Saturday, August 15, 2009

Swinger2 : Glam Edition

A JCPenny Swinger1 was manufactured by Kromag and sold through JCPenny. It was the low dollar model, with a rigid front and rear suspension and no speedometer. Very basic, it only came in blue, with color matched blue fenders and skinny wire wheels. The JCPenny Swinger2 was the next model up, and featured speedometer, and full suspension, in addition to a rear rack with spring loaded book keeper. It also had color matched fenders and the skinny spoke wheels, and came in 3 two colors, orange (some might call a carousel red) and yellow. The JCPenny Pinto had a half crome tank and crome fenders with front fork brace bar, came in orange and yellow with the wider set of spoke wheels. The JCPenny Pinto2 came in both silver and black, with a half chrome tank, chrome fenders, snowflake mag wheels and long seat instead of the traditional saddle. All Pinto and Swinger models had the swiss cheese tube frame.

All that being said, I've started to assemble this rediculous Swinger2 that I got on an impulse this winter. It has a Magnum length swingarm and Murray front forks, making the rear shocks sit low and the front end sit high. Add a chopped seat post and a low saddle, throw in some stupidly blingy metal flake powdercoat, and maybe a touch of gold spokes, and you've got a lowrider moped.
Oh, and here is a tip on the best way I've figured out to put a kickstand spring back on. Watch and learn! Get a large size phillips screwdriver (because they are round completely which works best) and slip it into the lose end of the spring, then put the other end of the screwdriver on the knob and pull the screw driver toward you, using the knob as a fulcrum. The spring slides down the screw driver and pulls itself on nice and tight, then you just wiggle your driver out.

Oh, P.S. I know my shocks are upside down, but they have clearance issues right side up, so don't think I'm an idiot. Well, I'm kind of an idiot for building such a stupid bike, so rather, don't think I'm incompetent.

5 comments:

Zack said...

swinger party! nice history lesson as well.

Unknown said...

mmmm, nice, ps thanks for the spring, i am going to tear into the monza soon!!!!!



ps link me peez?

atbabel said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN1hNPV_CNE

this is a nifty way to put the spring on too.

Philip Patrie said...

That guy is wrong, too much effort. Trust me, they don't call me the Rightest guy in the Fleet for nothing.

atbabel said...

lolz resp john that works the best for me! i got my thumbnail punched by the end of the spring doing the screwdriver method once...