Bike Forums - The evolution of a Schwinn Le Tour.

For clarity's sake, this is all the same bike. I bought it as pictured in the first shot about twelve months ago.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...d/DSCN1161.jpg
I bought it like this from one of my coworkers like this. He'd been riding it like this for a while. I didn't know anything about old bikes when I bought it. I rode it like this for about a week and decided I needed brakes or I would become very dead on the street.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...d/DSCN1270.jpg
I gave it brakes, attached a seldom-used freewheel to the other side of the flip-flop hub and rode it like this for about 400-500 miles during my fall semester this year. I mashed many hills on 46/18 gearing. It was a nice riding bike at this stage.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...d/DSCN1599.jpg
Over Christmas break I decided I wanted some more gears so I could do longer rides at more regulated cadences. I had just gotten a new Motobecane, but I wanted something I could lock up outside if I REALLY had to. I ran it like this for about 4 months.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...d/e7953911.jpg
Then gas got expensive, so the bike got to the stage it is at today. I added a rack, a trunk/flip down pannier bag, some fenders and repositioned my lights. There are two rattles I still need to fix, but the mix of old and new componentry is working beautifully. Suntour rd, no-name fd(until I find a better one that I like), Dura-Ace bar ends, sakai cranks, Shimano levers, Tektro brakes... It's cool because I have kept a piece or two from every stage that I have liked and it has evolved into a really nice riding modern-classic bike. I love it, and I'm looking forward to commuting every day on it this summer!

And yes, I'm still running a classic 55/44 road double. I like to go fast on my commute(only one real hill anyways ;)).