My first fixie
 

Picked up a 1971 Schwinn Varsity from craigslist today for $40. It's in pretty good condition. As soon as I get some money for wheels and a drivetrain, it'll be ready to go. I didn't bother to take a picture before stripping it down and cleaning it. I kind of wish I had.

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/1083/pict0806bg6.jpg
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/245/pict0807kq2.jpg
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1679/pict0809vp7.jpg

A classic american ride. Please say you're leaving the paint. I had a brown one when I was a kid. Plush ride. I think you can still find that Schwinn semi-transparent rubber/plastic bar tape, but you'll have to hunt. If it was mine, I'd try to restore it to the original glory, but fixed. There's plenty of vintage schwinn enthusiasts out there and forums on the subject. I bet they could help you.

Good find.

yes! one piece bottom bracket. your gunna love that bike. if it was me id put a coaster brake n bomb around

I'm going to go with a regular 3 piece crank setup using the Truvativ american-euro adapter. I'm not really a fan of the one-piece cranks.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the orange paint, of course I'm keeping it. I think I'm going to use regualr white foam tape, though. I don't like that plastic stuff, even though it would look awesome.

Am I the only person who doesn't like Schwinns? Give me a Japanese bike...

holy **** you spend $40 for that and are going to spend another 25 on top of that plus however much wheels and crankset will cost???

Not only is it a heavy peice of **** it doesn't even have the mounting goodies that make many heavy peices of **** worthwhile. See if you can find someone else willing to spend $40 on such a pile and get something at least approaching decent. If you must have a schwinn get a world sport or something. Yeah they kinda suck and are often overpriced but not mind boggling so like this.

^^^quit ****ting on homeboys parade.
Once he has wheels and a drivetrain he can always swap those parts over to a decent frame.
Varsitys are heavy peices of garbage, but they are fun. enjoy your bike

If you're going to put 3-piece cranks on it, do it right:

http://www.danscomp.com/images/products/mid_451000.gif

+

http://www.danscomp.com/images/products/mid_457068.gif

= pimp American BB setup

ever cut open a varsity? there's a reason why they never dent and weigh more than all my bikes put together - the tubing is thick as all-get-out.

oh no the juggalo doesn't like me how will I ever deal with myself.


Seriously, buying the adapter is throwing good money after bad. The whole bike isn't worth the cost of that(forget the crankset). If he finds another sucker on the other hand he can get 20 or 30 for what he has and then with the money he saves from the adapter and the crankset he can easily get a much nicer bike.

The only possible justification for doing this would be if it was his childhood varsity and he was really attached to it or something. He's not so this is just a waste of money.

I like the idea of building it up...it'll be fun and who cares about money...you can always make more.

uhhh because in the end all he'll have is a piece of ****. If he started with something decent(which he could do at little additional expense) he would have a nice bike to ride for years to come and it would be just as fun to build.

nobrainer440 - dutret talking smack, even if he's being a sweetiepie for looking out for the best interest of your $40 (hey, it's just what he does). just because it's a varsity doesn't mean it's worthless.

enjoy building your bike, and enjoy riding it, but also be keeping your eye out for deals on better frames. varsities are clunkers. but hey, it's a first fixed gear, it doesn't have to be magic, especially when it will be a learning experience that will make you fall in love.

If he was doing it for free it would be cool. It's sinking more money into a bike that will ride like ****, be a ***** to pick up and likely sour him on conversions that I have a problem with.

A varsity isn't completely worthless but paying $25+ for that frame would be a waste of money. Even if he can't get anything for the frame spending $25 on a converter is basically doing that. He would be far better off selling the frame for what he can and looking for something that is at least cromo.

I understand what you're saying dutret, it is a heavy bike, but really, $40 + $25 is not much when I'm going to be spending $300 on parts that can all be swapped over to another frame as soon as I find one. Good used frames are hard to come by here in KS, so I take what I can get. Thanks for your input.

I've got a '54, which was originally a single speed and still is. It's heavy and it's a beautiful ride. Good luck and enjoy.

think of it positively, when you fall over in some dramatic fashion while learning to trackstand at least the frame won't get messed up.

I can attest to that. And with that said I have a bright green varsity hanging in the garage.
:D

'Take What I Can Get?'

It's a very cool, classic frame. Stand your ground now, son.

If you are thinking of blowing $300 on parts just get an overpriced but complete road bike off ebay and replace the wheelset. You will save money and have a much much nicer bike.

It's not just the weight. The varsity is piece of **** a cruiser with drop bars. Great, not everything needs top be super fast but this bike also lacks fender mounts and anything else that might make it even remotely practical.

The schwinn varsity is anything but "a cool classic frame" it is worst type of old **** bike designed purely to be cheap "racing" bike for mass consumption. I know some people are enamored with the schwinn name, the same goes for raleigh, but a huge portion of the bikes bearing either of the badges are pieces of **** only useful only if free for polo or something or as scrap steel.

You are one angry dude. :)

damn dude, did a schwinn kill everything you love or something? You HATE that bike.

sorry... i guess it was pretty obvious you didn't like it... I'm done posting for a while

He's probably just jealous. ;)