First Short Workout Ride on the Sprint

Today I finally had the time to take out the completed 1985 Schwinn Sprint road bike out for a light workout ride. By light workout I mean several things.

First, I haven't had the opportunity to ride this bike more than 750 m around two blocks to make sure that the wheels were solid and the tyres were holding their air (and not ballooning out of the sidewall like when I first installed them in a absent-minded manner).

Second, I haven't acquired a tool kit, or a secondary patch kit for this bike, nor do I have a strap on water bottle cage for this bike (as it has no brazed on mount points for normal bolt on attachments.

Lastly, it was 34° C today and quite frankly the humidity made it feel as if I were basting in an oven. I'd rather bike quasi-lightly today to be able to bike again, another day. This route involves starting at the bottom of a hill (in Hilltown Township) and climbing 29 metres over ¹/₂ km. The are enough flat areas on this route that make it an enjoyable ride, but given that I was always trying to keep spinning, it did take some effort and I did sweat. Hopefully this will subside as it has when i ride my hybrid 30+ km.

The results of the 11 km route I took (on a whim mind you, there was no predetermined plan outside of which direction I was going to head at the start of my journey) were rather interesting. I need to move my seat further back, I need to adjust the height of my seat and ultimately, I need to get better padded gloves as even with the wonderful supportive drop bar wrap from Specialized, I was feeling a bit of pressure in my hands.

It has been a long time since rode a road bike and while I know that I'm a bit out of shape for that kind of riding, I know that I'll be able to start dropping kilos If I keep this kind of workout as part of my regular exercise.

This bike is a success but does need some fine adjustments both to its seat and bars, as well as to the rider who happens to not be used to the harshness of the terrain on this 35 year old back which once suffered two slipped discs. Looking forward to the next ride.

1985 Schwinn Sprint: A Success Story!

No more than 15 days after receiving a 1985 Schwinn Sprint, I can happily state that the rebuild is hereby declared a success. I would have been done sooner had I not needed to get to Scooter's Bike Shop in Souderton, PA to pickup supplies.

Last evening whilst watching the Daily Show and the Colbert Report with my trusty multi-sized spoke wrench, spent considerable amounts of time truing the rear wheel (which required the most work) and to a lesser extent, the front. If one takes their time, seemingly lost wheels can be brought back to their original roundness.

Finally, this morning I was able to put on my black Phat Wrap handlebar wrap from Specialized on the Sprint. There was only one last thing to do and that was give it a quick test ride. This was a dramatic difference from the previous test ride. I find that the combination of having proper round wheels along with the shock absorbing bar wrap has transformed this bicycle into something else. It feels like a brand new bike, so much to the point that had I bought this bicycle new, I would not be disappointed.

The fun part beings tomorrow morning when I take my first hour or so ride up and through Peace Valley Park. I do need to get a bike pack for storing a patch kit and what not, but simply for tomorrow I will take the bag from my Voyageur Hybrid. The Sprint also lacks any brazed on mountings for a water bottle, so I will need to figure out something about that as well.

1985 Schwinn Sprint Update #1

After putting on a new set of tyres and tubes along with cleaning the frame and replacing the brake cables and sheaths (including fresh white lithium grease), I was able to take this free find out for its (reborn) maiden voyage. My initial impressions are as such:

- This frame while 13.6 kg doesn't feel heavy, but it does feel solid and surefooted.

- The adjustments made on the seat height thanks to lessons learned from Sheldon Brown's site for my commuter bicycle have made for very good pedalling position.

- The handlebars need to be raised a little higher, but they are at a pretty good distance from the seat to match the length of my arms (and my larger 189 cm frame).

- I need to tighten both the front and rear brakes as the first ride proved that they required too much actuation to provide adequate stopping force.

- The wheel adjustments are bang on in terms of mounting.

- The air pressure is nice, though I will add another 150 kPa of air to each tyre.

- The gear ratios of this 10 speed are nicely spaced, though definitely leaning towards higher speeds.

- Stability is very good as this adds to the feeling of light-footedness of the heavier frame.

- The gear levers to which I need to re-acclimate myself, will take some time. They also need to be tightened down as they rotated a little with my short ride.

I chose a simple ride up Hilltown Pike off of Bethlehem Pike. Roughly a 0.7 km stint. This was solely to test brakes, gearing and overall positional settings. The chain doesn't make any noise, though it will be cleaned and oiled before any serious distance is placed upon this bike.

