23 December 2010
Week 2 Master’s Swim
After swim #3, it’s still just as much fun as it was the first day, but new challenges are rapidly being put on me. It turns out my technique was really not all that good. Not that this is any big surprise, but the process of correcting is like going in reverse. It turns out I had modified my arm stroke to allow me to get a bigger breath of air, this was causing all kinds of mis-alignment problems and slowing me down. I do understand why I have to fix this, but the problem is that I now can’t breathe anywhere close to the volume of air was previously and on top of that if I mess up my body position I get a mouthful of water and have to delay a much needed breathe even longer. This puts me in an oxygen deficient very rapidly and my only option is to slow down.
21 December 2010
The Flip Turn
After my first day of practice I wanted more speed, fixing my technique and gaining conditioning was just going to take too long, so I decided the quickest win was to figure out the flip turn. Fortunately, I’ve been periodically practicing this all summer, so after reading an few tips on the web and another day of practicing I had it down good enough to implement during practice.
Doing this at practice worked just like I thought, maybe even better, for speed that is, this would have been fine if we were only doing a 50m, but the oxygen tradeoff to do the flip turn put me into a huge O2 deficit and my performance rapidly declined and then when I realized we were doing 100m I had to drastically slow down just to finish. I guess the lesson learned here is that there are not freebies in swimming. It looks like practice is the only way. So now it’s a balance of how often can I swim based on how much recovery time do I need?
Doing this at practice worked just like I thought, maybe even better, for speed that is, this would have been fine if we were only doing a 50m, but the oxygen tradeoff to do the flip turn put me into a huge O2 deficit and my performance rapidly declined and then when I realized we were doing 100m I had to drastically slow down just to finish. I guess the lesson learned here is that there are not freebies in swimming. It looks like practice is the only way. So now it’s a balance of how often can I swim based on how much recovery time do I need?
20 December 2010
Is That Me Swimming?
Over the summer I started swimming a couple days a week in the pool just outside the front door of my apartment building. Once the pool was closed for the year I realized that I had made some decent improvements in conditioning and actually started to enjoy swimming. When I started, 5 minutes in the pool seemed like an eternity, but I kept at it, and as I got in better shape and learned better technique (self taught from reading articles on the web), I was able to go out to the pool for a 30min workout, which is really a lot of bang for the buck if you don’t want to spend a lot of time exercising.
Once the pool was closed, I then started thinking that I would like to continue swimming, and in Grand Island that leaves one option, which is to join the YMCA. Besides being the only pool in GI, I had also learned about the 5:30AM Master’s Swim, which is nothing unique to GI as Master’s Swim is basically the name for everyone uses for the time slot allotted for adults to do a structured and supervised workout, with instruction as needed.
The idea was great but getting up early is a real problem. I attempted to modify my sleep schedule so I could make it to the early workout. In one month I made it to the YMCA once! Only to discover that the days had been changed due to the HS swim team practice. So I didn’t even get to swim. It was then another month before I made it back again, and the only reason I did that was to just say I made it, I really had given up on the idea of getting up early at this point. Getting there was really an accident, due to increasing my workouts and intensity I found myself super hungry late on a Tuesday night after the indoor cycling ride, so I got home and ate more food. Bad idea to eat so late, so I didn’t sleep well and woke up around 4am, after laying in bed for another hour I decided I just as well get up and go to the Master’s Swim.
I got to the pool and was warmly welcomed and immediately found a new group of friends. In fact the swim was so much fun that the hour was over with before I knew it. I got lots of great instruction and my technique improved immediately. My competitive spirit was also awakened as I was certainly very slow compared to the group and I need some tremendous improvements to my cardio. I would have said my cardio was reasonably decent but when you don’t get to breath when you want to that changes things. Should be excellent for cross training. So after 1 time, I was hooked, and despite the major battle I’m going to face getting to bed earlier (lots earlier) I’m going to commit to going to all 3 practices each week.
