Tuesday, July 28, 2009

The "Minstrel Cycle" of The Bicycling Guitarist

Yesterday I joined "velospace, the place for bikes" and posted some photographs of the Schwinn I have ridden for decades now while playing guitar. Details of my ride are online at The "Minstrel Cycle" of The Bicycling Guitarist. I edited the description on that page today, giving more information about the specifications of Schwinn Sportabouts compared to the better-known Varsity and Continental bicycles.

I don't actually call my bicycle "The Minstrel Cycle." If I refer to it at all by any name, I just call it Schwinn. I made this pun decades ago. It was a natural joke to make considering I have been called a traveling minstrel and the bicycle is red. Okay, I will make no more jokes about menstruation, period! The joke is even funnier since someone called Lijemtu added "only if you play ragtime" (May 21, 2009 at 11:01 a.m. in the Welcome Wagon thread of Tunesmith songwriting forums).

Monday, July 13, 2009

Plans for my Schwinn ten-speed bicycle

When I upgraded my 1977 Schwinn Sportabout to a "Sportinental" by converting to quick release wheels and centerpull brakes from the fancier Schwinn Continental model, I didn't change to the Continental's aluminum stem and handlebar but kept the steel stem and handlebar of the Sportabout. In the Suggestions to upgrade my Schwinn Sportabout page, Raleigh D. says that would have been the very first change he would have done to save pounds of weight. I hope to do this someday, but I don't have a Continental stem and handlebar yet. Raleigh D. also suggested I change from steel to aluminum wheel rims.



For several years 27" bicycle wheels were out of fashion, but apparently they are being made again. I hope someday to get a pair of Sun CR-18 27" rims and have this pair of vintage Schwinn-Approved Quick Release hubs from a Continental laced to them with brand-new spokes. These came from Craig Morrow who runs an online store on eBay specializing in vintage Schwinns.