i love my 73 continental so much. beautiful work of art. however, there are some problems with lots of the old schwinns when you want to revitalize them. Many them have the single piece crank which can be a hassle (see my previous post). also, many of the chicago schwinns have odd sized parts. its hard to find seat posts, stems and HBs for them (unless you get lucky on e-bay). none of this is a problem if you find a bike that has all this stuff in good shape already because they are built tough. mine will bury me, get drunk at the wake and sleep with my wife afterwards.

all that being said, some of the 80s schwinns built in asia (not sure if it was japan or taiwan) are really easy to work on. most of the 80s manifestations of the traveller are easily doable.

but these comments are like my remarks on french bikes. if you are willing to put the time and money into it, any bike can be a cool fixie - and french roade bikes and chicago schwinns are particularly cool. but, if you are short on time and/or money, GET A BIKE THAT IS EASY TO WORK ON. its not like japanese boom bikes are in short supply.