What A Concept 3

The 3rd Edition of the What a Concept post brings us to three concepts.  Not all concepts I come across are bad, just the majority, so the following may be surprisingly good... or not.  Either way it goes enjoy!

Worlds of Tourist

Lately I have been contemplating the use and function of my stable.  As I have posted before, my collection is getting fairly nice.  Several Varsity models, a Continental, a Sport, a Burgundy World Tourist, my Raleigh built Hercules 3, and 10 speed, among just a few.  My favorite of them all is the World Tourist.  So much so, that I have been looking to bolster my collection of parts to make sure I can keep it maintained in the years to come.

My Burgundy 84 World Tourist

Continental Divide.

And so the weekend starts.  Whats summer without a mid day road trip to fetch a bike, and today we got a doozey.  I received an email with a picture attached of a 73 red Schwinn continental. The price seemed ok, and the condition didn't seem bad.  So I inquired for more.  A few more pictures later, and some harrowing negotiations, a deal was struck.  Off to Oshkosh we go.
After two hours, we made it, and I was shocked.  In the pictures that I received, in the classic behind the garage bike pose, it looked like a red Schwinn Continental.  This Schwinn Continental however was not red.  It was sunset orange...  wow.  While a a Continental is not much more than a fancier Varsity, the color in this model is hard to find.  At least around here it has been. Some of the cycling collector forums have eluded to the same in other places as well.  Back to the bike... it is in pretty good condition, new handlebar wrap, but those rarely survive, newer tires, but the rest is original and with a slight patina of rust on the chrome.  The paint is good with some scratches.   No surprises.  Well worth the trip. In all with the cost for gas, and paying for the bike, it cost me less than a trip for coffee and a muffin with the kids.

Bicycle reviews

Treks new roadie without the Juicemaster handlebar attachment

This is not the right place to be if you are looking for a review of the latest light weight, carbon fiber, composite alloy for the latest steroid juicer in the tour duh french to win with.  These are the kind for a slow ride through the park, or a trip to the gas station for a pack o' smokes bikes.  Yeah I said smokes, these are not just for surfers, green peacer's or hippies, but chain smoking grease monkey types.  One could even tie their oxygen tank on if needed.  No Lycra allowed and sperm helmets need not apply...   (but aren't the roadie bikes pretty without the rider? see pic at right)





Since my love began for old bikes I found that cruisers are my favorites.  Like art work with the sweeping bowed tubing, and big fat wheels.  However, it is hard to find an old Schwinn or Columbia (most commonly known) in relatively good shape that works. While myself, and other old bike lovers do not mind the faded paint or "patina" of a classic, some like the fresh look and shine of new paint.  There are alternatives from having to fully restore an old vintage to achieve a great Sunday rider.

First is the Firmstrong Urban Man 7Speed, in red.  Great classic lines and construction, with the benefits of modern derailleur design and shifting.  Some may argue that modern does not mean better, true, but it is a well designed and working bike.  The paint is my favorite on this bike.  Love that red, it just looks alive.  List Price, $209.99 at time of post.

This is the Sixthreezero EVRYthing 5 speed.  Men's frame again, 26 inch wheels.  Internal geared five speed is the bomb.  Such low maintenance and no worry with the internal gears.  Classic looks in a subdued blue and a longer frame length than the Firmstrong.  Not sure how it rides or handles, but similar designs have proven very comfortable and relaxed.  Listed at $349.99 at date of post.

The Nirve Fifty-three auto 3 is really cool.  An automatic shifting transmission, classic looking form and detailing that gives it a tank-bike like look.    With larger tubing, classic looking fenders and a springer fork, its a beauty.  Listed at $599.00 at the date of this post.  A friend of a friend has one, also their Kilroy model (single Speed), and they ride really well.  Comfort with less effort needed for the shifting, it is a good casual ride choice.

Schwinn is offering the classic looking hornet with some novel twists.  In the top tube near the union at the head tube (in front of the handlebars)  is an inset cup holder or "tray" built right into the frame.  Planet bike fenders, and revisited Schwinn designs are very appealing.  It is not the smoothest riding of those listed so far, but it is a competent bike and made well enough for cruising.  Lists at $459 at time of post.  It is a heavy bike however, and can be a truck to turn at higher speeds.  I've seen other reviews similar in critique to its mass and handling, but to its benefit I like the bulky feel of it. It seems substantial and more motorcycle like than a few other cruisers.   Schwinn also offers the Corvette model, the Hollywood lines for ladies, and a few others that work towards hybrid styles and touring types. They also sport the classic Schwinn Oval badge of the past.  Sweet.

The pink streamers add that needed flair...

