With all due respect, I'd offer a couple of observations: 1) the Continental was designed and built to be bulletproof and idiotproof. By slavish attention to details derived from Sherman tanks, they succeeded on both counts. And, it is actually air transportable and should survive drops without parachute. The penalty is just a wee bit of overweight. 2) Once you understand the twisted logic, they're easy to work on. Ashtabula cranks are easy to work on, and have huge bearing surfaces. Of course, the lesser bikes (Continental, Collegiate, Varsity) seem to have very weak and easily bent cranks, and all took 1/2" pedals, which make 14 mm easy to find in comparison. Almost.
Ergo, my own recommendation is to clean it up and sell it quick as "commuter" with the special virtue that it passes the "next bike" test. As in: Q: why do you ride that beat-up, super-ugly bike to work? A: That and a decent lock helps draw attention to the nicer bikes parked next to it.
But, I could be wrong. There may actually be value in the steel rims or something. The most robust Huret derailleurs ever. The thinnest diameter and thickest tubing walls ever found on a bike. Best welds on a main triangle.
I'm a fan of the upper-level Schwinn Super Sport and Sport Tourer. The continental is certainly much better than the infamous Varsity, which abandoned a real tubular fork for a strap-iron Ashtabula fork, and long-reach side-pulls replaced the CPs on the Continental. And used bolts to secure the wheels instead of QRs. ~shudder~ Please don't take my poking at these as personal. After all, I'm one of the guys with a Genuine Sears Ted Williams Sport Racing, waterpipe tubing and all.
harvey sachs mcLean va
Scott Loveless wrote:
Over the weekend two Schwinn Continentals found their way to my house.
One is a 1974 ~58cm frame in "Kool Lemon". The other is a late 70s
66cm frame in black. I'll probably spruce up the black one and pass
it along to someone who needs "just a bike", as it's too big for me.
The yellow one is quickly becoming a project. I spent a few hours
disassembling it and cleaning up some of the shiny bits. There are a
couple photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/
A couple questions:
The paint is not in good shape. It has quite a few scratches and some surface rust, like it's been left outside and tossed around when it was in the way. I should probably repaint it. If I do this I'd like to get the color as close to original as possible. Any suggestions on matching the color? I thought about taking the fork to a paint store, but I'm ignorant when it comes to this sort of thing. Also, have you had any luck with chemical paint strippers?
If I do repaint it, I'll need to remove the bottom bracket cups. It has a one piece crank. The bottom bracket shell is not threaded and the cups are pressed in. I went to work on them with a hardwood froe handle and a rubber mallet, but couldn't get them to budge. Replacements are cheap enough, but I'd rather not damage them if I don't have to. Any thoughts on getting these out intact?
Thanks a bunch. Much appreciated.