Hey Harvey ,
Only my opinion , but . . .
You're cool . Your bicycle is cool too .
For years and years ( decades ) , I've wanted to build a "hot-rod" ( my term ) Schwinn Varsity . Actually , make that more than one . First one would start with a Schwinn Continental frame & fork ( the tubular front fork is so much better on the Continental ) . Next one would start with a Schwinn Super Sport , or Schwinn Sports Tourer frame . Those frames were the fillet-brazed , by hand , chromium-molybdenum , frames . Either way I'd definitely , use light-weight aluminum Schwinn-approved parts , & give the frame-set a brand-new paint job . The paint job would of course be in Schwinn Varsity patterns & colors .
Voila ! With a Super Sport frame , and adaptors for an aluminum crankset ( a Schwinn-approved crankset of course ) , should be able to have something like a 26 pound , finely tuned , nice riding , bicycle which looks like a "1966 Schwinn Varsity" .
All it takes is a silly amount of time , a silly amount of effort , and a silly amount of money . I finally started seriously collecting parts maybe a year ago .
Just trying to earn the label , "Bicycle Nut" .
Happy Ought Three ! ,
Raoul Delmare
Marysville Kansas
> I once thought it took about as much to restore a Model A Ford as a Senior
> Packard, but you had a lot less at the end. And then I took on
restoration
> of a 1965 Sears Roebuck (Puch) Ted Williams Sport Racing from 1965. Just
> because it was a dup. of my first 10-speed, and the Campy Record
> derailleurs (Weinmann CPs, Weinmann rims, Normandy HF with round holes and
> QR) gave it a certain in-your-face panache.
>
> Sanity slowly crept in, and it has gone slowly... Finally decided that the
> front rim needed replacing, too -- just two pretzeled to pull back. The
> good news was the spare rim in the attic - or was it the flat-spotted one
> from the rear, replaced with my good spare? So, I cut away the rusty
> spokes (losing more originality, but the fragility was the final stroke),
> and compared the pretzel rim with the flat-spot rim. Used appropriately
> delicate tools (large rubber-face hammer, brute strength) to do the best
> possible on the flat spot and the warp, respectively. Laced up one or the
> other with fairly old DB Swiss spokes. There, that took an hour, plus or
> minus, and now I have a bike that is somewhat more ride-able and slightly
> less authentic.
>
> are we all nuts?
>
> Harvey "I'd never talk about Real Bikes this way" Sachs
> McLean VA