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NLCTVWguy

Rollin' on 20's
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Yes, just what I needed! Another Schwinn and it's not even a Stingray. It occurred to me the other day, as I completed a bike for a friend, that I don't have a decent old Schwinn "rider". That is to say a normal adult-sized 5-speed or 10-speed or whatever, a 26" bike.

I built a really nice green '69 Collegiate for a friend, and on my test ride around the block, found it to be a very pleasant riding bike with good gears for around town, even with our hilly streets.

That bike can be seen here in this pic from our September ride:
bikeride07_5.jpg


So I needed something I could keep up on. The 3-speeds are nice but all of them have been finicky for me so far, except my wife's 62 Traveler (also in that pic).

Poking around on the dreaded Ebay last week turned up this one, and it was only 15 miles away!

coppercoll1.jpg


The folks already had it in a box! Super nice people, I hope they find more Schwinns for their Ebay "Store".

coppercoll2.jpg


I did have to fix a few things, and there was this really awful packing tape all over it. WD40 is a fantastic solvent for this, did you know that? It's not good for much else but we used to use it to remove old bumper stickers at a car dealership I worked at.
coppercoll3.jpg


This bike's a 65 Schwinn Collegiate and I was amazed to find out that it had a beautiful Sprint derailleur, as well as frame mounted shifter with a pulley for the cable, like a mini- Sturmey Archer pulley.

coppercoll4.jpg


Couple of things I had to fix included the front brake arm- the rear or upper arm had been bent right over by turning the forks around. Grrr. Of course it can't be straightened, but another caliper gave up an arm and I replaced the rusty spring. The Schwinn Approved script is all on the other arm, so at least it looks right.

coppercoll8.jpg


The rims are raised-center center stamped S5's. This is the "before" pic of the rust. I spent about 4 hours cleaning chrome and polishing paint yesterday before we went for a ride.

Here's the result (and very nice of the sun to come out just for the pic, the only time we saw sun yesterday):

coppercol11.jpg


Not bad, I think the chrome's about 80% of the way to what I want to see. There's still some rust on inside/bottoms of the bars and back of the crank sprocket and a couple of other little pitted spots.

coppercol12.jpg


I know, you're thinking red rims and whitewalls aren't ya?

--=={{Rob}}==--
 
I currently don't have a collegiate, but the more I look at this bike, the more I think I think that all might change.
 
It's not the only one

ej599 said:
I currently don't have a collegiate, but the more I look at this bike, the more I think I think that all might change.

I've got a couple more like it.

I've got a small-frame 69 men's Collegiate, decent paint, chainguard screen is kinda erased. Nice Campus Green. Cheap, needs some stuff, you know. I have most of the parts to build it as original, with drop bars, or cruiser style like this one.

Depending on the year, Schwinn built them both ways. Also with and without fenders, and a ladies version... I have a really nice (potentially) ladies' 69 5-spd, also Campus Green, that just needs polishing up. Cleaned up it would surely be worth $75-100.

I've also got another '65, coppertone, not as nice, with a lot of the chrome painted over. The bars and fenders were painted silver, and the guy used it as a rental I guess at a campsite? Has paint-pen names on it, that will come off but just kinda ugly right now. Missing its derailleur but not the freewheel. He had it set up in 3rd as a single-speed. Weird. I got it cheap anyway.

If you're interested, they can be seen here:

bunchagreen5.jpg


bunchagreen4.jpg


bunchagreen3.jpg


email me: schwinn_sting_rays (AT) snet (dot) net and I'll send you my phone #. I'm in New London, the bikes are always available to see and I do sell things cheap.

--=={{Rob}}==--
 

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