This Schwinn was quite a find, and for the roughly $40 I invested into renewal parts, I'm quite satisfied that I have found a good winter trainer, though I my Voyageur will still be my primary ride for grocery getting, breakfast and long distance (>30 km) rides. I would like to add that eventually I'd like to take >30 km rides on this road bike, however once I get to that point, I may be upgrading to a new road bike, frame and/or components as it will be time.

I will be posting updated photos when I've completed the cabling refresh to show the 'after' pictures to the previously posted "before" pictures.

Newly Acquired 1985 Schwinn Sprint

For the second time this week, I found myself being offered another bike with a perfectly good frame, and unlike the first bike, a small AMF Roadmaster Scorcher, this one is in great shape, and just my size.

It is a 1985 Schwinn Sprint, as ascertained by the rear dérailleur's BF code which dictates its date of manufacture (June of that year to be specific). It has a 53cm head tube, 55 seat tube, 83 cm stand over height, weighs 13.6 kg and sports 27 x 1¹/₄ wheels. It also wears Suntour Hero Dérailleurs & Brakes all around.

Thus far it is apparent that the rear wheel is out of round and needs to be trued, which I will do. The short list of needs for this bike is rather simple. New front and rear tubes and tires. Adjust the brakes, clean the whole frame. Degrease everything as well as replace and adjust ALL brake and dérailleur cabling.

It will be finished off by custom re-skinning of the saddle and retaping of the drop bars. I'll keep everyone posted, but I do have to say that I'm really happy with this bit of good fortune as this bicycle fits me like a glove and reminds me of my Raleigh that I rode the life out of back in 1985 when this was built.

My Early Cycling Years

I remember the first time I rode a real bicycle. I'm not counting those old banana seat kids bike bought from Sears by grandparents to replace the one I had with integrated training wheels. I was at said grandparents home and being that this was the central familial meeting place, there were usually several cousins over at any given time.

I don't recall as to whom it was to which the green three speed Schwinn belonged, but I do recall that I was roughly 5 years old when I first rode it. One must know that I was exceptionally tall as a child, due I believe to my Dutch genes. I do remember quite clearly that no one thought I'd be able to ride this teenager oriented machine given that my previous experience was rather limited. I loved the feel of three speed, even though I didn't understand gearing at the time. This was the beginning of my appreciation of bicycling.

Flash forward 9 years to the age of 14, circa 1987. Years had passed and I was still riding hand me down bicycles when all of my friends were riding brand new Mongoose and BMX style dirt bikes. I wanted to get a new bicycle, but was never into the whole dirt bike scene. I wanted a road bicycle, a sport one at that. So I went to what it now called (and maybe was called then) Bustleton Bikes and purchased my first real bicycle meant for serious riding. A Raleigh Record 10-Speed, 22" frame which in retrospect was far too small for my tall stature.

I used to ride this bike as if there were no tomorrow. It wasn't only riden to school every day, and to my friends houses on a very regular basis but was so well liked by my best friend at the time that he too went and purcahsed the identical model from the same cycle shop. We would bike together through the once beautiful Pennypack Park in Northeast Philadelphia. The asphalt bike paths led from the Far Northeast entrance(s) to the park to within 2.5 km from the Tacony Palmyra Bridge linking Philadelphia, PA to Palmyra, NJ. We must've ridden this path up and back 4 out of every 5 week days for a year. I would even get up at a ridiculous hour just to go ride to the park (7 km away).

Time progressed and I stopped riding with my friend, but I end up riding with my new best friend (now my wife) but even that ended abruptly once I acquired my driver's license. It sadly ends this way for many people, but I'm glad to see that this isn't the end. While I do not live in the city of Philadelphia where bicycling is a far more viable form of transport, I do live in beauftiful Central Bucks County and it has a bountiful supply of roads as well as trails.

Flash forward to current day. I recently was fitted for, and purchased a 2007 Schwinn Voyageur GS from Scooters Bike Shop in Souderton, PA. Needless to say I've returned home again to not only a mode of transport on which I used to depend soely, but I've returned to that mindset and community which for so many years I've considered family.

Well, that's enough writing for me tonight, I have to be up early as I have a 32 km ride in the morning from Holland, PA to New Britain, PA.