Thor's New DD!! Rollin on 27's biznitch!

[Thor06]

Hey guys, Thor got a new daily driver today! Peep the pics yo!





Its an old 23" Schwinn 10 speed road bike with 27" x 1.25" wheels, probably made in the mid-late 70's or very early 80's. With rising fuel costs, my fat ass needing to stay in better shape, and living a good 30-40 minute walk from classes next year, I decided I should get a road bike. Well, I have a hard time spending as much or more on a new bike than I did to buy my Talon, and I dont want to shell out $150+ for a good road bike on Craigs List.

So how much did I pay for it? Nothing, I picked this bad boy up for free on the street . Its been sitting unlocked out in front of my dorm since I got here this fall with no front wheel, obviously no one wants it. After all, it did sit buried in a snow bank the whole winter, never once moved. I figured fuck it, I could use the parts so why not. My friend actually built his own like this, I believe he has $52 into it including the cost of the bike for a perfectly good bike. Next year we're going to buy them in mass quantities from thrift stores to rebuild and sell for cheap.

Its going to take a lot of elbow grease and time, but its really in pretty restorable shape. Yes, all the aluminum is corroded and the steel is starting to rust, but an afternoon with some steel wool will fix that. This weekend my friend and I are going to tear our bikes down and repaint them. I am planning on going with a flat black and polished scheme on this bike with the hardware and wheels being the only things polished. I'm also going to get a new handle bar, as fickle as it sounds I want a cooler looking one. Regardless, I am happy with my "purchase". What do you guys think?

[vanilla gorilla]

wow

[rickyrickster25]

needs a turbo...

[SilvrEclipse]

Awesome man, I need to get me a bike in case the eclipse breaks down.

[northendtrooper]

Originally Posted by SilvrEclipse

Awesome man, I need to get me a bike WHEN the eclipse breaks down.

Fixed For ya

[Thor06]

Well, after a long and exhausting search I found out a bit more about the bike. For a while I thought it was a top model from the early to mid 60's, but that didnt seem right. After more looking I found out that my bike was made in Taiwan, Schwinn's were made in Chicago until '82. After I realized that, I found the bike was made in April of 1985. My new baby is turning 23 this month! To be honest, I was a little bummed when I found that it wasnt really old, but really I couldnt care less. I'm just pumped for this Saturday so I can tear her down! Hopefully sometime next week we'll take her out for a spin.

[SilvrEclipse]

How do you plan on riding it with no front wheel??

[Blackcrow64]

Uh...


Ok... lol

[JoeShmoe]

LMFAO, this is very funny IMO. Your pics were taking too long to load so in my had I'm imagining a motorcycle with some big ass wheels. Since you mentioned it was old I thought, wow, it must be something I haven't seen before. So I went thru thread and responses and I fnally scrolled back up I see the pics WTF? LOL, needless to say I couldn't stop laughing for a good while.

Anyway, I say you use your learning experiences from school and rig some kind of motor to it.

[Thor06]

Ok, seriously Jason? I'm going to put a damn wheel on it before I try to ride it. I kind of got the bike to get away from motors and shit, putting one on would be sweet but not what I am looking for. I figured the title was misleading enough that you guys would be a bit confused.

I'll update this weekend when I tear her down and get some of the aluminum polished up. I would kind of like to polish it like the write up but thats more work and money than I am willing to put to it. I'll just do it with some lemon juice and a brillo pad or something just to get the oxidation off.

[Killa]

wtf is this ? time go throw it in yunk yard.

[david-b]

Originally Posted by Thor06

Ok, seriously Jason? I'm going to put a damn wheel on it before I try to ride it.

That's the mechanical engineering for you. Bikes suck. Public trans is the way to go. And then when you get drunk you can pass out cold and almost miss your stop or come very close to throwing up all over the place. You can't ride a bike drunk!

[Killa]

Originally Posted by david-b

That's the mechanical engineering for you. Bikes suck. Public trans is the way to go. And then when you get drunk you can pass out cold and almost miss your stop or come very close to throwing up all over the place. You can't ride a bike drunk!

or you can sleep in the car .

[SilvrEclipse]

Thor I was just f*ckin with you. I knew you would put a wheel on it before you tried to ride it.

[Thor06]

Ha ha, just you guys wait, it'll be a completely new bike in a week or two. Also Dave, this bike is going to cost about as much to rebuild as a semester bus pass is, plus I can get anywhere in the twin cities metro area faster on a bike than on a bus with the exception of express busses. For example, the thrift store we're going to get our parts bikes from is pretty much exactly 20 miles south of me. In a car it takes 25 minutes to get there. Biking I would have to go out of my way a little, but you can figure 20-25 mph once I get 'er oiled up good and get my legs a little more built so it would take about between 50 minutes and 1:10. Getting there on a bus takes a solid 3 hours with transfers and shit. Even just going from the house I am going to live in next year to class is faster. If my roommate and I leave at the same time but I bike and he takes the bus, I will be locking up my bike 8-10 minutes after leaving compared to him having to wait almost that long for the bus to come. Even if he were to catch it right away its still a 15 minute bus ride plus walking from the bus stop. Sure drunk riding isnt safe, but neither is riding a bus late at night drunk. Besides, any partying I do is going to be a 20 minute walk away.