Once the pool was closed, I then started thinking that I would like to continue swimming, and in Grand Island that leaves one option, which is to join the YMCA. Besides being the only pool in GI, I had also learned about the 5:30AM Master’s Swim, which is nothing unique to GI as Master’s Swim is basically the name for everyone uses for the time slot allotted for adults to do a structured and supervised workout, with instruction as needed.
The idea was great but getting up early is a real problem. I attempted to modify my sleep schedule so I could make it to the early workout. In one month I made it to the YMCA once! Only to discover that the days had been changed due to the HS swim team practice. So I didn’t even get to swim. It was then another month before I made it back again, and the only reason I did that was to just say I made it, I really had given up on the idea of getting up early at this point. Getting there was really an accident, due to increasing my workouts and intensity I found myself super hungry late on a Tuesday night after the indoor cycling ride, so I got home and ate more food. Bad idea to eat so late, so I didn’t sleep well and woke up around 4am, after laying in bed for another hour I decided I just as well get up and go to the Master’s Swim.
I got to the pool and was warmly welcomed and immediately found a new group of friends. In fact the swim was so much fun that the hour was over with before I knew it. I got lots of great instruction and my technique improved immediately. My competitive spirit was also awakened as I was certainly very slow compared to the group and I need some tremendous improvements to my cardio. I would have said my cardio was reasonably decent but when you don’t get to breath when you want to that changes things. Should be excellent for cross training. So after 1 time, I was hooked, and despite the major battle I’m going to face getting to bed earlier (lots earlier) I’m going to commit to going to all 3 practices each week.
18 December 2010
Vivo Barefoot!
Finally on Saturday the Vivo Barefoot Dharma’s arrived and they are awesome! They are the most comfortable shoe I have ever put my foot in. Actually it’s more like, they are the most comfortable shoe that has ever been built to go around my foot! They are instantly comfortable, there is no breaking in period, since I got the right size you just put them on your feet and go, they are ready for action out of the box. Even though they are a dressier shoe, I’m going to wear them everywhere, which is something I would never do with the typical shoes I buy for work. I already started changing out my shoe collection. Sold 3 pairs on ebay already, and as I figure out alternatives for each of the remaining shoes, they will all be getting swapped out to a barefoot equivalent.
10 December 2010
The Obvious Next Step
After experiencing the freedom of the fivefingers it's just downright dispicable putting my feet back in regular heel strike shoes. So I got some Terra Plana Vivo Barefoot Dharma's on order, these shoes are a regular looking shoe except the sole is flexable and only 3mm thick. Also the toe area is really wide so you're toes can spred out. The Dharmas are a nice dressy leather shoe I can wear to work with no problem. Still going to have to keep my steel toes at my desk, but overall I won't have to wear them very often. Just ordered them today, won't be here until mid next week. I ordered them from Born To Run in Washingon. Barefoot Ted's retail store.
09 December 2010
First Fivefinger Barefoot Run
Since our feet have been boxed in miniature coffins their whole life it's no surprise to learn that all the muscles in your foot have atrophy and are no where near strong enough to walk or run barefoot for very long. Pretty all the information I've read or watched on YouTube says to start slow and build up slowly. This is one reason I've been just walking around in them for the past week (besides being sick) tonight I went out for the first run and it was awesome! At least for the 3 blocks that I was able to run, then I walked home. If you think this sounds like I'm a wimp, then go get your own pair tough guy (or gal)! I didn't overdo it buy my feet and calves are sore today, I definately pushed them hard enough. this will pretty much be the plan for the next month before I will have any feet strength to run/walk much further -I hope I progress faster but it's unlikely you can only do some much so fast.
It was incredible though, I also noticed that when I have to put on my clunky big heel work shoes, that I can feel/hear the heal strike in my ears when I walk. YES, I'M SERIOUS, the impact to your heel bone resonates all the way to your skull, where you can feel/hear it! I don't have any proof, but I'm almost positive this is why so many people need knee replacements when they get older...!?
