It may not look bad now, but the polishing was already started.
My youngest daughter adopted the green Schwinn varsity that I found in the farmers pile mentioned in an earlier post. A lot of surface rust on the rims and chrome. some nicks and scratches, bad tires, porous tubes, and the original chain ring was bent. We dug out another varsity, a brown one that was in the same pile, only slightly larger frame, and began swapping the good for the bad. She polished the parts up with steel wool, and I serviced the bottom bracket and headset.
After replacing the front chain ring we went shopping. New handlebar tape, tires and tubes. She picked out the lot, and soon the varsity was taking shape. The handlebars were bent, or rather crushed from the weight of the other bikes in the pile it was rescued from. The other varsity provided the new one, but the brakes were swapped around. Murphy's law of course, the good brakes on the bad bars, the bad brakes on the good bars. She decided to keep the original brake sets rather than upgrading or modernizing them. Apparently the suicide levers on the old Schwinn's she thought were cool. I cannot blame her, while not as effective, it is better than nothing, and it keeps it "original".
For the handlebar tape, a suitable original replacement could not be found. We checked E-bay, but the green was not available. Since she picked out Bontrager tires at the bike shop, she decided to stick with the brand, and picked out some brighter green tape. The seat was the best part in my mind. It looked like it was dried out and going to flake and split. After considerable armor-all rub downs, she polished the seat to it's original condition. You can tell in the picture how it glows. This is after several rides without needing to armor-all it again. The only part that stands out is the kickstand. It was steel wooled liked the rest, but the rust color just will not go away. Not having the tool or will to replace it , it will just have to wear off.
Of course after this was finished, We found an early eighties Columbia USA racing 10 speed that she likes better. It is blue, her color of choice, and my oldest daughter is willing to buy her tires and tape to take the varsity off of her hands. She is already the owner of the Hollywood that came from the same pile. Her favorite color is green, so eventually these things shake down that way.
One down, and the row of bikes to finish is getting longer.
