1959 Schwinn Spitfire

It’s a little out of the ordinary here at Baker Bicycle Works, but we recently got a chance to do a light restoration for a customer. Normally you’ll find fancy new bikes in the shop, or an old road bike that needs some frame repair, but this was a fun opportunity to do something a bit unique.

The end goal wasn’t a full restoration, but a cleanup and rejuvenation of an old bike that once belonged to our client’s mother. The goal was to keep it fairly original and not worry about a meticulous restoration, and to modernize things enough to make it significantly easier to get access to replacement parts if necessary.

The result was pretty pleasing all around, and we were glad to have a little diversion from disc brakes, suspension, and tubeless tires for a bit. Not that we dislike technology, but it’s kinda fun to take a trip down memory lane, especially when there is some built-in sentimental value for our customer.