In the next photos I tried to capture what your toes almost immediatly start doing, and thats fanning out to create a stronger base. I suggest going to YouTube and watch some videos, I found a few where seasoned runners "flex" their toes and they have a nice wide base. Very cool when you think about the biomechanics of it and how a wider toe base increases your stability. Very sad when you think about how today's shoes jam your toes together. Here's the photos where I've tried to show how wide my toes want to be after running compared to the shoes I usually put them in.
It was incredible though, I also noticed that when I have to put on my clunky big heel work shoes, that I can feel/hear the heal strike in my ears when I walk. YES, I'M SERIOUS, the impact to your heel bone resonates all the way to your skull, where you can feel/hear it! I don't have any proof, but I'm almost positive this is why so many people need knee replacements when they get older...!?
In the next photos I tried to capture what your toes almost immediatly start doing, and thats fanning out to create a stronger base. I suggest going to YouTube and watch some videos, I found a few where seasoned runners "flex" their toes and they have a nice wide base. Very cool when you think about the biomechanics of it and how a wider toe base increases your stability. Very sad when you think about how today's shoes jam your toes together. Here's the photos where I've tried to show how wide my toes want to be after running compared to the shoes I usually put them in.
08 December 2010
Finally a Fair Amount of Walking in the Fivefingers
I've been wearing the fivefingers almost everynight this week, but a non-barefoot disaster struck on Saturday when I got sick with all the oh-so-fun flu type symptons. Miserable weekend and been a bit slow recovering this week. So finally on Wed I was feeling good enough to get out of the house and do something at least.
Over the past few days of wearing the shoes it has become obvious that learning to walk is going to take some thought to do it right, running on the other hand is a no brainer you just automatically do it. It turns out that even though I don't wear shoes at all when I'm at home in my apartment, I still don't walk right and this is because the carpet is soft enough that I can still walk with a heel strike, and actually if your walking slowly the fivefinger sole is soft enough to allow you walk with a heel strike.
Today’s grocery shopping trip to Walmart is the most I have walked around in the fivefingers with a conscientious effort to walk correctly. Certainly gave the feet a workout and it’s a lot easier to understand how much atrophy has occurred in my feet. If you’re reading this keep in mind that when I say “my feet” unless you’ve already begun your own revolution this applies to you also. The best thing I discovered today is that reverting back to walking naturally as we were meant to walk isn’t going to be all that hard, I found myself walking correctly once I got home also and had been off my feet for a bit and had a chance to forget about making an effort. As expected though, it didn’t take much walking and the muscles in my feet were worn out. Wow did it feel good though, I felt my whole body thanking me as I padded around. Really looking forward to getting the Vivobarefoot shoes, it was ugly cramming my feet back in their steel toed coffins to go back to work this morning. It’s even uglier to have to walk in the things…
Over the past few days of wearing the shoes it has become obvious that learning to walk is going to take some thought to do it right, running on the other hand is a no brainer you just automatically do it. It turns out that even though I don't wear shoes at all when I'm at home in my apartment, I still don't walk right and this is because the carpet is soft enough that I can still walk with a heel strike, and actually if your walking slowly the fivefinger sole is soft enough to allow you walk with a heel strike.
