I dusted off the Schwinn yesterday after its yearlong stay in storage as I wanted to ride something else besides the 10 speed, and decided to have another go at the blue Frankenstein peddler. If you're just tuning in this bike was my practical compromise between a Schwinn Manta Ray and functionality. This '67 deluxe speedster frame has the same fastback styling as the manta ray frame but its five years older. Rear wheel is a 26" which came on the speedster and has a Sturmey Archer three speed. The 3 speed stik is off a 60's Schwinn stingray and its rad because you can power shift the thing like a Hurst from 1st - 3rd gear or back down and so on and it has a pulley and a spring actuator to grab the gears correctly. New mods include the swap of the wide manta ray style seat for a skinnier Persons white metal flake variety, and the front 26" wheel was swapped out for a skinnier 27" off a 1972 Schwinn Varsity which gives the bike some speedway appeal. Ideal tigeroo growler horn rounds out the bike. This Liberace part adds a healthy bit of flare to the ride and has reflector eyes. I was riding around on some dirt hills in the dark tonight and the bike goes really well and you can actually stand up and peddle a steep hill and it won't jump out of gear. The tiger is rubber mounted and ready for any bumps and thumps along the roadway. In a bicycle world dominated by fixed gear hipsters it feels nice to put this old Schwinn contraption back on the road!
No comments:
Post a Comment