wkatastrof

Hello forums,

Just wondering what distances anyone's done on one of the old Schwinns? I've had a 1974 Conti for a few years now; using it for commuting mostly. It's got alloy wheels with a sunrace freewheel, shimano tourney rear derailleur, crane creek levers... nothing high-end but still a bit lighter. Old bikes are still OK in my book as long as its not incredibly hard to find parts. - I'm sewing up a saddle bag from an old messenger bag to be ready soon.


I'm interested in your set-ups and stories with these bikes too.

I've taken a larger interest in longer distances.
Took a 40 mile ride from New Brunswick to Princeton and back in NJ. Looking to take the D&R Canal Tow Path from Brunswick to Trenton, hop over to the Pennsylvania side, head down toward Palmyra in NJ and then go another 15 miles. All in all, its going to run about 75 miles. I hope to do it in one straight shot in a few weeks. I'll be taking some tools, pump, and much water.

I've also got a much lighter Peugeot UO-10 that I need to clean, touch-up paint, and rebuild. Can't wait to ride that one.

Thanks.

that_guy_zach

I dont see a problem. Check out this Schwinn for some inspiration

https://pathlesspedaled.com/2010/11/y...oing-it-wrong/

rhm

My brother had a Continental, rode it all over the place in the 70's. It's a heavy bike, but when riding long distances over flat stretches like you're describing the weight really doesn't make that much difference.

Before you try to ride to Palmyra NJ through PA, make sure you can ride your bike over the Palmyra-Tacony bridge. Last time I checked there were no bicycle accessible bridges between Philadelphia and Trenton, and I got in some trouble for trying to ride across the Burlington bridge once. There are pretty nice roads on the NJ side, but you have to steer pretty far east as you head south from Princeton. I've ridden a nice route that went through Robbinsville, Georgetown, Jobstown, etc. but from there west into Palmyra I don't know. It is definitely an option to take the RiverLine train from Trenton to Palmyra.

Olebiker

In 1976 my wife's best friend did the entire Bikecentennial cross country ride on a Varsity.

gna

Ken Kifer toured on a Varsity, though it sounds like he started on a Raleigh 3-speed: www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/touring/

vonfilm 

Heavy bikes have momentum on their side.

bradtx

wkatastrof, Pick up a Blackburn or similar rack, a top bag, and/or panniers, and a couple of Bell bottle cage mounts (~$8 at Wal-Mart). Have fun.

Brad

wkatastrof

Yeah, the RiverLine is an option... Have you done or heard of the High-Point - Cape May line? I read about it on another thread. Looks like the State routed it specifically for bikes, but it seems to be a lot of roads and hard to follow without looking at a map. If possible, I might just ride down that route and turn West when I need to head to Camden County. It would probably avoid Trenton and the more urban areas closer to Philly.

https://www.state.nj.us/transportatio...ike/tours.shtm

Uprighter

I'm soaking wet behind the ears when it comes to multi-geared bikes, but I would think that with the right freewheel, 75 miles would be very manageable. A 70's Continental fixie conversion would be another story!!!

Glennfordx4

I am familiar with the southern route from about the Browns Mill area down to Cape May and for the most part there are better shorter routes that one could map out, the whole thing with that map is to promote tourism so it brings you off the beaten path in quite a few places which is fine for some.

rhm

The Princeton Freewheelers do an annual ride called the Longest Day that goes from High Point to Cape May; and it is possible to find the cue sheet for it online. Are you familiar with bike route websites such as Bike Route Toaster, Bikely, Mapmyride, &c? One of them may have a route that will work for you.

I can map out the part of the route that I'm familiar with, which would go from Millstone to Jobstown or so, so more than half of the ride.

wkatastrof

Thanks for all of this mapping info. I was able to find one of the routes used in the 'Longest Day' High Point - Brown Mills run.

Basically, my route is now New Brunswick to the end of Amwell Road where it meets the Delaware-Raritan Canal Trail. From there it follows the High-Point route until Brown Mills. From there I made it follow rt 70 to Medford, then heading south down Taunton/Hopewell Road until I reach Berlin, NJ which is where I need to be!

About 90 miles which is a bit longer than the original route through PA I had planned, but I think it'll be a much more relaxed route than riding through Trenton and right above Philadelphia. Let me know what you think. Thanks for the help! The mapmyride site is a bit glitchy, but sure works better than google maps for bikes with the search-other-peoples-routes feature.

I've been doing around 11 - 15 miles per day and I did a 40 mile trip last weekend. Hopefully I will survive 90mi.

bradtx

Be sure to properly hydrate as I think y'all are under that high pressure dome we had, it's brutal.

Brad

wkatastrof

Yeah, thanks. Going to haul as much water as I can. By next friday the high should be back around 92. Right now it's about 103 outside, (weather.com: feels like 114).

wrk101

I did quite a few centuries on my 1971 Continental (back when the bike was new, so it has been a while). Bike was stolen in 1975.

cycleheimer

I didn't have this 1960s Continental too long, but I did some long rides on it the Summer I did have it. I remember one time riding it around City Island and getting a bug to head north. I wound up going up towards north Stamford, Connecticut and back. I also had a Fuji S-10-S in my collection at that time. Now I have a "Varsi-nental" (Varsity with most of the good stuff found on the Continental) and an 18-speed Fuji S-12-S in my collection. Then and now, I would prefer the Fuji over the Schwinn for longer distance rides.

-holiday76

You can ride across one of the Camden/Philly bridges, but I forget which one. I've done it during tours 2 or 3 times. Unfortunately I forget which one, so I'll have to double check.

Pompiere

Back when our bikes were new, we did centuries on them because that was all we had. Now, people think we are crazy to ride a century on anything that weighs over 20 lbs.