Joined the Fastback club

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In the group I ride with, there's at least 8 or 10 original Schwinn Fastbacks. I've always been a little jealous, but at the same time it offends my sensibilities to cough up $500 or more for an old kids' bike that I'm gonna beat up riding thru town every week. So recently a good friend from the group gave me a great deal on this:

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Serial number makes it a '69, and from what I understand that shifter with the sideways knob is correct for that year.

At the moment the plan is to build it up to look the part without breaking the bank. I have a set of apes, a banana seat and a sissy which are not Schwinn but will look fine for my purposes. I also have a girls' '69 Collegiate that I fixed up a few years ago and that hasn't been ridden since, which will donate its brakes, derailleur, pedals, and whatever other random bits I can make work. I'd like to use the cranks and sprocket till I find a Mag sprocket that looks close, but I think the cranks may be too long.

The wheels are going to be the tough part. I will keep my eyes open for an affordable set of original Fastback 5-speed wheels, but I'm not holding my breath. I have this cockamamie idea, though...

Original Fastback wheels are 28-spoke, and use an oddball narrow Schwinn size tire (20 x 1 3/8). The Collegiate wheels are 36-spoke. I am thinking I can get a set of currently available Mini BMX rims, which are available in 20 x 1 1/8 for 36 spokes and will fit either the old Fastback tires or new street-tread Mini BMX tires, and lace them to the Collegiate hubs. That will also put the rims in the right position to use the original style brake calipers. But if that ends up costing as much as a decent set of original Fastback wheels, then it's kinda pointless...

Also, I have read in a couple different online groups that there are some '90s-'00s Ford colors available in Dupli-Color spray bombs that come fairly close to Flamboyant Red, though I know it won't be the same as Schwinn's process with the aluminum base and candy-color top coat. I will have to brush up on my spray-bomb skills.

At any rate, I am itching to start playing with this but I'm also thinking of just sitting on it and gathering parts till the next MBBO starts. That's December, right?
 
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