 |
| My Schwinn Continental |
So there I am, pumping air into the tire of my new continental, which by the way, appears to be a 74, not a 73, and is in Chestnut not sunrise. The tires looked good and fairly new, just somewhat flat. So I'm pumping away, headed to 80 lbs (its a 75-90lb tire) and POW!!! Of course I was on the phone talking and was completely unprepared for it. Apparently the tube was original, but the tire was not. Eh, after changing my shorts, I was fine. It seems a trip to the bike shop is due soon, I am out of tires, and tubes.
This all got me to think though. nobody heard the tire go off but me. The kids were not far away and claim to have heard nothing, the person I was on the phone with heard nothing. It sounded like a damn gunshot, and I know that sound. So much for anyone coming to help if something goes wrong. I could have been robbed by those hipster thugs that BSNYC has talked about.
Enough of my whining. The little red squirrel in my shop would notice, and celebrate. He would also likely be the culprit to have shot me.. More on him here at Dont poke the Piggy.
 |
| Brooks Panniers only $270. |
I recently discovered a slight change in view, and personal taste. Since acquiring the Continental, I have decided not to go with a full accurate clean and restore. Instead, I am going to make it truly my own and go for some style points. I was thinking, the Chestnut paint with the right touring tires in a darker skinwall, a chocolate color bar wrap or maybe cork, and possibly a Brooks saddle to match. I have been looking for some saddle bags to go with the scheme but without the brooks sticker shock. So when I started looking at all these upgrades, the total cost popped a vessel in my head. Then I remembered, hey what about origin 8. I have used a few components from them before, and appreciated the quality, and price. This goes back to when I thought building a straight up fixie was a good idea for riding around between cow pastures here. I have since given that up for more practical uses of my time. Anyway, I looked and sure enough, they have a few of the things I need. By mixing brands, it will slap down some cost, keep the color and look, and shows some mercy to the moths in my wallet.
 |
| Origin 8 Classique Saddle $70 |
 |
| Origin 8 Brown Cork Wrap $8 |
Don't get me wrong, I love the brooks line, its just the total package price of all the components I want. The saddle may be the Origin 8 Classique sport for more comfort and class (I actually like the look better than the brooks), and I am thinking Origin 8's brown cork tape for the bars. For panniers, I don't do anything too serious, mostly day trip kind of bags, and the rare tour, so I can trade some storage for some style, because that's me...Mr. Stylish. I found several options that would fit in to the grand scheme and look good with the color set to the bike. Now before you think, "what a dork, a color coordinated bike, HIPSTER!", not for the purposes of style is the color scheme as important. Having four kids, the need to sort things to each individual with the least confusion (to me) was easiest by color coding. Each of us has an assumed color set that defines our belongings. No arguments over that cup, Game-boy, or socks, look at the color and you know. This has become part of our family culture in a sense, and so we tend to apply it naturally to other things we do. Thus... Schwinn's are so perfect a fit for us with the simple yet beautiful colors they were given. Oh, and hipsters don't own the concept of having some style and class built into a bike. I do it for my own enjoyment, rather than the approval of the checker playing coffee shop buds.
No longer do I have a favorite color, but more like a favorite combination of colors and how they are applied. Orange and browns, Red and black, blue and silver, etc... It could go on forever. For me, in our little family color code, my color was a mutated red orange. Naturally a red Schwinn, or maroon, or chestnut, or sunset orange fits my personal collection just fine.
Now my bikes are ready for the next step in applying this ideal and culture by placing the components that suit me in both the above styles and use. Each of my bikes has a purpose, so the Continental is to be my in between. My ride for those rides that are not a daily one, or that cross county trek with the club. A day tripper. Yeah, its OCD and I compartmentalize everything, so what.
 |
| Axiom Dutch $75 |
Here is one of the bags I'm considering. The Dutch has the tapered fronts, and color to match the Continental's "tone". They have a similar one, but without the taper. While more storage and capacity in those, the taper is a functional necessity. Price also doesn't help them so the dutch is my choice so far.
 |
| My Schwinn Varsity |
Since I opened the can of worms and started to look, I found some stuff to throw at my Varsity as well. That's more of the straight up black and red look, for my daily commuter/ beater bike. I love the original seat, so that's off the change list, and I already wrapped the bars with Bontrager's bar cork, and love the feel. Mostly the only thing this bike needs is a descent set of bags for hauling a few groceries or daily crap, and a set of fenders. I'm going to go with a set of planet Bike fenders since I can get a deal from the LBS nearby, and they also happen to be black to stay with the look of the bike. Chrome would work, those are almost 5 bucks more, and I'm cheap..so black works just fine. It already has a Planet bike rack, so the bags would need to have a generic mounting or compatible method. The pictured set of Loius Garneau bags came up for $25. They rated descent for use and wear, but not so much for mounting friendliness. There is also some matching handlebar bags etc.. but time will tell if there is a need. The panniers are much the same as the current set of Sunlights I have...So not a change for my set up at all, and mounting is almost identical for the rack.
 |
| My Schwinn World Tourist |
 |
| Kool Stop Brake Pads. $8 |
 |
| M wave 3 piece $50 |
The World Tourist is so far my favorite bike. The lugged frame, the straight style bars, and even the seat has gained my appreciation. This is most likely going to be my dedicated touring and pavement champion. All it really needs is a brake pad upgrade, panniers, and a better handlebar bag. The panniers that's on my wish list is the M waves. These are really inexpensive bags but full featured, and very highly rated. For $80 I can get a rack, bag, and weather cover The tires are competent, but when these are replaced, I will upgrade to a set of Schwalbe, or Continental's. The Giant branded Kenda's are fine, but more of a basic tire and do not offer much beyond that in performance or puncture resistance.
In other news, we witnessed someone using the bike lane outside of town. We were shocked. It stretches one mile between a farm and the Mormon Church, and the farmer isn't Mormon, so it kinda has no traffic problems. They were either lost, or it was one of those things were someone was riding through and oops, happy accident. Whatever the reason, it was a magnet for gawkers as one guy even pulled over to either watch, or just didn't know how to handle this new traffic experience. Some others came out of their houses to look. Not bad for an investment of $30,000 to add this lane. A bike lane on a road that a cyclist could have ridden down the middle of without more challenge than the occasional tractor, or mid 80's hatchback loaded with school skipping teens, but now we have a lane. One person. Yay!
