If your at Portland this year you will probably see me riding my NEW bike around when I am not on my Simplex. A 1939 Schwinn with 2 speed rear hub and springer!
Until they fall off! Actually I have cleaned all the mechanical parts of this bike and reassembled. Put two new tubes in and elected to run the tires as they are period correct(one may be original). Bike rides really nice. Tires do look sort of cracked (to say the least) but look better when blown up. Not planning on a full restoration. I like it just the way it is. No telling how many more years those tires have!!
I’d probably do the same , as long just the surface rubber cracked . I can’t imagine that you’ll be doing any ‘trail’ or mountain bike type riding .
I like patina .
I bought an old pre-war bike about three years ago at Portland for $75 I think. I found a matched set of tires before the meet was over. I like it. It has lots of patina believe me. It’s rather hard to chase the kids down with mini-bikes though while riding it. I’ll see if I can get a picture of it in the next day or two.
