and installed the cranks.
Bottom bracket cups (greased)
Crank (installed)
The aluminum stem was tarnished and dull. I cleaned it up and polished it using various polishing grits and a buffing wheel.
Stem (before)
Stem (cleaned and polished)
Stem (complete)
I left some spacing on the stem shaft to install the new 5 speed shifter. This bicycle originally had a 7 speed grip shifter that I will be replacing with a NOS Suntour 5 speed " Power Shifter".
Suntour 5 speed shifter.
This bike has aluminum V brakes . They were tarnished and dirty from outside riding and had some oxidation in some spots. I cleaned them up with Mothers aluminum polish .
Front brake (before)
Front brake (cleaned and polished)
Rear brake (before)
Rear brake (cleaned and polished)
Front and Rear brakes (installed)
The brake levers were in the same condition as the brake arms. I polished the levers and touched up the painted parts .
Brake levers (before)
Right lever (before)
Right lever (cleaned and polished)
Left lever (before)
Left lever (cleaned and polished)
Brake levers(complete)
I disassembled the rear derailleur then cleaned and lubed the pivots and jockey wheels.
Rear derailleur (before)
Rear derailleur (cleaned and lubed)
The last thing to work on are the wheels. they were dirty and some of the aluminum was oxidizing and pitting in some spots. The tires are in good shape so I will be reusing them.
Rear wheel (before)
Rear hub (before)
Rear rim (before)
I took the 7 speed cassette off the wheel and will be replacing with a 5 speed cassette to work with the Suntour 5 speed shifter.
I took apart the rear hub and cleaned up the bearings and hardware. I also cleaned and polished the rear hub and rim.
Rear hub (before)
Rear hub (cleaned and polished)
Rear rim (cleaned and polished)
Next I greased the bearings and put the rear hub back together.
Rear hub (complete)
I found a "pie plate" to put on the rear wheel, reminiscent of the old muscle bikes and crate bikes of the late seventies and early eighties.
"Pie plate"(before)
I cleaned the chrome with Turtle Wax chrome cleaner.
"Pie plate " (cleaned and polished)
rear wheel (complete)
I cleaned and polished the front wheel and lubed the bearings.
Front wheel (before)
Front hub (before)
Front rim (before)
I cleaned and polished the front hub ,but I could not get all of the oxidation off . It still looks better than it did before.
Front hub (cleaned and polished)
Axle ,bearings and hardware.
I greased the bearings and put the front hub back together.
Front hub (complete)
Finished front wheel
I installed the rear wheel and adjusted the derailleur.
With both wheels on , I adjusted the brakes.
Handle bars
Right and left grips and brake levers.
Almost complete
I cleaned up the pedals. They look almost the same , just a little bit shinier.
Pedals (before)
Pedals (after)
The next pictures are of the finished Schwinn Jaguar .
I enjoyed building this Schwinn Jaguar. When I first saw the bike I could only imagine what the finished product would look like.
As a kid ,I enjoyed riding my banana seat bicycle around the neighborhood . When you saw a friend that needed a ride , there was enough room to let them sit on the back while I pedaled us to our next destination. When the BMX fad of the 80's came around we traded our banana seats for 10 speed seats and threw out our chain guards because to have a chain guard on your bike was not cool anymore .
Now as we get older we try to recreate some of the care free fun times we had as a kid. I think for some of us this bike does just that.
I rode this bike on a Critical Mass ride in downtown Sanford one Friday night. It was cool to just sit back and cruise. I also got some compliments on the bike and some people told me stories of their first banana seat bikes and the joy it brought them. It was a nice experience .
In conclusion , building and riding this bike did exactly what it was supposed to do , it brought me back to the fun times of my child hood and it put some smiles on other peoples faces too.
Thanks for taking time to read my blog.
See you next time . Tony .
