When In Doubt, Build A Bike
 

Bought some old bikes (Schwinn Continental & Varsity) & tires; tubes; cables; housings; dug up some old drop bars; built a nice new red commuter. A bit of a dinosaur, but practically bulletproof. Oh, also cleaned & lubed the bearings front & rear.

Black makes a good trim color for red if anyone's wondering about red frames.

My first bike with Armadillos. Yikes they were expensive & they seem a little irregular or maybe that's the way I mounted them. Fortunate they had them in 27 x 1 1/4. I would have settled for $12. gumwalls. It's got a rear rack (silver) & I added 2 silver bottle cages. Black cages would look better but the silver ones kinda go with the rack.

It's got a saddle from a Trek 520 road bike, but I would swap in my new road saddle for any length of time.

It's got hockey tape for now & the bars I removed had nice old-time brake levers, (now stowed for a rainy day). They look like the new "safety" levers on cross bikes. (but aren't)

Kids softball & baseball tomorrow but maybe I can sneak a test ride in. and take some pictures! :-)

There should be some sort of forum rule about describing bikes without pictures. :O)

Been there done that.

Picture, picture.

Tpiwwp!

I just found another for only $50! and he says the wheels are in excellent condition - GOTTA GO!

There is, UN Security Council resolution 26x1.95. One faces heavy sanctions and accusatory finger wagging for not posting pictures.

OK, here's a picture before I put my new saddle on it. I cranked up the Armadillos to the full 120 psi and flew on it. I didn't even notice the extra weight. It is an old (40 yrs?) dinosaur but it's red! :-) I had my best 13 mile commute at 45 minutes, so it can't be too bad. The tires and wheels feel good, not irregular at all. The levers are a bit too tall and are very close to the bars so grabbing the tops to shift is cumbersome - I might change those for shorter ones. I didn't change the shifters cables but I think I will because shifting takes some effort. I cleaned the chain, and cleaned the chain, and cleaned the chain - then lubed it. I still get a tiny bit of chain hop when I'm in a high gear. Would like to get of that and some new bar tape. I'm thinking plain black? Any opinions on bar tape color? What you see is hockey tape. Skinny bars!

Would also like to bring the drops up higher but I'd have to locate a very tall old-style stem.

the "BEFORE" picture

This bike is a dream to ride. I've got a little knee discomfort so I may not have the fit correct. The ride is so nice though, it's hard to explain. It's stable, feels like a Saab. If you've ever driven a Saab, you know the sensation of a stable low center of gravity. I like the way it feels over bumps when I'm off the saddle. Other bikes fly around but this one cruises right over with an interesting sense of kinetics.

I think that looks awesome.

Sweet!