Riding up a blind curve on the prairie path, someone riding high-speed on the left side of the path instead of the right. Basically, a young guy around 18-20, who was riding on the street that the trail crosses, cut left onto the trail right in front of me. I was riding on the right side of the path, and he should've been doing the same. We both wound up on the ground sitting on our butts. Neither of us was injured, thankfully.
However, my front wheel went straight into the frame of his bike, and it's twisted up like a pretzel. I was about 8-10 miles away from home on the return leg of what would've been a nice forty-mile ride. I'd ridden from Oak Brook Towers in Oak Brook, IL (Corner of Butterfield & Meyers) out to the prairie path along Ardmore, then West to Wheaton, and South to St. James Farm forest preserve along Butterfield road, about twenty miles one-way. I even saw a couple of deer up close on the trail where I turned around at St. James Farm.
I was on my way back, just a little bit East of Glen Ellyn, but not yet to I-355 when the accident happened. I had to call my wife for a ride home, the bike was difficult to even walk.
I have a spare rim from the rear of a Schwinn Varsity that matches the existing rims. I'm going to have to have the Varsity rim re-spoked to the continental front hub, which will cost at least $70.00, and my bike will be down for a week and a half because I can't pay for the work until a week from Friday.
Additionally, I'll be spending more quality time with the steel wool, as the bike shop will do mechanicals, but won't detail the rim like I want.
On the plus side, I did learn of a local Schwinn shop that has a lot of vintage bikes and parts in Glen Ellyn, so I'll stop by there and see what they might have for my ride soon. I'll save the results on that for another post.
I'm also eternally grateful to my sweet wife, who dropped everything to come to my rescue. That rim was so bent I couldn't even walk the bike without hoisting it on the back wheel, and I was still ten miles from home.
Ride on,
Dan
Hi Dan, saw your letter in Bicycling Times.....I had this same exact bike when I was a kid (I'm 51 now), I will be following along on your blog and as you disassemble the bike over this coming winter.
ReplyDeleteMine was stolen when I parked it at school....kinda of funny-it's been over 30 years since I had that bike and I still remember it like it was yesterday.
At any rate- you'll have a bike which will last you the rest of your life after you restore it-good stuff.
-George McNally
George, thanks for stopping by. I had a green Varsity that the same thing happened to. I'm only two years younger than you. I always wantdd the blue, Continental, but it was a little more money than I had at the time. I agree, these bikes were built to last.
ReplyDeleteDan
Daniel hope you got your wheel "de-taco'd" so you can enjoy some summer riding. I have found it handy over the years to have a back up wheel set for just this sort of issue, either off another project bike or even a new generic set from Amazon (27 inch free wheel rear hub wheel sets can be had for about $50) You would also be surprised by how much difference and alloy wheel-set can make over their older Steel brethren. Not necessarily "period" correct but a heck of lot lighter and easier to spin up to speed.
ReplyDeleteRyan
Ryan, thank you. I had a sprocketless 1975 Varsity rear rim and hub riding in the back of my Dakota. It just spent a week at the bike shop gstting re-laced with the Continental quick-release front hub. I also just spent another two hours of qualty time with some steel wool cleaning the ruat off. It looks like the steering bearings were loosened up a little too. I'll have them replaced after the riding season if they hold up. I've toyed with the idwa of finding some alloy rims that LOOK correct and eventually having them laced onto the Schwinn hubs. They handle 90 psi, while the steel rims top out at 70. Being 6' 6" and 330 lbs, that's important. We'll see. For the moment, though, I'm rolling agakn. I'll be cruising the lake front tomorrow afternoon with a friwnd.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for stopping in.
Dan
Posting with my phone is a bear.
ReplyDelete