Vintage Bicycles

[Chobro]

1985 old enough?

[gatling]

Originally Posted by Chobro

1985 old enough?

Wow!

[HOT DAMN!]

Originally Posted by gatling

Man, that is just awesome, HD. I had a Schwinn "Jaguar" when I was a kid (my Dad bought it for me) and it was awesome. It cost $75 back then, which was a small fortune in those days (somehow he scraped up the money). I put a Cadet speedo on my bike and that summer I put over 2,000 miles on it. I would have been about 10 years old then. I still dream about that bike.

I understand that back in those days, Schwinn brought in coiled steel ribbon and made everything in-house from it...sprockets, tubes, wheels, handlebars, you name it. It's one of the reasons their 10-speeds (the Varsity, etc.) weighed so much. Their Chicago factory was nearly completed vertically integrated. Then the mountain bike craze hit and Schwinn ignored it...they thought it was a fad. Like they said on their historical timeline, they kind of blew it on that call.

Your bike is exceptional, and I agree, keeping it in it's original, unrestored state makes it even more so.

Yeah buddy, $75 was a good lump back in the day, you must have been an exceptional young man.

I was a BMX guy but my older brother and sister both had varsity's and you are absolutely correct, they weighed a ton.

By no means in its original state, I stripped this cousin to your Jaguar down (was yours a 2 speed kick back?) a junked Typhoon I found for $40. Maybe if I found the right bike I would do a ground up resto but again, I kept the patina original and got the innards working like a top. This bike is super comfy to cruise the neighborhood on or walk the dog with.

[HOT DAMN!]

Originally Posted by lethe

I had my wife's old bicycle from when she was a kid restored/customized last year.

What an awesome present/idea!

[lethe]

Originally Posted by HOT DAMN!

What an awesome present/idea!

Thanks.
If there is one thing I'm actually good at it, it's getting her unexpected gifts that she really likes.
That one was for our anniversary last year, I have another wacky one planned for her Christmas present this year.

[HOT DAMN!]

Originally Posted by Chobro

1985 old enough?

Sure is!

We would scavenge those sweet old Campy parts from my buddies dad to lighten up our BMX bikes back in the day.

Beautiful.

[HOT DAMN!]

Some of the BMX heads might know what this is, I recently pulled this out of my dad's attic, it was my very last BMX bike which we purchased part by part together, 50/50 back in the late 70's early 80's. He would help buy any part as long as I paid half out of my own pocket. Needless to say, it didn't get raced for more than a few months as I got my licence and she just hung in the garage collecting dust from then on.

For shits and grins I checked on eBay, these old 80's BMX bikes are pulling huge coin.

I'll have to snap some pictures of the rest but...

Very early serial numbered 1979 JMC Long Standard and first year fork.



Bullseye Euro BB.

[Photog]

Bridgestone, Joe Bell paint. 48cm. Need to sell but can't...part..with...it.





Speedster, bastardized properly by a kid and his dad.



Long gone. Cantilever frame something-or-other springer with some BMX parts.



One of these days that'll get some attention.

[HOT DAMN!]

Originally Posted by Photog

Speedster, bastardized properly by a kid and his dad.


Long gone. Cantilever frame something-or-other springer with some BMX parts.

Recently picked up a Speedster style frame (old Varsity) for $10 with the intentions of building a 26" BMX cruiser. Also couldn't pass up the bent framed Sprint behind it for another $10.

I could turn that into a hipsters wet dream.



Love the BMX Cruiser with the springer.

[Chi-Ha]

Awesome Thread!
I'll ALWAYS lust after my older cousins' Apple crate with the 5 speed shifter on the top tube
My parents gave me an AMF Roadmaster pos for Christmas, but at least it was a bike and it meant freedom! My other friends had sting rays and my Roadmaster scraped on the chain guard with every downpedal of my right foot!

Never got the applecrate and no idea what happened to my cousin's.

[HOT DAMN!]

Originally Posted by Chi-Ha

at least it was a bike and it meant freedom!

You hit the nail on the head man.

Since I can remember and too this day, freedom has always been my deep rooted connection with bikes. As a youngster in the summertime, with the only prerequisite that we be home for dinner, I couldn't eat breakfast fast enough to get the hell out of the house and roll. See you guys at 5:30 when pops pulls up from work.

It instilled great navigation skills and a keen sense of surroundings (while still fun, traveling in the completely wrong direction for miles will do that to a 9 year old and his buddies, WTF did we just do ), ingenious roadside bike repair skills, a desire to explore, and most of all a heightened sense of camaraderie amongst my mates.

If my parents had any idea the travels we did at such a young age they would have shyte themselves.

My first cobbled together Schwinn with paper route money, post a bunch of less than desirable Huffy's and Murray's of which my folks could afford, circa 1974.

[Danielmoben]

Heres the bike...
www.mobenmotorcycles.blogspot.com

[Stratlanta]

Originally Posted by HOT DAMN!

Some of the BMX heads might know what this is, I recently pulled this out of my dad's attic, it was my very last BMX bike which we purchased part by part together, 50/50 back in the late 70's early 80's. He would help buy any part as long as I paid half out of my own pocket. Needless to say, it didn't get raced for more than a few months as I got my licence and she just hung in the garage collecting dust from then on.

For shits and grins I checked on eBay, these old 80's BMX bikes are pulling huge coin.

I'll have to snap some pictures of the rest but...

Very early serial numbered 1979 JMC Long Standard and first year fork.

Gah..... LOVE this frame! I was racing right around that time too and still have my nearly intact Hutch Pro Racer in the garage. Trying to post pics but Photobucket is giving me fits. Will try again later.....

[groundrules]

There was no intent to adhere to any purity laws regarding restoration on this bad boy, just wanted to bring a cool old rig back from the dead and get some use out of it as my commuter/bar bike. I didn't take any before pictures, but this was a $100 CL find, then added some goodies and some TLC:

[sfd156]

Originally Posted by HOT DAMN!

Recently picked up a Speedster style frame (old Varsity) for $10 with the intentions of building a 26" BMX cruiser. Also couldn't pass up the bent framed Sprint behind it for another $10.

I could turn that into a hipsters wet dream.



Love the BMX Cruiser with the springer.

Seriously???? I'm gonna have to follow you around and see where you're garage saling at! All I ever find are Walmart specials and 20year old Trek's that people think are priceless just because they say "Trek" on the downtube. Great finds!