These are just a few examples of the bikes available out there.  Every manufacturer has produced some kind of cruiser/retro type bike lately and many are good solid bikes.  This is a welcome addition for old bike lovers since it opens some of the vintage bikes back into the market as people would rather buy a new finished, ready to ride bike.  Hopefully this will result in less latex paint jobs and Frankenstein builds that are commonly found.  So many classics cut up for the sake of art when they were art already.  If one really wants to make a bike their own, and they have the skill needed to do these "creative" builds, build one from scratch..  Just saying... Its their bike after all...

A Father's day gift To myself

For father's day this year, I bought my dad a book, (as I describe in the last post).  My kids gave me a pair of hand decorated mini duck pillows, cause I like ducks.  But what I really wanted was a new cruiser bike.  Bummer, no ones giving.
So I headed to my shop Sunday and dug around in my spare parts.  I found a frame that was part of a craig's list acquisition.  A fellow collector was reducing his inventory to focus on more specific projects.  This frame was thrown in with a few boxes of parts he had, as well as the frame I originally stopped to get.  Here is the frame I found, although it was horribly bent out of alignment. (likely why it was a free add in)

Idiots of Garage sale Management

Fathers day has brought with it a surprising bag of interesting developments.  In a search for a new book that my father had asked for, my cheapness and love of travel put me on the road instead of the internet to do my shopping.  The cheapness factor seemed logical since it would save me shipping costs to just buy it in person, plus it helps local business to shop "live" rather than digitally.  However, life has a way of spanking my ideas with cold reality.  This book was just released the previous week.  Apparently it takes the stores near me a week to stock one after release.  So the first half of my week was spent driving about to nearby towns in search of the book, and of course scanning the roadside for bikes.
Rummage sales were rampant, and my first comment on this is people are getting stupid.  I dare not count the number of garage sale signs that went nowhere.  A huge sign by the highway, and a hand drawn arrow on a stop sign post a mile into the route is idiotic.  Mark your sale right.  keep the signs big, or at least consistent.  The second comment is on honesty.  If your sign says huge sale, it better have more than a card table full of crap from under your couch cushions.  Some people honestly think they can sell garbage.  One such moron had a box of cans.  $2.  Not aluminum cans, and even then it was overpriced, but a box of empty canned good cans, labels still attached.  That is the laziest recycling I have ever seen.

Iron Man

Today I pedaled around on my new acquisition, A Schwinn World Tourist.   Last year my daughter and I stopped at a rummage sale, and a dark red World Tourist was for sale for 75.00.  Lacking the cash on my person and unsure if it was the style I would like; we had to pass it up.  I regretted it since.  Last week, on the way to the bike shop, we passed the same road that held the rummage sale.  Having revisited this road before for other rummage sales in the hopes of it being the same house and then being someone else, I had my doubts.  So we ventured in again.  Sure enough it was the right one, and there sat the bike, for 50 this time.  I offered 40, and they accepted, we loaded up and returned to our journey to the bike shop.

Bikes galore

What a great weekend.  Two schwinn hollywoods,  a stardust and a world traveler.  Only a few pics for now, and more on each as I am able to get them in the shop and pick at them. 

Thrift Shop Hop

After the weekends, rummage sales taper off, flea markets fizzle, and people return to their lives and generally wait for the next weekend.  Weekends are a prime time event for old bike hunting.  There is however a benefit to looking during the week.
Some rummage sales are an all or nothing thing for some people.  If doesn't sell, it goes to the thrift store, or dump.  Keeping an eye out for those last ditch efforts to clean the garage is important. An example is from this Monday, after picking the kids up from school, we drove by the thrift shop.  Not on purpose, it was on the way.  From the corner of my view, by the entry way, I noticed a blue bike.  This store is known for getting a lot of old junky department store bikes, (IE huffy, next etc...).  I turned around the car, and we went to investigate.  Sure enough, this time it payed off.
 A Schwinn suburban, blue, woman's frame.  Needs some polish and love, but a good find.  The price was right as well, only 25.00. They also have another bike that we may return for, (more on that one in a later post). It has the original Made for Schwinn Messinger seat, with a small abrasion on the back right corner but no tears or wear holes.  The abrasion is actually the best case of those as long as its in a good place, like the back corner, or is fillable.  I use a special vinyl sealer, similar to that used in those vinyl patch kits.  It does not remove the rough look of the damaged area, but it prevents it from spreading, or leaking through to the inner parts of the seat.
Tires and tubes are given it seems, and this bike is no exception.  The handlebars seem good, but typical rust.  I'll have to start cleaning off the rust to see if there is any pitting or scars.  Frame, paint and drive all just need a cleaning, and some shine

Gentle breeze

Thanks to a donation from a local Lutheran school we have now obtained our second schwinn breeze.  It was found in a storage room in the older part of the building from its previous inhabitants.  I have spent a number of hours volunteering there as the school is only 8 months old in a former public school building.  It is a beautiful old building but it needs some tlc.  We have been working towards starting a cycling club and having a charity ride to earn the school some funds, but as yet are unable to cement anything down.  It is their first year so it has difficult to organize much beyond the day to day operations yet.  Not to mention gaining funds to establish such an endeavor.

