If pimpin’ were easy MTV wouldn’t need Xhibit, Oakland wouldn’t need Too Short, and this forlorn lass wouldn’t need BCSTW (that’s officially the unofficial shorthand for this site til something better comes up) to help her take this hunk of 1968 sweetness and turn it into a practical grocery getter/happy hour hopper.
Before: Schwinn Deluxe Racer manufactured in the US of A in May of 1968. This was originally Contador’s TT bike for today, but due to some sponsor issues he had to ride a Trek. And yes, there was a time before Wal-mart and that era of excess everything except business morals known as the 80s when Schwinns were cool. Cool bike and all, but in it’s current form looks a bit too ‘flatbiller/PB cruiser’ for our tastes.
Ride, pre-pimped
Step 1: Find a local recycled cycle parts store. Seriously, these things are cool. If you’re in Portland I suggest the Community Cycling Center. Not only were their prices on new stuff cheaper than other places, you can find cool old stuff to reuse/recycle (thus less shit being mummified in landfills and making it’s way to your bottled water…btw, bottled water is fail as well, but you already knew that ‘cuz you ride a bike and are educated on the ways of the sustainable world)
Step 2: Remove the old pieces of clay known as brake pads. Replace with Kool-Stop or other soft compound pad. If the Vans looking ones you remember from your BMX freestylin’ 80s aren’t available go for a retro brown-ish looking. All the color of a Brooks saddle at 1/20th the cost. We would have gone with carbon fiber pads due to their obvious superiority and weight savings, but none were available.
They look like they are made of 50 year old pencil erasers and stop as if they were made of clay
These have two uses. 1: as garbage can filler. 2: if you ride a motorcycle you can replace your tailgater ball bearing/AA battery stash with these things.
Step 3: With the important stopping function rectified you can now move on to more important things and answer that age old question “The 6-pack of IPA is cheap and all, but the 12 pack is only $2 more, but however will I get it home?”. Deep front rack, duh. I forgot to take good pics of the front and rear racks, but you can imagine what they look like. If you followed step 1 properly you were able to buy a new (to you) and nicely patinaed (uhh…can you use patina in past tense like that?) front rack for $5, and if you were extra lucky they had a new (to you) Schwinn rear rack (completed with stamped logos) for you for $10. Sadly they had no titanium racks so we had to go with this old steel. We were prepared to part with the $500 Ti would have cost us, and we could have saved at least 1 oz. switching to titanium.
Don't forget the piece of electrical tape to keep the rack from rubbing out your chrome
So apparently I took a lot less pictures than I thought I did. Steps 4 thru whatever are the usual ‘adjust your brakes, double check fitment, test ride, test ride some more’.
Last step: Drag newly pimped bike out into the sunshine, take one quick photo, and head out for happy hour.
...and I hops on my Schwinn and I tell the homeys a'ight then
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