Hello all,

My wife asked if I could build her a bike for the Farmer's Market, something of a grocery getter that was stripped down and simplified but had ample carrying capacity. My wife has been riding her Simonetti with full Campy and carrying one of my Timbk2 bags to pick up fresh produce but leaving the Simo locked up even for a short spell stresses her out. This last trip to pick up some fruits and veggies my lil' angel (7 years old) rode her '60's Schwinn Stingray, pee-wee carried home a bag of apples in a small woven basket mounted on her handlebars. That got my wife thinking and soon I was hunting Craigslist for something of quality that would make a good single speed conversion, hopefully at a good price. I happened onto an ad for a 1988 Schwinn High Sierra for $35.00 and the seller wasn't too far from my home. The bike needed work but a 4130 frame with some fillet brazing is hard to beat at that price. Being a big fan of that era Schwinn Cimarrons (I own 4 of them), I knew this would make for a solid single speed. After getting home another Craigslist search yielded an ad looking to trade a large metal basket and a rear rack for a modern bend drop bar, a quick call and swap, and I was on my way. Yesterday, I started stripping the bike down, gave it a good cleaning and polish, and repacked the headset and bottom bracket. Thankfully my spare part bins (eight milk crates) are full and recently organized, this made for a quick rebuild. I decided to save the Suntour Roller Cam brakes for something else down the line, instead I had a complete Dia-Compe brake set with a canti front brake and horseshoe rear. A simple fork swap and the build was almost complete. I need to swing by my LBS today for brake cables and housing but the bike will be ready for Tuesday's Farmer's Market and my wife is loving it! Since I'm in good "bike" standing presently... I think I'll have a peek and see if there are any Cimarrons for sale locally!

(Here are the "before" and "after" shots)