I think so too, especially with some big ol’ fat gum walls on it! I’m amazed at how light it is. I’ve always liked Schwinn’s but I’ve always thought they were all heavy beasts... this one has changed my mind. I’m also pretty stoked that although building up your Schwinn didn’t work out, the plan didn’t change much, just the model frame. The fork is one of my favorite things about this bike! As much as I like raw finishes, this one will get some color. I can’t decide but I’m kind of feeling a gold fade / splatter into semi polished steel. Tomorrow is payday so I’m gonna ride my happy ass to the LBS to score some odds and ends to get this build goin. I’m particularly excited for the white industries freewheel I’ve had my eye on, but never had a SS project to justify it. Hopefully they’ll give me a proper discount on top of the employee they slip me for being a weekly customer. That freewheel has been sitting in the back for a WHILE . I’ll also have to re educate myself on brakes. I’m playing with the idea of internally routing the cables... at least the rear. I need to look more into grommets and how modern bikes are doing this. There’s supposed to be some rain coming later this week so hopefully I can pull some magic and get this thing riding by then!

Today I sanded and polished a set of Omniuns to a dull finish and started stripping chrome off a steel quill stem in prep for engraving. But I’m now thinking I should use the SRAM s300 cranks I have sitting for this bike. It has 130bcd but that’s kind of a blessing... smaller chainrings for a gravel / mtb ss. Less value if stolen... This will still be the “beater” but I can’t help myself when it comes to fine details. Hopefully I can fake some wear and tear so that it’s inconspicuous to common thiefs who don’t know what they’re looking at.