Hello ladies and gentlemen! It's been a while since I've posted here but rest assured I'm still riding and still loving vintage bikes. Unfortunately in my area it seems like people only buy and ride walmart bikes because that's all that ever shows up on the side of the road or on Craigslist. Not to mention that I've been simultaneously blessed and cursed with long legs, and at 6'3" I'm relegated to the largest frames most manufacturers built. My choices are limited to say the least.
So imagine my surprise when I'm out yesterday and I see this:
On the side of the road with a $5 price tag attached. (You'll have to excuse me, I got a new camera and I haven't had many chances to play around with it so you guys get to see a couple silly shots)
It took me forever to figure out what kind of Schwinn it was since the top tube decals are completely non-existant and this is what the rest of the decals look like:
I'm relatively sure it's a Continental (II possibly?). Based on the date stamps the frame was built in 1980 and the head tube badge shows it to have been put together in 1981. It's in fairly good shape and needs a good cleaning and relube since everything that moves is gummy as hell. I was very happy to realize that fitting the 700c wheels from another bike fit fine with plenty of adjustment room in the brakes. That is going to be the first thing changed on the bike because holy crap is this thing heavy with those chromed steel wheels. I'd really like to keep those high flange hubs though so as long as the bearing races are in good shape I'm going to try my hand at wheel building for the first time.
The next thing to go is going to be the ashtabula crank because once again it's just way too heavy. I weighed the bike on the bathroom scale and it came out to be about 37 or 38 pounds. Is the adapter that Sheldon sells on his site so that I can fit a modern 3 piece crankset about the best thing going for this application?
The next stuff to go is easy enough- I don't need a kickstand so a bit of weight savings there as well. I'd like a little more stopping power and suicide levers just look ridiculous to me so some newer aero levers seem like a great idea.
Enough of my yammering for a minute. Here's some more pictures:
It took me a second or two to figure out what was going on with those tabs connected to the hub and the fork.
This cheap find was exactly what I needed to get excited about bikes again. Commuting every day tends to make a person take bikes for granted and I've shelved a pain in the ass Univega frame that I was working on for that simple fact. It's about time that thing was finished so it's going to be next on the repair stand.
A couple questions;
Is it a Continental or a Continental II?
Can anyone suggest a simple way to figure out what length spokes I'll need with those hubs and 700c rims?
Is the adapter that Sheldon sells on his site so that I can fit a modern 3 piece crankset about the best thing going for this application?
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/opc.html
I checked memorylane-classics.com for decals and they don't seem to have sets for the Continental. I've gotten a set from Mswantak before but I'd rather not spend that much on decals for this bike- are there any other sources? (ebay came up with nothing too)
This is purely aesthetic but I'm looking for opinions- should I go with black cranks or polished aluminum? I'm toying around with putting black bar tape on as well and going for an all black scheme as much as possible, excluding the either gold or white decals. A new saddle would be black too, I'm thinking a Brooks.
So all in all I expect to slightly lighten what is essentially a boat anchor and hopefully have a mildly interesting alternate bike for days when the wind wouldn't be kicking my butt. Luckily it's really flat here and I don't need to worry about fighting this thing up any hills. I'd really appreciate any suggestions or answers to my questions so I'll just give my thanks in advance (and thanks for making it through this beastly long post).