In addition to my responsibility of posting inane comments on public forums I also dig bicycles in a pretty big way. I currently own 4, and I ride throughout the year with bikes focused on specific tasks. Like the canoe quiver, we sometimes find that odd project that compels us to bring it home. We don't "need" it for tripping, but we must have it. This partially explains why a 55 year old Schwinn Super Sport was loaded into my truck for an hour and half ride home.
This was the second best spec - the Paramount ruled the roost - and represented a domestic product that was right on par with the best from Europe and Asia. They succeeded. The SS would be a pricey bike, but still less then the Paramount. But in an effort to ramp up production they brought it back to the states where the fillet-brazing had to be done BY HAND. The competition probably laughed and laughed, and as the bike gained weight by the addition of high end parts, the Le Tour, made overseas was ramped up and sales gobbled up Super Sport sales to the point where it didn't make sense to produce the venerable SS.
So, a red-headed step-child of a bike. But it came with a Brooks saddle and a Pletscher rear rack, a ONE PIECE chrome crank that must weigh 97 pounds. I always wanted a Paramount but good examples with the spec I wanted cost a bit, and it would be hard to justify dumping 2 grand into a bike that I probably wouldn't ride that much. But this bike came home for only $150. It's in the shop now getting every square inch examined. Everything is intact except for a bracket and a couple of screws. The rack angles skyward at an odd angle. New period correct tan-walled 1 1/4" tires, tubes, bar tape and the clean/refurb/replace everything else.
As I cleaned it up I was smiling. Resto back to stock? Doubt it - nobody wanted it in 1970 and if I tart one up people would just keep walking. So, British Racing Green, chrome forks, and medium tan saddle, bar tape and tool kit will round it out.
New canoe day is every bit exciting as Christmas when I was a kid. New bike day is the same.
It got me to thinking, what other serious hobbies do you guys pursue with the same vim and vigor as canoeing?
This was the second best spec - the Paramount ruled the roost - and represented a domestic product that was right on par with the best from Europe and Asia. They succeeded. The SS would be a pricey bike, but still less then the Paramount. But in an effort to ramp up production they brought it back to the states where the fillet-brazing had to be done BY HAND. The competition probably laughed and laughed, and as the bike gained weight by the addition of high end parts, the Le Tour, made overseas was ramped up and sales gobbled up Super Sport sales to the point where it didn't make sense to produce the venerable SS.
So, a red-headed step-child of a bike. But it came with a Brooks saddle and a Pletscher rear rack, a ONE PIECE chrome crank that must weigh 97 pounds. I always wanted a Paramount but good examples with the spec I wanted cost a bit, and it would be hard to justify dumping 2 grand into a bike that I probably wouldn't ride that much. But this bike came home for only $150. It's in the shop now getting every square inch examined. Everything is intact except for a bracket and a couple of screws. The rack angles skyward at an odd angle. New period correct tan-walled 1 1/4" tires, tubes, bar tape and the clean/refurb/replace everything else.
As I cleaned it up I was smiling. Resto back to stock? Doubt it - nobody wanted it in 1970 and if I tart one up people would just keep walking. So, British Racing Green, chrome forks, and medium tan saddle, bar tape and tool kit will round it out.
New canoe day is every bit exciting as Christmas when I was a kid. New bike day is the same.
It got me to thinking, what other serious hobbies do you guys pursue with the same vim and vigor as canoeing?
