Classic & Vintage - A vintage half century

I just completed my first half century on a old beat up schwinn world sport. It was just was a local charity ride but me and a friend from work, who rode a Raleigh moutain bike, were definetly two misfits in a crowd full of serious long-time cyclists. They were no doubt training for upcoming brevets and the randonneur season, whereas we were just seeing if we could do it. I hope to do the century next year, and the Seattle to Portland as well. Thanks to everyone I harassed about buying this bike on craigslist, it worked out well, though I would highly recommend changing the seat from stock and maybe some lower gearing for those killer climbs. :rolleyes: My rear end is still sore, and it was a bit disconcerting watching my friend power up in front of me on the hills.

And a parting saulte to the old steel chro-moly frames. During the two and a half hour ride to Wenatchee half of my fork came unscrewed from the roof rack bending the right drop out nearly 45 degrees. Luckily, with a old pair of vice-grips and about 2 mintues of patience, I was able to complete the ride with no noticable wobble or problem at all.

If I recall correctly, one of the bikes used in the RedAcrossAmerica fundraiser was a beat up old Schwinn of about your vintage and quality.

The truth is, Schwinn was right back in the late 1970s, weight doesn't matter too much when you're on the bike and rolling, unless you're fighting epic hills. All the carbo-alumino-titanio crap is just here to extract more money out of the bicycling public. It's not like people didn't do centuries (or even randonnées) before they had carbon forks.

I rode to Milwaukee and back on my Schwinn Racer a few months ago (a bit over 90 miles both ways) and I had several people tell me they didn't think I'd be able to make it at all. I had a slower cruising speed than most people but I managed to be one of the first there because I didn't stop at every gas station to buy more twinkies. I certianly didn't have any trouble "making it" because even in gently rolling southern Wisconsion, the primary difference between a vintage steel cruiser and a modern carbon road bike is about $1200 and some back pain.

Congrats on the half century. I completed a Metric Century last fall on my 80 Schwinn Traveler I had at the time. Its great when you start a 9% hill on the wheel of a brand new Specialized Allez and you finish the hill in the same position. Just proving its really all about the motor. :)

Nice job on that half century. I've ridden that distance as well as lots of hilly rides on this Columbia:

http://web.mit.edu/nlerner/Public/Bikes/Thumbnails/Columbia1Thumb.jpg (http://web.mit.edu/nlerner/Public/Bikes/Columbia1.jpg)

At 40+ pounds with a coaster brake, it was all about standing up and cranking. But the geometry of that bike really lends itself to transfering force well from pedals to the rear wheel. I could usually pass the clipped in folks on the way up the hill and then would watch them go by on the way down.

Neal

Hell, distance has nothing on an old steel frame. My usual Sunday morning ride for coffee is 18 miles to the next town over (college town with the usual expected hip folk/coffeehouse), then double that (minimum) on the ride back just for the grins. On a stock 1964 Raleigh Gran Sport, still with the Campy Gran Sport/cottered crank drivetrain. Only modifications are Campy Record/tubular wheels, Weinmann brakes (the original GBs sucked under load), mudguards and a rear carrier for the panniers.

All that modern magic material don't mean **** when you want to do distance . . . . assuming you actually want to keep a speed where you can enjoy the ride and the scenery.

Syke
Deranged Few M/C

I just bought a black Brooks B-17 for the bike and leveled the stem and saddle height. Hopefully that, and some future tinkering, will make the distances much more comfortable for me as well. I think my problems before were more due to inexperience and improper fit than anything else. That coupled with an absolutely brutal long distance saddle. ^^

now I just need to find some clamp on downtube shifters...