Old Ten Speed Gallery

I love mixtes!

After Tuesdays news the Sportabouts are really starting to come out of the woodwork. Ric in Wichita has offered his own prized lead sled to the Rock Racing cause. Ric, I spoke with Mike this morning, and he said he will txt you soon.

The impending rush on lime green Sportabouts led me to pull this monster out of my garage. Please pass my contact information along to Michael Ball.
I picked this bike up at a thrift store a few years ago because it was the most obnoxious thing I’d ever seen. Also because it is licensed in both Fargo and Wichita, so I thought it was destined to be owned by me as my family also made the move from Fargo to Wichita years ago. I suspect it was the heaviest thing on the moving truck.

Thanks Ric

After yesterday’s news about Rock Racing, Roger in Utah sent this picture of his 1978 Schwinn Sportabout in the now much sought-after Lime Green. Roger, I would not be surprised if you receive a call from Mike and the boys looking to relieve you of this little emerald gem. Be firm, my friend, don’t settle anything less than $10k.

My 1978 Schwinn Sportabout. Bottom of the line for Schwinn racing bikes for that year. Also the only year it was offered in that Lime Green color. My daughter borrowed it for a while, and christened it Kermit, because of the color. Thirty eight pounds of quality Electro Forged Chicago steel!

Thanks Roger

Recently, we’ve experienced a spike in the quality and originality of the submissions to the OTSG. Not to say that all our submissions are anything less than perfect, but in the past couple of weeks I have gotten a number of very well maintained vintage and original road bikes sent in by their rightfully proud owners. With this, I would like to remind everyone that just because you’ve been seeing really nice old ten speeds around here, don’t think that I don’t have room for or no longer want your old Huffy, your crappy Murray or your infamous Ross! I love the pristine vintage set but the old, cheap and crappy set is my bread and butter. Now that I have that out of the way — on to today’s feature.

Tom in Maryland has sent in his thrift store jewel a 1978 Raleigh Grand Prix. In it’s spectacularly original condition, it is a perfect example of why I am thankful people rarely follow through with their New Years resolutions. Finding a bike like this in this condition is like the token old women on the Antiques Road Show who bought her $100k original Picasso at a yard sale for $5 — it rarely happens and never to me. I look forward to seeing the progress of Tom’s little project.

My brother found this all original ‘78 Grand Prix in a MD thrift store last Dec 07. Paid $4.14! I actually have the receipt! It is/was 100% original including Pletscher rack which I already removed. I’ve since stripped it down to the frame and had the bottom bracket and headset overhauled, then cleaned and polished the frame to an amazingly new condition. The chrome wheels have been trued and polished as well, they are Sturmey Archer wheels, thought they only made hubs. These have polished Mallard hubs which I had the shop clean and repack as well. Currently I’m rebuilding the bike with better comfort in mind adding a taller Nitto polished stem and wider Noodle bars plus a Brooks Honey B17 and Michelin World Tour tires, the others are original with Raleigh Supalite on the sidewall, hardly ever ridden! I intend to ride this beauty and even keep the polished steel wheelset as long as they stay true. So far I’ve invested $2.49 in new parts & labor for a total of $6.63 for what appears to be a new ride!
I’ll soon have many photos of the finished job and I’m keeping the original parts of course.

Thanks Tom

This site isn’t even a week old and I’m already straying from my strict no 10-speed conversions format, but these two were just too good to pass up (they’re not QFCs so I’m ok with it). I found two motorized behemoths that offer very different options for the old ten-speed rider who is just too tired or too hung-over to pedal their crappy 10-speed around town.

First

The gasoline motor powered 10-speed:

This appears to be a late 80s or early 90s Murray Ten-Speed with a very nice 1950s Diner paint scheme. Beyond that, I’m not sure what everything else on this bike is.

Second

A Circlular Saw Powered Schwinn

This 1978 Schwinn LeTour would be a perfect option for the lazy-but-environmentally-conscious 10-speed rider. Rick claims that this bike contains 80% post-consumer goods-now how may of you Madone owners can say that?