Finally!

After searching for some time, and finding a ton of long term bicycle projects, or near ride-able bicycles for my girls, I have finally found my own.  While checking the local thrift shop for parts, I ran right into some new donated bikes.  Usually the only bicycles they get are really crappy kids bikes or the Frankenstein huffy hand me downs.  At times they have parts that are replaced or upgraded by someone, or the occasional garage clean out that nobody knew what the parts were for. This time, I found a red Schwinn Varsity.  A mens frame, almost a perfect fit.  Now the price was tricky.  The other bikes there were marked at $15 on a sticker placed on the seats, and were not even worth that much in parts.  The Schwinn had no such sticker.  After pulling the bike out, and checking it over, I found a price sticker stuck to the headlight.  $4.00!!!  I was in my car, loaded and driving away with 3 minutes.  My new Schwinn perched behind me in my minivan.

A few nicks, and decal wear, and after some minor polishing

The crank was the only flaw.  It was bent on the left side.  After a visit to the Ant cave, I removed one from the old brown varsity.  The spokes were all loose, and the rims warped and weird.  After re-truing the rims by hand (no stand yet, I am on a tight budget) I set them in and checked them with a dial indicator mounted to the chainstays. With lots of rust removal on the rims, new tubes and tires, handlebar tape (for some reason the original Schwinn handlebar tape even in horrid condition photographs well), a planet bike rear rack, and some grease in the bearings...  here it is.

It rides and shifts like a dream.  After years of indexed shifting, I love returning to friction shifting.  It is likened to the difference between the Millennium Falcon and the Starship Enterprise (next Gen).  It is better to nudge or tweak an adjustment on the go, rather than having to stop and make several technical adjustments.  So yeah the Enterprise is cool and sleek, but nothing beats hitting the dash to fix the problem.

<script src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/link-enhancer?tag=t03a8-20&amp;o=1" type="text/javascript"></script>

Fetching

Road trip!  My father, bless him, is now helping feed the family addiction.  A friend of his from work offered us a group of bikes that his kids and grandkids have abandoned in his yard.  Off we went in the little red thunder truck (no exhaust, lot-o-rust).  Keep in mind, most situations like this are usually nothing to get excited about.  Most large bicycle groups like this tend to be half ruined, cheap Wal-mart bikes.  Nothing against some of the Wal-mart bikes, but there are some high end that you rarely see in store, and then the really low end, that everybody buys.  Anyway, I expected the typical odds of 1 for every 10, that is one good find for every ten boat anchors.
Upon arriving, I was much more happy and surprised.  A Schwinn Breeze, another Sears Daimler, an 80's Murray 10 speed, a 10-speed Niitaka, a lugged Free Spirit 10 speed, and a non-lugged free spirit 10 speed (a cheaper later production).  There was a few more in the mix, a few cheapies, and some very stripped out frames, but not a bad haul.  Most were girls frames, with exception of the Murray, and the cheapies.  My girls once again win out.

The Blue Giant and the Greedy man

One afternoon, we were out on the back roads heading to town.  We passed by an old salvage yard, and out front he had some bikes leaning against a tire pile.  When we pulled in, the owner came out to greet us, and we began the ritual conversation.  He soon revealed he had more in piles around the yard, and off we went to dig.  Several old rusted, split frames from ice, half crushed, or other horror images were found.  In the whole lot we found one that the frame only had potential.  He wanted $200 for it.  It was a murray cruiser, that had no surviving paint.  Tires were gone, rims rusted through, and only parts of the fenders hung were they were bolted on.  One side of the handlebars was rusted completely off.  Despite the rust, the frame seemed solid.  My thought was to use it to convert another womans frame over, but with considerable work in cleaning it up, and out (the inside of the tubing).  There was no way it was worth 200.

Little Green Varsity

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.

Junk Pile Junkie

Part of being a Bicycle junkie means inattentive driving.  Yup, a bike can lurk behind anything waiting to be discovered.  While driving around, I find an enhanced sense for rusting cromoly tubing.  Coming back from a work errand my eye caught a silhouette off in a field.  It was a bicycle.  After turning around, I found myself looking at an odd sight.  The edge off the side road was lined with old junk.  Vacuums, lamps, boat trailers, filing cabinets, and bikes.  Three of them.  I jumped out and began inspecting them.  A nearly useless rusted out huffy, a free spirit 10 speed in rather nasty shape, and a Rollfast three speed.

Thr Rollfast (rear wheel was shredded) after some polishing