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Art F.’s 1980ish Schwinn Caliente

Posted July 8, 2009

I know how much you all can’t get enough SDGCSs and Front Freewheels.  Here’s our second of the day. This is a 1980ish Schwinn Caliente sent in by Art F.

Schwinn Caliente

Here’s a Schwinn Caliente that was made around 1980 . I haven’t done a serial number search . I picked it up in a thrift store around here for $30 on a 50% off day for furniture . They include bicycles in their furniture department??? Usually Schwinns are priced at $150 so even with the 50% off I don’t touch them since I can’t inspect because they put on a shelf 12 ft off the ground . I refurbish bikes and sell them on craigslist DC . I didn’t even realize what I had bought until I brought it home and started looking it over. It has the front freewheel system and positron rear derailleur which I had seen before on old Huffy’s and the front freewheel is also used on autoshift bikes with no shift lever and a derailleur controlled by a sliding weight that moves the derailleur to the higher gears as the wheel picks up speed. . This positron system was different because the shift cable wasn’t multistrand just a flexible thin rod about an 1/8 ” thick . . The rear wheel had a serious bend and I swapped it out . The previous owner must have been planning to make this bike into a plush city cruiser as they had put on 27 X1-3/8 Tioga Bloodhoud tires which cost about $30 each and a plush Axion Super Soft wide seat that probably costs about $50 and the rear aluminum rack . But it looks like the refurbishment stopped there because the rear wheel was so seriously bent that I couldn’t straighten it or even get the brakes to work . So I swapped out the wheel and hoped the chain and rear cogs would work together . The cogs don’t freewheel but are just screwed together where they will slip bacwards if a very heavy force is applied. Guess that is to prevent flying chain shrapnel if the front freewheel ever seized up. Anyway I put it on craigslist for $170 and got nasty attack bosts saying ” that Schwinn was the worst slug ever produced by Schwinn and it was only worth about $45. I rented it out for the summer to an woman who needed a bike for 3 month on an intern job in Washington telling her that I’ll buy it back for $120 when she was through so it would cost her $50 for 3 months. Got a call from her a week later saying springs were flying off the bike and it was making creaking noises. So I told her I would swap her a Fuji more suited for the century rides she was planning to do. Seems the springs were hooks from a handlebar bag that somehow got caught in the crankset and then came flying back at her while riding . The creaking was the brake which either had hardened pads or need a little twisting of the brake arms . So it is back on the market again . I think it is a cool looking around town bike ideal for grocery shopping or short commutes . By the way , I always put in my ads that I’ll take trade ins . I pick up some interesting stuff that way like when someone traded in a 60s Raleigh Grand Prix with simplex deailleurs and cottered crank for a spray painted Roadmaster mountain bike .
regards,
Art F

Thanks Art

Related posts:

  1. Peter D’s Huffy All Pro
  2. Wayne R.’s 1974 Schwinn Varsity
  3. Hugh’s Double Shot of Schwinness
  4. Ethan’s ’70s Sekine SHT
  5. Jeff P’s 1973 Schwinn Varsity
Posted Jul 08 , 2009
Categorized: Owner Submitted
Tagged: BOS, Caliente, Drops, FFS, Front Freewheel, Green, Pie Plate, Rear Rack, Schwinn, SDGCS, SMR, SMS, Womens
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