I'll try to keep the backstory short...
Recently I got involved with a group in the next town over that does a retro ride every Thursday evening. The ride focuses loosely on muscle bikes, but anything goes. I have a few old beater muscle bikes... an Apollo, a Barracuda, a Stingray, a few Black Friday Krates, like that. My 11-year-old son likes to go along on one of the BFKs set up kinda like an old school BMX conversion. I got my 19-year-old daughter to try it on her old Polo Bike complete with flowered seat. She liked the ride, but by the end she was getting sore and cranky. To be fair, the group goes close to 10 miles (at a leisurely pace) on an average ride. As cool as Stingrays look, they are not real comfortable for anything farther than down the block, especially for someone who doesn't ride regularly. So I got it in my head to find her an old Collegiate... it fits the retro bill and is much nicer to ride. Found one on Craigslist for 60 bucks, I think I did okay:
She seems to like it, anyway. And yes, it has new tires now.
But the thing is, I really like riding it. So much so that I found another just like it, but in brown and in rougher shape, on Craigslist and cleaned it up. But it's another girls' bike, and I wanted a boys' model. A little research showed me that girls' frame Collegiates are pretty common, and boys' frame Collegiates aren't too hard to find... except for the camelback style frame, which is the one I wanted. Those are rare and expensive when they turn up.
Enter RRB's EBAY/CRAIGSLIST ADS forum, specifically this post. Found my camelback frame! Thanks RustySprockets!
Paid $35, and almost thought I wasn't going to be able to use it when I got it home because the bottom headset cup was loose in the frame, but a beer can shim took care of that. Straightened the bars, tweaked the fork (it was spread too far) and I was set to follow my original plan of stripping the brown girls' Collegiate for parts. But I hated to do that since it had cleaned up pretty nice. Enter the ratty 26" Ross Europa that's been in my shed since I rescued it from my in-laws' basement 10 years ago. Between that and the junk pile in the basement and some Wald fenders and Kenda tires from Niagara Cycle, this is what I ended up with:
Not near as wild as the stuff I see here on RRB, but I'm kinda digging it. It's really nice to ride compared to my banana seat stuff. And I can't wait to hear the Schwinn purists' responses to it. Definitely not a Collegiate, but it's kinda trying to be.
Looking for a Schwinn 5-speed stem/headset mounted shift lever, a rear reflector, and some stuff like that. Think I have a rack for it.
Recently I got involved with a group in the next town over that does a retro ride every Thursday evening. The ride focuses loosely on muscle bikes, but anything goes. I have a few old beater muscle bikes... an Apollo, a Barracuda, a Stingray, a few Black Friday Krates, like that. My 11-year-old son likes to go along on one of the BFKs set up kinda like an old school BMX conversion. I got my 19-year-old daughter to try it on her old Polo Bike complete with flowered seat. She liked the ride, but by the end she was getting sore and cranky. To be fair, the group goes close to 10 miles (at a leisurely pace) on an average ride. As cool as Stingrays look, they are not real comfortable for anything farther than down the block, especially for someone who doesn't ride regularly. So I got it in my head to find her an old Collegiate... it fits the retro bill and is much nicer to ride. Found one on Craigslist for 60 bucks, I think I did okay:
She seems to like it, anyway. And yes, it has new tires now.
But the thing is, I really like riding it. So much so that I found another just like it, but in brown and in rougher shape, on Craigslist and cleaned it up. But it's another girls' bike, and I wanted a boys' model. A little research showed me that girls' frame Collegiates are pretty common, and boys' frame Collegiates aren't too hard to find... except for the camelback style frame, which is the one I wanted. Those are rare and expensive when they turn up.
Enter RRB's EBAY/CRAIGSLIST ADS forum, specifically this post. Found my camelback frame! Thanks RustySprockets!
Paid $35, and almost thought I wasn't going to be able to use it when I got it home because the bottom headset cup was loose in the frame, but a beer can shim took care of that. Straightened the bars, tweaked the fork (it was spread too far) and I was set to follow my original plan of stripping the brown girls' Collegiate for parts. But I hated to do that since it had cleaned up pretty nice. Enter the ratty 26" Ross Europa that's been in my shed since I rescued it from my in-laws' basement 10 years ago. Between that and the junk pile in the basement and some Wald fenders and Kenda tires from Niagara Cycle, this is what I ended up with:
Not near as wild as the stuff I see here on RRB, but I'm kinda digging it. It's really nice to ride compared to my banana seat stuff. And I can't wait to hear the Schwinn purists' responses to it. Definitely not a Collegiate, but it's kinda trying to be.
Looking for a Schwinn 5-speed stem/headset mounted shift lever, a rear reflector, and some stuff like that. Think I have a rack for it.