So apparently the bicycle gods have been with me this spring.
A couple months ago, a friend of a friend mentioned that he had this old Trek to get rid of, left in a shed by a previous occupant:
Said friend retrieved it for me a couple weeks ago, and I've been picking at it. I have rebuilt the front hub and bottom bracket, and replaced the cranks with a slightly nicer set and the pedals with Primo Tenderizers, and I am currently waiting for a set of brake cables to come from Planet BMX.
Also, a coworker who knows I like old bikes retrieved his old childhood Schwinn from his sister's place and asked if I would like it as a project, as he hated to see it just go to scrap:
He said he had a lot of memories with this bike; he remembers delivering papers on it through all kinds of weather including snow. He also remembers a time in the late '60s or early '70s when the Steelers were doing well so he and his dad went out and spray-bombed it black and gold.
Now, this guy is about 10 years older than me, which would put his year of birth around 1960. The serial number of this thing makes it a 1951, which checks out with some catalog pics I have found of low-end or department-store Schwinns with a skiptooth sweetheart sprocket. This thing had to be around 20 years old already when he got it, figuring he was around 10 at the time. Man, the stories this thing could probably tell...
Dig that medallion strapped to the head tube. Is that a St. Christopher's medal?
A couple months ago, a friend of a friend mentioned that he had this old Trek to get rid of, left in a shed by a previous occupant:
Said friend retrieved it for me a couple weeks ago, and I've been picking at it. I have rebuilt the front hub and bottom bracket, and replaced the cranks with a slightly nicer set and the pedals with Primo Tenderizers, and I am currently waiting for a set of brake cables to come from Planet BMX.
Also, a coworker who knows I like old bikes retrieved his old childhood Schwinn from his sister's place and asked if I would like it as a project, as he hated to see it just go to scrap:
He said he had a lot of memories with this bike; he remembers delivering papers on it through all kinds of weather including snow. He also remembers a time in the late '60s or early '70s when the Steelers were doing well so he and his dad went out and spray-bombed it black and gold.
Now, this guy is about 10 years older than me, which would put his year of birth around 1960. The serial number of this thing makes it a 1951, which checks out with some catalog pics I have found of low-end or department-store Schwinns with a skiptooth sweetheart sprocket. This thing had to be around 20 years old already when he got it, figuring he was around 10 at the time. Man, the stories this thing could probably tell...
Dig that medallion strapped to the head tube. Is that a St. Christopher's medal?