Reynolds 531 

I think Schwinns are best in matching pairs. 1962 Schwinn Americans. Horns and headlights work flawlessly. Both are 2 speed kickback

Otter2

I turned one of these into a drop bar with bar end shifters. The upward sloping stem was begging for it.

AdventureManCO 

My gorgeous Paramount build.

daverup 

Your Varsity is the one I wanted in 1972, I got the Sunset Orange instead, long gone now.
I've wanted a Schwinn in that color since, but haven't found one of the lighter ones to suit me yet.
Congrats on that pickup! Looks Great!

Bluetrane2028

Thanks!

The Schwinning is continuing....

I have a mid 80s ladies frame Sprint (the lugged steel variety) that I snagged for $10 and am basically doing a spare parts fixup on to pass along to someone who could use it.

Tomorrow (Sunday) I'm looking at a couple bikes, one for one of my employees who had a bike stolen from him. That one isn't a Schwinn... but another Varsity in my size is evidently being included with the bike for the worker.

Looks pretty dang rough, the wheels especially are toast. Lucky for me there's a guy 10 minutes away from the seller of those two bikes with an alloy wheelset including 5 speed freewheel and tires...

... so I guess I'll have a THIRD VARSITY.... this one will probably get the flat bar treatment along with those wheels.

No pics for now.

miami_librarian

I love that '73 Schwinn Varsity. They were built very well. Back in the '70s we used to jump them in the field.

Bluetrane2028

Late 80's ladies Sprint. For sale, potential buyer coming within the next 30 minutes.

This thing was SO ROUGH when I first got it, but all it really took was a seat and post (raided the parts bin and an Amazon 26.0mm post), a mild clean and some lubrication, and tires that were actually tires. The ones that were on it were literally just a spaghetti of cords, no rubber left at all. It was WILD, I failed to document the "before"... These tires are old, used and not ideal, but it rides fine with them as is. Does all the normal bike things. Have it up on Facebook for $50 to recover minor costs, I'll put the cash directly into the next bike to fix.

If I were keeping it, a new seat grips and tires would be on it already. But, it's a working $50 bike. Buyer can make it be whatever they want it to be.

And, it sold. Better than the scrap pile.

Eyes Roll

You started the thread with the most handsome bike of this thread.

Single speeds are so simple, yet so stylish. I dig that yellow color on that bike.

Bluetrane2028

Thanks! Perfect timing. New pic of the yellow Varsity now with a nice double wall front aluminum wheel.

I'm now thinking of buying the same rim to relace to the rear and make it match...

tjfastback66

I found a time capsule 1981 Schwinn LeTour at a flee market for $15.00 and cleaned it up. I bought the SAME BIKE back in 1981 with my High School graduation money but sold it a few years later. The 1987 Schwinn High Siera I bought off of Craig's a few years ago from the original owner. This is my Bride's ride and she is very tall 6'2" so I did some upgrades to the handle bars and stem - otherwise all original.

Eyes Roll

The rear rim looks a tad old, but it is barely noticeable. Rims will inevitably get dirty when you ride the bike on the streets, anyway. You know what I would otherwise do to make the bike even more handsome? I would paint the seat post black. Rustoleum rattle can spray paint would do.

Bluetrane2028

I'm not against painting the post. After all, I painted the cranks, stem, seatpost clamp, seat hardware and one of the parts to the headset. Basically, if it had no chrome left, it got painted black.

The whole bike is Rustoleum.

Rear rim just needs a bit of a clean to make it look nicer, but I wasn't expecting to find a brand new double wall front wheel as cheaply and as locally as I did... beats the pants off the old steelie it had with a hub on the way out.

tkamd73 

This thread keeps going, so I’ll post another.
Tim



71 Sports Tourer

88ss

I was never a Schwinn guy either, but I ended up with a lot of them too. The fact is that Schwinn was a very big part of the USA market for decades and they were upscale items compared to other post WWII manufacturers so people took care of them and now the Schwinn bikes from the 50s through the 70s are very common and easy to find and have a huge following and parts network, so they are hard to avoid. My downfall began with the purchase of a beater/rider 80s Schwinn road bike, then someone gave me a few others that I built into one good rideable bike, then I tripped over good deals on two more which I was interested in riding so got them. Also my old man had three old Schwinn cruisers up in the rafters of his barn he said I could have, and there is a Continental up there I know he would let me have too, so I gave up fighting it and just accepted Schwinn bikes as being something you can do nothing about if you insist on dabbling in used bicycles. The other day a neighbor gave me a really nice 26" rear wheel that must have come off a 60s Schwinn cruiser and it is in really nice shape, so on it goes........

Jeff Wills

I guess I've been a "Schwinn guy" all my life- started out on a Sting Ray, outgrew a couple Collegiates, got a Le Tour III in high school. And then I went to work in the local Schwinn shop and learned the trade rebuilding a Superior multiple times. In the past decade I've been collecting a couple because I wanted to. (My wife also facilitates my bicycling addiction.) I kind of like the fillet-brazed bikes... because I do.

I acquired Superior in pretty poor shape so I stripped it down, had it painted, and rebuilt it how I wanted.
Green Superior | Flickr


I got an incomplete Super Sport locally. It also became an exercise in parts swapping. It feels pretty light for a three-speed town bike.
Burgundy Super Sport | Flickr




I was thinking of getting color-matched fenders for the Super Sport, but this Suburban was too complete to part out. I need to remove the rust and bring it back to life.
Burgundy Suburban | Flickr

sunburst

I picked this up Saturday. 1971 Racer. Very enthusiastic about it. I haven't owned a Schwinn for almost 60 years.

SirMike1983 

That green Racer is a good find: 23-24 inch frame on 26 inch wheels is a nice size. Looks like you have a good starting point there.