Today’s grocery shopping trip to Walmart is the most I have walked around in the fivefingers with a conscientious effort to walk correctly. Certainly gave the feet a workout and it’s a lot easier to understand how much atrophy has occurred in my feet. If you’re reading this keep in mind that when I say “my feet” unless you’ve already begun your own revolution this applies to you also. The best thing I discovered today is that reverting back to walking naturally as we were meant to walk isn’t going to be all that hard, I found myself walking correctly once I got home also and had been off my feet for a bit and had a chance to forget about making an effort. As expected though, it didn’t take much walking and the muscles in my feet were worn out. Wow did it feel good though, I felt my whole body thanking me as I padded around. Really looking forward to getting the Vivobarefoot shoes, it was ugly cramming my feet back in their steel toed coffins to go back to work this morning. It’s even uglier to have to walk in the things…
02 December 2010
The Barefoot Revolution Begins
Summary of my new now known truth: Running Shoes = coffins for your feet = drinking Mercury as medicine
Side note Rant:
It angers me to think that companies like Nike and Addidas have known this for years and have conspired to not only bury the truth, but continued to develop products they know are not healthy for human beings. It angers me even more that now that the truth is going mainstream they continue their conspiracy by leveraging marketing power over publications like Runner’s World…
OK, moving on,
THE REVOLUTION BEGINS: DAY 1 – Going to buy some Vibram fivefingers
Amazingly Redman's Shoes in Kearney, NE had the fivefingers in stock, I drove over afterwork and picked up a pair of KSO's and a couple pair of Injinji socks. Obviously, wore them for the rest of the night. Looking forward to giving them a test spin.
Injinji Socks - Of course they have toes, how else would they fit in the fivefingers?
11 February 2010
Leadville 100 - Nope
Yes or No emails were sent out yesterday for the Leadville 100, and I didn't get in. Unlike last year, I'm not going to pay a $1000 for the Carmichael camp. I would like to, as it was a fun camp and the race lives up to all the hype, but in the end I don't want to put a dent like that my wallet.
There is however plenty of 100 mile mtb races, so I'll have to look into finding another event to replace the Leadville experience.
There is however plenty of 100 mile mtb races, so I'll have to look into finding another event to replace the Leadville experience.
28 January 2010
10 January 2010
Bike 4 – Good Karma
1980something Huffy Champion 10 speed, blue
One thing I didn’t mention is where I got the Le Tour, A friend of mine here in Grand Island is the founder of, Bikes for the Needy, a program that accepts donated bikes and fixes them up for people that need transportation, or for kids who just need bikes!
Sometimes though not all the donated bikes are fixed up and given away, in a few rare cases the donated bikes have more value to sell than give away. How can this be? Well it takes money to make even minor repairs (even when the labor is done by volunteer work) and by selling the bikes with some value this income provides funds to fix up many other bikes! This was the case with the Le Tour I picked out, and an appropriate cash donation was made. There is also the flip side of this situation, perhaps you are thinking, “I have an old bike, but it’s in terrible shape, probably not worth the trouble to even donate it.” It’s possible that your right and the bike is not worth fixing up, but it’s also very likely the bike has many good parts on it that could be used for fixing up other bikes - I would suggest still bringing the bike in as a donation.
That night while working on the Le Tour I went out to an old shed on the farm where I knew my parents had an old Huffy sitting around, this was the bike I planned to cut a piece of tubing out of to make the frame modifications I previously mentioned I was going to do on the Le Tour. When I went out to get the Huffy, I had originally thought the bike was in junk condition, but even though the bike was coated in 1/8” of dirt (ok maybe not that much, but it was thick) the bike had always been stored indoors and some further investigation revealed that it just needed some TLC to be ride able again. Besides not wanting to generate bad karma, fixing this bike up to donate was just the right thing to do, cutting it up for 3 inches of tubing was not! After a couple hours of cleaning and a lot of WD-40, my Dad and I had the bike fixed up and in amazing condition, add some new tires, tubes, and grips and it is probably a better built Huffy than anything in Walmart today! I of course donated the cost of the new parts, my time (and my Dad’s) and this great bike is on its way to help someone out that is in need of transportation!
The Bikes for the Needy program has provided over 500 bikes in the past 5 years to those in need. If you would like more information on the Bikes for the Needy program, if you would like to donate your old bike, or make a monetary donation please call or stop by:
Wayne Cyclery
308.382.4223
309 North Pine Street
Grand Island, NE 68801
One thing I didn’t mention is where I got the Le Tour, A friend of mine here in Grand Island is the founder of, Bikes for the Needy, a program that accepts donated bikes and fixes them up for people that need transportation, or for kids who just need bikes!
