Art F’s Mini Schwinn Collegiate and GreatSport Aquarius

Posted

Installment #2 of Back-to-back twofers from Art F in Rockville.  This time it’s an OTSG First GreatSport Aquarius, and a miniaturized 24″ Schwinn Collegiate.

Hi Cameron,
Here is one of the crappy bikes I promised you I would submit . The headbadge says GreatSport the model is Aquarius and it says 10 speed right on the top tube so you don’t need to count gears .Must have been a bike sold at woolworths or Kresge’s . I can’t find info on it anywhere . I think I picked it up for about $15 at a thrift store because it looked shiny, all the cables were attached, the wheels were true and the tires had air in them . When I put it on the repair stand there were no surprises other than derailleurs needing a little tweaking and the brake levers mounted on the lowest part of the bar. But when I took it for a test ride it was just YUCK . It’s no fun riding a gas pipe special when You have to lay flat on the top bar to work the brakes . I think I’m getting old . I miss the suicide levers when you can’t ride with your hands resting on the brake hoods. I put it on craigslist for $85 . I want it gone so I can concentrate on the good stuff in the backyard like Peugeots, Motobecanes, Schwinns and Kabukis .Regards,
Art

Hi Cameron
This is a miniature version of my Schwinn collegiate 5 speed
http://oldtenspeedgallery.com/owner-submitted/art-f-schwinn-collegiate/
It has 24 X1-3/8 tires but the equipment is just about the same as the full size version. this thing is probably indestructible . I think it weighs about 50 lb . Must be the gas pipe frame tubes and the wheels that are like motorcycle rims . I thought I could sell it on craigslist DC for $95 but no nibbles after a week .

Addendum:

Now that I look at the 2 pictures side by side , it looks like the only similarities were the name Collegiate . the smaller one had dropped handlebars and pieplate crank protector while the larger one had sweptback handlbars and full chainguard. . But both had that great Scwinn chrome that cleans up so nice and the derailleurs that usually only took a 1/4 turn of adjustment screws to fine tune them.

Art

Thanks Art

Related posts:

  1. Wayne R.’s 1974 Schwinn Varsity
  2. Johnson C’s Centurion 10-Speed
  3. Jeff V’s Diskus Prolog 10-Speed
  4. Good Cause Bonus Post: Eric H.’s 1972 Schwinn Varsity
  5. Eric H’s Ted Williams Free Spirit
  • Mark Lapakko

    I had a 24″ Varsity of the same genre. Weighed a ton but looked nice. Shiny chrome, clean paint, New white bar tape. 100 bucks on Craigslist. Took 2 months but sold for full price to a couple with a young son wanting a road bike. Hang in there. It’ll sell eventually.

    • Art Fabel

      I sold it for $95 in about 2 weeks . But I had to do some warantee work which I didn’t detect because the bike was too small to give an adequate road test. On of the freewheel cogs was worn and the chain skipped. Because this was a positron front freewheeling system the rear freewheel was unique and I didn’t have a removal tool . but I was able to cut cogs off with a Dremel carbide wheel and then remove the freewheel body by clamping in a vise .Tjhen I put on a standard 5 cog freewheel . Baby Schwinn is now happily travelling the trails of northern Virginia.