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...just for the record, when I lived in Merced, I commuted for about three years to work and over to the community college to use their gym and pool by means of a very purple, step through, Schwinn Collegiate (maybe it was a Breeze ?),with a SA three speed hub in back and an awesome chromed chain guard. So it's not that I don't appreciate what they are, It's just that they are what they are, and as already stated above, you can dump a lot of money into "upgrades" that may or may not improve "performance". Which is kinda not what they had in mind with the original design.