Sometimes though not all the donated bikes are fixed up and given away, in a few rare cases the donated bikes have more value to sell than give away. How can this be? Well it takes money to make even minor repairs (even when the labor is done by volunteer work) and by selling the bikes with some value this income provides funds to fix up many other bikes! This was the case with the Le Tour I picked out, and an appropriate cash donation was made. There is also the flip side of this situation, perhaps you are thinking, “I have an old bike, but it’s in terrible shape, probably not worth the trouble to even donate it.” It’s possible that your right and the bike is not worth fixing up, but it’s also very likely the bike has many good parts on it that could be used for fixing up other bikes - I would suggest still bringing the bike in as a donation.
That night while working on the Le Tour I went out to an old shed on the farm where I knew my parents had an old Huffy sitting around, this was the bike I planned to cut a piece of tubing out of to make the frame modifications I previously mentioned I was going to do on the Le Tour. When I went out to get the Huffy, I had originally thought the bike was in junk condition, but even though the bike was coated in 1/8” of dirt (ok maybe not that much, but it was thick) the bike had always been stored indoors and some further investigation revealed that it just needed some TLC to be ride able again. Besides not wanting to generate bad karma, fixing this bike up to donate was just the right thing to do, cutting it up for 3 inches of tubing was not! After a couple hours of cleaning and a lot of WD-40, my Dad and I had the bike fixed up and in amazing condition, add some new tires, tubes, and grips and it is probably a better built Huffy than anything in Walmart today! I of course donated the cost of the new parts, my time (and my Dad’s) and this great bike is on its way to help someone out that is in need of transportation!
The Bikes for the Needy program has provided over 500 bikes in the past 5 years to those in need. If you would like more information on the Bikes for the Needy program, if you would like to donate your old bike, or make a monetary donation please call or stop by:
Wayne Cyclery
308.382.4223
309 North Pine Street
Grand Island, NE 68801
Bike 3 – The Winter Trainer
1980 Schwinn Le Tour, Xtra-Light, 1020 tubing, lugged frame.
OK, so this is going to be the training bike I started out to build and now 2 bikes later I’ve actually got a bike with no other cause than to be turned into a winter training machine.
I chose this bike for several reasons:
• I already have 2 Varsities
• 3 piece cranks, so no pedal conversion issue.
• It’s a lot lighter
• Center pull brakes that are a lot heavier duty
• Still not a valuable frame that I’m afraid to “ruin” by making modifications to it.
While I want to keep some vintage appeal to this bike, that plan is only for keeping the cost down and ensuring I’m never afraid to take it out into the mud, snow, salt, rain, etc…
Frame modifications:
• Brazed on 2 sets of water bottle bosses, one on the down tube and the other on the seat tube.
• Widen rear drop outs from 120mm to 130mm to accept 8/9 speed hubs.
• Modify rear brake hanger to fit wider spacing for 700c rims
• Remove kickstand bracket and replace with tubing
• Powdercoat -Sparkle Blue Sky, I just liked this color, no way I was going to paint the bike silver again.
The best part of this frameset is that it was made in the USA, I really got lucky and got one of the two years that Schwinn made the Le Tours in Chicago (1979 and 1980)! I didn’t actually know this when I picked out the bike. Great fit for keeping my bike collection all Made in the USA.
Now another issue, many Varsity owners have found out about this problem also, I haven’t ran into this yet because I left the stock stems on the two previous bikes. The stem on this bike is 0.833” or 21.1mm (same as the Varsities), no one makes this size anymore, and finding a different stem length or angle would be darn near impossible. Since this is a training bike I need the geometry to be as close as possible to ideal for me! So handler position has to be modified. Here’s the solution: The next closest size stem is 22.2mm, still not easy to find parts for, but there is an adapter available to use threadless 1 1/8” stems, which is today’s standard. So all I need to do is machine this adapter down from 22.2 to 21.1mm, and since I have access to a lathe, so this is a really an easy modification, and with this adapter created any stem length/angle is now available!
