Schwinn Varsity Party Bike

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This late 1980's Marin was from the backyard haul I had last Summer. The paint looked like chalk until some Meguiars liquid cleaner wax was applied two times with a metric ton of elbow grease yesterday. If working on something closer to show quality, I finish up with Harly brand paste wax.

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Ha! Looks awesome: anything baby blue, I’m all in on!!!

For this project, i traded elbow grease and pressure for chemicals and abrasives. I’m curious to see how the varsity paint comes out.

what specific model was that bike? I have a buddy that had a black Marin road bike….. there was a lot of technology on that thing for a very fair price….. and he bought it new.
 
what specific model was that bike? I have a buddy that had a black Marin road bike….. there was a lot of technology on that thing for a very fair price….. and he bought it new.
I'm not sure and my guess is that it's a 1986 or 1987 Muirwoods,. There is no serial number and appears to be Giant Taiwan fabricated.
 
Ok, had some free time tonight so I thought I’d get after the rain dance on the varsity!

As I klunked around looking for wax, I stumbled across a headlight restorer kit I had purchased and never used.

It was super cool actually: all sorts of chemicals, sanders and buffers in there that are basically bike size!!!!
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I pulled 99% of the wax off with a rag, then hit it with the buffer.

I’m pleased with the outcome. The paint was pretty wasted.

I’m most pleased and I moved the bike inside to try to show, but the paint actually has some depth to it and is almost putting off a glow.

The pictures don’t do it justice.

I’m sure not like factory new, but a pretty decent shine on a finish that’s 61 years old.
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Ok, had some free time tonight so I thought I’d get after the rain dance on the varsity!

As I klunked around looking for wax, I stumbled across a headlight restorer kit I had purchased and never used.

It was super cool actually: all sorts of chemicals, sanders and buffers in there that are basically bike size!!!!
View attachment 197788
View attachment 197789
Thank you!
 
That's purdy now! Nice Mr. Myagi work!
That UHaul bike is pretty cool too. Never heard of those.
 
It has this funky odometer on it!

-never seen one of these before!
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I've used these a lot. After a certain length of time they sometimes locked up and when that trigger came around interesting things happened. I just noticed that they used the Continental style fork on this model. I always liked the forged blade fork better because it is stronger. I bent a leg on one of these forks trying to ride up a small ledge where the asphalt ended and dirt began. The leg nearest the asphalt bent up, front wheel hit side of fork and stopped turning, I ended up sliding along half on the asphalt and half on the dirt. I was about 16 at the time.
 

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