Saturday, April 25, 2009

It Cleaned Up Pretty Good

A couple of posts ago, I talked about two bikes I had acquired. One of them was a 1973 Schwinn Varsity. It is an old-school Schwinn tank of a bike at 40 pounds or more. When I first got it I wasn't sure if I could get it fixed up without a lot of money and time.

A week later, it's running great. I had to replace both tires. I cleaned up the rear wheel, shined up the chrome a bit, and lubed the freewheel (which was just about seized up when I got it). I cleaned up the front cogs a bit too. There's still some rust here and there, but from a few feet away you just see shiny chrome. Here are a few pics; for more you can see a slideshow here.













Frankly, this bike is a little terrifying to ride. It is a spartan bike; nothing fancy here. The speed it generates feels primal and almost uncontrollable. I don't suppose it's as fast as my other bikes, but it sure feels like it, and then some.

I'm glad I saved it before it was crushed and recycled!

5 comments:

Rat Trap Press said...

That looks good! The chrome shined up great.

HeidiTri's said...

That's fantastic! She really looks great.

Bruce's Bike Blog said...

Those shifters on the headset are funky, are they not? This was a cool find! It looks great! Those old Schwinns made in Chicago are made of the best/heaviest steel from Ohio--practically indestructable.

Cheers! Bruce

Thom said...

I'll say that cleaned up well! It's that live-steel feeling that you're getting, I bet. I get that even on my three-speeds, which certainly don't go very fast, but I seem to *feel* what speed there is more.

Doohickie said...

I had it out for a 42 mile ride yesterday. Very nice ride.