One thing that wasn’t a problem is the seatpost, the seatpost is a 25.4mm (or 1”) on this bike with a thin adapter to fit the 26.2mm seat tube. 26.2mm while not standard is still available today.
I had an old Xero wheelset sitting around and to still use the old chain and shifting system, I installed a 7 speed cassette (with spacers) and voila two more gears on the non-indexing stem shifters! (Well, actually it would be 4 more gears since Schwinn counted all the possible gear combinations when calling this a 10 speed, so now its a 14 speed).
Bike 2 - Schwinn Varsity Single Speed
1974 Schwinn Varsity – Lightweight, 10 Speeds, Campus Green – Conversion to single speed while keeping the original vintage look and feel of the bike.
This project was added when I bought a second Varsity for the hubs. My original plan was to relace 700c rims onto the vintage hubs. I wanted to do this so I could have all options available for tires, primarily the cyclocross tire option! In a strange twist of events after we finished relacing the wheels from the standard Schwinn 4 cross to new DT SS spokes in a 3 cross (36 hole) pattern, using what we thought were 700c rims, it turns out the rims were mis-labeled and were actually 27 inch. We could have torn this wheel set down and got new rims, but instead it only seemed right to just go ahead and use these wheels on this bike instead of the training bike I was originally slating these for. Michelin makes a nice smooth street tire in 27” and these along with some new tubes were installed.
The frameset had a few minor modifications:
• Brazed on 2 sets of water bottle bosses, one on the down tube and the other on the seat tube.
• Removed all the shifter cable brackets.
• Powdercoat -Sparkle Granny Smith, similar color to original green
Several challenges come about when wanting to keep/reuse as many original parts as possible. The most significant was my desire to keep the 1-piece Astabula crankset, however I did not want to keep the stock pedals, I wanted a clipless options. This presented the problem that 1 piece cranks only have ½”-20 threads, whereas all of today’s clipless pedals are made to fit 3 piece cranks with 9/16” -20 threads. Here’s the solution: I bought a standard combo spd clipless/platform pedal, these combo pedals are made by intro level (cheap) parts suppliers like Wellgo or Suntour, these were of course 9/16 thread, then I bought some ½ platform only pedals of a similar style and manufacturer. If you know anything about manufacturing (especially when you want the parts to be cheap) you design things to use common parts! So it was no surprise when I pulled the axes out of each pedal and they were the same except for the threading! Swapped the axles problem solved!
I’m sure I’ll get booed by the fixed gear crowd here; next I removed the 5 speed external cassette and replaced it with a single 16 free wheel gear. The gear ratio ends up being 39-16, this is because I am keeping the stock front (small) chain ring and 16 is as small as I could get on the back, overall not a bad combo, considering the tires are 27 inch.
Another interesting vintage appeal to the bike is that I kept the rear wheel “pie plate” (spoke chain guard) if you thought that chrome plate was huge before, it’s really big now that there is only a lonely (and small) single gear back there!
This project was added when I bought a second Varsity for the hubs. My original plan was to relace 700c rims onto the vintage hubs. I wanted to do this so I could have all options available for tires, primarily the cyclocross tire option! In a strange twist of events after we finished relacing the wheels from the standard Schwinn 4 cross to new DT SS spokes in a 3 cross (36 hole) pattern, using what we thought were 700c rims, it turns out the rims were mis-labeled and were actually 27 inch. We could have torn this wheel set down and got new rims, but instead it only seemed right to just go ahead and use these wheels on this bike instead of the training bike I was originally slating these for. Michelin makes a nice smooth street tire in 27” and these along with some new tubes were installed.
The frameset had a few minor modifications:
• Brazed on 2 sets of water bottle bosses, one on the down tube and the other on the seat tube.
• Removed all the shifter cable brackets.
