A piece of Americana
Photo courtesy of Schwinn Lightweight data book.
Last friday, RL and myself headed to RPM cyclery to check out a couple of Tandems that Scott had for sale. In her letter to Santa, my oldest daugther is asking him to bring her a Tandem bike so she can ride with dad (isn’t that special). But I digress, Scott had a couple of old bikes in the rear part of his shop. There was one that caught my eye, it was a Schwinn Continental that actually fit me.
The bike was in OK condition, but with a little TLC it can be rideable. At first I though, ‘fixie conversion’, but after looking up the serial number, this is a 1972 Schwinn Continental made in Chicago.
I then realized that I own a piece of Americana. Nowdays 99% of the bikes are made overseas, American bikes are hard to come by unless they are custom made. As for me, I will be restoring this bike so I can keep it and ride it. I don’t consider myself a collector, just a bike geek that really enjoys bikes and their history.
April 18th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
hi! i was looking around to find some info on my bike, when i found this little bit about the schwinn Continental. well, that is my bike, and your picture here looks exactly like mine! well, you said you were doing some fixing up on it, and i just wanted to know what exactly your going to do, because i would like to fix mine up too. also, do you know the size of it’s innertubes, and were i could find a replacement? my front popped really bad and i need a new one. well, thanks! email me at guitarhippie29@aol.com thanks :]