I found this Schwinn on the street around the corner from my house, in the garbage and in pieces. It'd been hand painted and was quite rusty, and with its faded red balloon tires and big fenders it was pretty sharp looking.
I took it home and put it back together. I think the only new stuff I put on it was one of the inner tubes, and a couple new nuts and bolts to hold the fenders in place.
I thought it was a pretty mean looking bike, but it was, like all other balloon tire and "cantilever frame" style bikes, too small for me, and so not something I was likely to ride much. Also, with one gear, a hardly-functioning coaster brake, and weighing over 40 pounds, it would not be much fun on my commute, except on the downhill parts.
Too bad. I like this style of bike a lot. In Pacific Beach, in San Diego, where my uncle Harry Nachlin, former head mechanic for Sikorsky, lives, there is one style of bike: the beach cruiser. I think the idea of a community only using one kind of bike is pretty cool. Unlike current trendy bikes in my area (Fixed gear bikes, Brooklyn), this standardization is entirely practical and not based on trendiness. Beach cruisers are cheap, comfortable bikes that don't require much maintenance. You can't go that far on them, but everyone has a car anyway.
So I gave it to Tony because he was bugging me for a bicycle, and because it was his size. He never rode it, just stuck it in the basement. Meanwhile, other people were asking for bicycles, and I wanted the damn thing back. Nothing happened for a few months, and excep that I heard through Tony that some maintenance guy or utility employee took a liking to it and offered him $150. That seemed insane to me, but Tony ensured me that it was for real. Somehow the super was involved as well, maybe as a middle man.
I heard no more about it for about a year. By this time I'd given up on the bike, though I would bug Tony about it occasionally. Then, suddenly this afternoon, Tony says he got $100 from the guy.
I still don't know why you would pay $100 for this thing. It's not a special bike. I happen to really like the way it looks, being all rusty, but most wouldn't. So whoever bought it is either crazy, or eccentric, or maybe knows something I don't. In any event, I'm glad it's in good hands.
I found this Schwinn on the street around the corner from my house, in the garbage and in pieces. It'd been hand painted and was quite rusty, and with its faded red balloon tires and big fenders it was pretty sharp looking.
I took it home and put it back together. I think the only new stuff I put on it was one of the inner tubes, and a couple new nuts and bolts to hold the fenders in place.
I thought it was a pretty mean looking bike, but it was, like all other balloon tire and "cantilever frame" style bikes, too small for me, and so not something I was likely to ride much. Also, with one gear, a hardly-functioning coaster brake, and weighing over 40 pounds, it would not be much fun on my commute, except on the downhill parts.
Too bad. I like this style of bike a lot. In Pacific Beach, in San Diego, where my uncle Harry Nachlin, former head mechanic for Sikorsky, lives, there is one style of bike: the beach cruiser. I think the idea of a community only using one kind of bike is pretty cool. Unlike current trendy bikes in my area (Fixed gear bikes, Brooklyn), this standardization is entirely practical and not based on trendiness. Beach cruisers are cheap, comfortable bikes that don't require much maintenance. You can't go that far on them, but everyone has a car anyway.
So I gave it to Tony because he was bugging me for a bicycle, and because it was his size. He never rode it, just stuck it in the basement. Meanwhile, other people were asking for bicycles, and I wanted the damn thing back. Nothing happened for a few months, and excep that I heard through Tony that some maintenance guy or utility employee took a liking to it and offered him $150. That seemed insane to me, but Tony ensured me that it was for real. Somehow the super was involved as well, maybe as a middle man.
I heard no more about it for about a year. By this time I'd given up on the bike, though I would bug Tony about it occasionally. Then, suddenly this afternoon, Tony says he got $100 from the guy.
I still don't know why you would pay $100 for this thing. It's not a special bike. I happen to really like the way it looks, being all rusty, but most wouldn't. So whoever bought it is either crazy, or eccentric, or maybe knows something I don't. In any event, I'm glad it's in good hands.