• Powdercoat -Sparkle Granny Smith, similar color to original green
Several challenges come about when wanting to keep/reuse as many original parts as possible. The most significant was my desire to keep the 1-piece Astabula crankset, however I did not want to keep the stock pedals, I wanted a clipless options. This presented the problem that 1 piece cranks only have ½”-20 threads, whereas all of today’s clipless pedals are made to fit 3 piece cranks with 9/16” -20 threads. Here’s the solution: I bought a standard combo spd clipless/platform pedal, these combo pedals are made by intro level (cheap) parts suppliers like Wellgo or Suntour, these were of course 9/16 thread, then I bought some ½ platform only pedals of a similar style and manufacturer. If you know anything about manufacturing (especially when you want the parts to be cheap) you design things to use common parts! So it was no surprise when I pulled the axes out of each pedal and they were the same except for the threading! Swapped the axles problem solved!
I’m sure I’ll get booed by the fixed gear crowd here; next I removed the 5 speed external cassette and replaced it with a single 16 free wheel gear. The gear ratio ends up being 39-16, this is because I am keeping the stock front (small) chain ring and 16 is as small as I could get on the back, overall not a bad combo, considering the tires are 27 inch.
Another interesting vintage appeal to the bike is that I kept the rear wheel “pie plate” (spoke chain guard) if you thought that chrome plate was huge before, it’s really big now that there is only a lonely (and small) single gear back there!
Update: Bike 1 – The Vintage Rebuild
Bike 1 – The Vintage Rebuild
1973 Schwinn Varsity – Lightweight, 10 Speeds, Lemon Yellow
This bike is being restored to an original vintage condition. It is really the simplest project of all of them. The bike was in excellent condition when I bought it and while my original plan was to build a training bike, it would have been a tragedy to not restore this one to original. Tragedy is a bit of an overstatement as there are tons of these bikes still around and they really have no collector value, but still restoring it to vintage condition has been a fun project and makes for a unique bike today.
Due to the availability of parts I have accessorized this bike to the max! All are “Schwinn Approved” accessories:
• Seat bag
• Union 6v, 3watt head and tail light dynamo system
• Rear rack
• Chrome fenders
• Quick release front wheel
Other original parts I scavenged up for this bike include:
• Front (white) and rear (red) Cateye reflectors
• Front (orange) and rear (red) Cateye spoke reflectors
• NOS yellow handlebar tape with chrome end plugs
• Still pliable (mostly) Panasonic 27” tires
Headset and BB bearings were removed, cleaned, and regreased, new bearings and axles were installed in the hubs (made in France), frame was cleaned, even the pedals were taken apart and regreased. All chrome was sparkled up with 0000 steel wool, new brakepads, new cables (kept the original housing though), and readjusted everything!
Although the paint shows some age, the decals are in good condition and overall the bike looks great!
1973 Schwinn Varsity – Lightweight, 10 Speeds, Lemon Yellow
This bike is being restored to an original vintage condition. It is really the simplest project of all of them. The bike was in excellent condition when I bought it and while my original plan was to build a training bike, it would have been a tragedy to not restore this one to original. Tragedy is a bit of an overstatement as there are tons of these bikes still around and they really have no collector value, but still restoring it to vintage condition has been a fun project and makes for a unique bike today.
Due to the availability of parts I have accessorized this bike to the max! All are “Schwinn Approved” accessories:
• Seat bag
• Union 6v, 3watt head and tail light dynamo system
• Rear rack
• Chrome fenders
• Quick release front wheel
Other original parts I scavenged up for this bike include:
• Front (white) and rear (red) Cateye reflectors
• Front (orange) and rear (red) Cateye spoke reflectors
• NOS yellow handlebar tape with chrome end plugs
• Still pliable (mostly) Panasonic 27” tires
Headset and BB bearings were removed, cleaned, and regreased, new bearings and axles were installed in the hubs (made in France), frame was cleaned, even the pedals were taken apart and regreased. All chrome was sparkled up with 0000 steel wool, new brakepads, new cables (kept the original housing though), and readjusted everything!
Although the paint shows some age, the decals are in good condition and overall the bike looks great!
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