Yep. That's how you put an old Varsity to work for ya.

Squiddy likes him some PC and signature cloth-wrapped bars. I should send a link of this thread to my cousin who has an old gigantic Continental that has most the the running gear broken or breaking from rust/use/abuse.

I think it looked much better before...

nice ride!

I've been known to venture into leather territory too, on occasion.

24" Speedster.

Nice job, and these very laid-back electroforged frames are among the few that handle really well with pulled-back bars, shorty stem or any combination thereof.

Can you notice any improvement in the larger frame's longer top tube? I mean as far as climbing whatever hills you might have to deal with?

I once tried the 26" frame Varsity to test the benefit of a longer top tube, but the bike was actually just to tall for my albeit leggy 5'9" height.

I actually have a Collegiate on which the top tube was lowered by a welder who I traded a bike to. He threw the Collegiate in for free, and it actually ended up being creditably sturdy. All the welding was done old-school, with a torch.

As for your custom seat posts, were these made because of the difficulty in finding a seat clamp with the 1/2" clamping and for a saddle with round rails?
I'm considering fabbing a seatpost for a Huffy frame that has a seatpost diameter a little smaller than a Schwinn.

Thanks

I can't say because I haven't done any real climbing on either machine yet. I will say though, the increased straight line stability is quite noticeable with the longer (freakish) wheelbase. I enjoy frequently riding hands-free, so it's really nice. of course it aint nimble, but that's not important for a bike with this one's duties. Hardcore slow scenic path cruising.

No. 13/16"-to-7/8" posts are readily available, new, and obviously 7/8" clamps are common. I made the posts for two reasons. One is because what is available is cheap steel with a lousy finish. I made the first one so I could polish it up to match all the other components on the Caramel colored bike.

For the blue bike I needed a black post (they don't exist) and I couldn't powder coat one of the cheap steel ones (although it would have looked just fine) because the added material would have prevented it from entering the seat tube. So I spun another 7/8" 6061 rod down to .010" below spec, which allowed room for the ~.010 powder build up. My math and the powder coater weren't perfect, so I had to run a brake cylinder hone in the seat tube to remove, literally, about .001". It just wouldn't go.

Of course; that's exactly the one I was thinking of. I guess I should have just said "wrapped." I don't know anyone else who goes stem-to-end on upright bars.

I know you're thinking of the Wald post, however note that this guy has high-quality 13/16" (with 7/8" top) seatposts in both cro-mo steel and solid aluminum: Genuine Bicycle Produsts: Parts and Accesories.

Thanks, but Youch! $75.00. I paid $11.00 for a four foot rod to make three posts. $3.66 per post.

OK, that's a much better deal, plus it is way more satisfying to do it yourself!