re: [CR]1960 Schwinn Varsity

(Example: Racing:Wayne Stetina)

Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 20:34:08 -0500
From: "HM & SS Sachs" <sachs@erols.com>
To: classicrendezvous <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>, SM2501@aol.com
Subject: re: [CR]1960 Schwinn Varsity


Scott McCaskey wrote:
>
>
> Ok Folks, don't laugh, but I just finished restoring my 1960
> Schwinn Varsity.
> Why this bike...when I have a barn full of Paramounts? Well, 1960 was the
> first year for the Varsity. Secondly, it is a 8 speed bicycle (4
> in the rear)
> with a Simplex Tour de France rear derailleur and Simplex "Suicide" front
> derailleur. A Varsity is what brought me into adult cycling...and
> probably
> many of you. Who hasn't owned a Varsity at one time or another. This was
> Schwinn's first entry into a road bicycle for the mass's. Check
> out pictures
> at

http://www.thecabe.com/arc/vintageroad/1960%20Schwinn%20Varsity/
>WHAT A HOOT! The stories us old guys could tell. When I started racing at Rice U in Houston, in 1962, the intramural arms race had just escalated with My Guys' purchase of a couple of Varsities. But, because no one trusted these new-fangled "derailers" they had been specified with S/A 3-speeds, 52x14. That's 100 inch in 2nd, but we "trained" on the big gear, 133". Not much faster, but the thighs got too big to find pants easily. Of course, I had to one-up that, so I bought a (used) Ted Williams Sport Racing (Sears) with Campy Gran Sport derailleurs. The local shop owner told me the brake QRs were used in European races for drag control on long descents. So, I had to buy another one, a 1965, a year ago and bring it back to original - if tarnished by years of use. Yours is prettier (but I still like the Continental, with its tubular fork instead of the strap-iron plow version).
> harvey "still laughing for both of us" sachs
>
>

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