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Recycled Cycling

Bookmark and Share            By Lou

Recycling can be fun — at least when it “requires” air tools. Picked up this classic 32 year old 1974 Schwinn Collegiate at the landfill last week, did a complete frame-off resto yesterday. Took about six hours fender-to-fender. Completely tore down the bicycle: clean and polish all metal and paint, repack bearings, new tires/tubes and a new front brake cable, straighten a few bent parts, adjust derailleur, true wheels. Result is a classic cruiser for my wife! We love the “stick shift” and chain guard. Weighs a ton and rolls smooth. Riding a cruiser around town keeps us in shape for backcountry skiing, at least that’s the theory. In case you’re wondering if this is Lou’s would-be career number 68, yep, my first job as a teenager in Aspen was bicycle mechanic — I’ve still got the hub spanners to prove it.

1974 Schwinn Collegiate
1974 Schwinn Collegiate – restored for 2006.

1974 Schwinn Collegiate
Chainguard is classic!

1974 Schwinn Collegiate
Our favorite part, the stick shift!

Inspiration for this project came from the guys at Gear Exchange in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. They’re the ones who knew how cool the “bike pile” at the dump can be. Gear exchange has everything from vintage bicycles to used Dynafit bindings. Their phone 970-945-8500.

(And speaking of backcountry, got out Saturday on the Schofield Pass road between Crested Butte and Marble, Colorado. Four wheeled Schofield Pass and hiked Arkansas Mountain. Good news is that the Punchbowl area on the Schofield road is open and rough. Arkansas is a short beautiful alpine ramble – recommended and easy to figure out from a map.)

Posted by Lou on June 26, 2006 | Filed Under Backcountry Skiing, automotive 

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Comments

8 Responses to “Recycled Cycling”

  1. Lisa Dawson June 27th, 2006 4:00 am

    I’m a lucky gal!

  2. Mark Worley June 27th, 2006 6:28 am

    Nice find. I had a neighbor who never drives, (as he’s afraid of giving too much information to the state) and gets around entirely by 3 speed. He’s got several that must be 25 years old or more–and they work great.

    Mark

  3. Terry Ackerman June 27th, 2006 6:48 am

    Thanks for the nostalgia. As a kid in MN, for a couple years, I road a shiny new Schwinn Collegiate every weekday morning at, or before dawn delivering newspapers. (In winter I dragged a sled, sans bike). I had two baskets mounted on the rear frame and took it everywhere and loved it. We also took old bikes and added sting ray components and made our first ‘all terrain bikes’. You got me inspired to repack some bearings! Go Lisa!

  4. Lou June 27th, 2006 7:37 am

    Nice comments guys, I have to admit I really like classic and vintage stuff. Funny, my ski gear always has to be the latest and greatest, however (grin).

  5. Terry Ackerman June 27th, 2006 8:16 am

    Fortunately our wives also like classic and vintage stuff (like us) and let us rationalize getting new gear as ‘needed’. :-)

  6. dave downing June 27th, 2006 10:40 am

    bikes, is there anything they can’t do. i’d try and fix up more bikes if the wife and i didn’t already have 6 with a new one on the way, and only one 6×8 shed.

  7. Drew June 27th, 2006 2:58 pm

    Used Dynafit bindings? Are you serious? Man, that is a serious goldmine….!

  8. Vintage-bicycle Mike July 2nd, 2008 5:24 am

    Neat! and impressed by the amount of work you fit into those six hours. Yes, I sure recall those “stick-shift” bikes… had one of those myself. Fortunately, I was about to say, it got stolen… well, I got another one, which I sold years later for a few $$.
    I now have a 21-speed Miyata which I’ve had for 13 years + have done long journeys with.

    I like those vintage bicycles as posters, too + I have a page about them on my site: http://www.theposterfinder.com

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Welcome to Louis (Lou) Dawson's backcountry skiing information and opinion website. Lou's passion for the past forty years has been alpinism, climbing, mountaineering and skiing -- along with all manner of outdoor recreation. He has authored numerous books and articles about backcountry skiing and is well known as the first person to ski down all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, otherwise known as the Fourteeners! Books and free back country information here, and tons of Randonnee rando telemark info.

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