1968 Schwinn Fastback 5 speed

I always wanted a black Fastback, so when I saw this one on Craigslist I jumped in the car at 8pm and drove 45 minutes to check it out. I remember the seller wanted way more than I was willing to pay for the bike in the condition it was in at the time, so I told the seller I honestly thought he was asking too much for the bike, and I told him what offers he could expect to get for it etc. Before I left I made him an offer and told him to try to sell the bike at his price but if in a week or 2 he still had the bike to give me a call and I would honor my offer. Anyway, a week to the day later my phone rang and I found myself back at his house picking up the bike. Here are a few before and after shots of the bike. It cleaned up pretty well in my opinion.

1968 Huffy Rail 5 speed

Got this one from a fellow collector. I drove 2 hours and ran an errand for the seller on my way to pick up the bike to knock some $$$ off the final price I paid.

1968 Fenderless 3 speed Stingray

Not much of a story behind this one. I saw it online and bought it. The fenderless Rays are my favorite stingrays so I wanted to have one and here it is.

1972 Ross Apollo 3 Speed

For at least 2 years I was trying to find a Ross Apollo with a large console shifter, but there were 2 collectors ,one in Ca and the other in NY who were buying up every Apollo that hit the market. After a while I had totally given up on the idea of ever sneaking a bike past one of these guys when one day I received an off from my man on the East Coast to purchase one of his duplicates. Anyway, I was so excited I ran out to the bank grabbed a stack of cash and ran out to Long Island to pick this one up. It was worth the cash in the end because I became good friends with the seller and we have exchanged a few more bikes and many parts over the years, and have even gone on a few bike adventures together.

Columbia Playbike 3 speed

Here's one I found on ebay incredibly cheap, and it was only about an hour away in NJ so I drove down and picked it up from the seller. He told me he found the bike while doing some home improvement work at someone's house. The owner of the bike they gave it to him for nothing and he in turn sold it to me for next to nothing . Here are a few before and after pictures. I did not replace any parts on this bike, all I did was use some elbow grease to clean it up.

1977 Ross Apollo 3 Speed.

Here's a bike that was for sale at a local bike shop that I frequent. I remember it was a few weeks before Christmas when I saw the bike sitting in the shop for sale. I asked the owner of the shop how much he wanted and then I made him a counter offer that he said he would consider and get back to me in a few days.Since the shop owner's a friend of mine I thought I had a good shot at getting the bike for my price. Anyway, to my surprise My Fiancee who I had told about the bike went out without me knowing and bought it for me for Christmas. The funny thing is my buddy at the shop didn't even know he sold the bike to my girl lol. In the end he got his price and I got the bike.

1998 Schwinn Apple Krate

Picked this one off Craigslist a few years ago for next to nothing. I went to West 97th street in Manhattan to get it from a guy who bought it for his kid because he thought it would be cool for his kid to have the bike he had when he was 12 years old. I remember walking into the apartment and the kid was sitting on the couch watching TV, His dad said "hey I am selling your bike to this guy" and the kid couldn't even be bothered to reply, he just sort of shrugged his shoulders in a "whatever" sort of way and I walked out of there with the bike.

1968 Schwinn Orange Krate w/ Pogo Seat Post

Saw this bike on ebay and it was local so I contacted the seller and asked him if he had any other bikes. He told me he had a restored Cotton Picker and a Lemon Peeler, and he told me I could come by his bike shop in Northern NJ anytime if I wanted to check out any of the bikes. I honestly had no intention of going to see the bikes, but by chance I was out running around with my girlfriend and I just happened to find myself a few blocks away from his shop so I decided I might as well stop in. So , I walk in and introduce myself and ask him about seeing the bikes and he tells me he only has the orange krate at the shop and it's outside in his van, so we go get the bike and I end up signing into his ebay account and ending the auction and leaving his shop with the bike lol. The day after I get the bike home the guy emails me and gives another guys email stating that the other guy was pissed that he ended the auction and he wanted to buy the bike from me for considerably more than I paid for it, but I decided to keep the bike.

This bike came with the original seat and a reproduction Persons seat as well. I like it with the old seat so the Persons is hanging on the wall in my bike room.

Raleigh Chopper reproduction 2004 w/ 3 speed grip shifter

I hit the buy it now on ebay for this one back around 2007. The bike was about 90 miles away from me so I got in the car and headed out to a small bike shop in some small town in upstate New York that I cannot recall. Once I got this one home and put it together I realized it was too small for me to ride and I also realized that I absolutely hated the seat. I sold the bike a few years later for exactly what I had paid for it and made another 90 mile ride to upstate NY to deliver it to it's new owner. I guess I was desperate to get rid of it lol.

1966 Columbia Playbike

SOLD


Got this one from a friend of mine locally ,but after a few years of looking for a new guard for it I finally gave up and decided I need the free space more than I needed the bike.

I really liked the seat and the extra wide handle bars on the bike, but I just couldn't live with the crank swoop and rust on the guard.

1968 24" Sears Spyder 5 speed

Man this one was one dirty bike when I got it. The seller had it on ebay with about 4 pictures and it looked great so I hit his buy it now and headed out on a 3+ hour round trip to East Stroudsburg PA to pick up the bike. I paid through paypal and the seller gave me his address and said he wouldn't be home but the bike would be under a tarp on his back deck. Well, I get out to East Stroudsburg following my GPS and suddenly I am on a dead end street and it is not the street I need to be on lol. After following the GPS around in circles for a 1/2 hour leading me right back to the same dead end street, I decided to called the seller and luckily he was home and was able to direct me to his house.

Anyway, I pull up and the bike is in the front yard and I take one look at it and immediately regret buying it and I am trying to figure out how can I get my money back for this thing. I mean there was corrosion on the rims that I never thought would come off, it wasn't even rust, it was something else all together lol. So after about 10 minutes of looking at the bike and looking completely unhappy I loaded it in the car for the long ride of shame back to NJ.

Well, to make a long story short I somehow got every bit of that rust or whatever it was off the bike and I didn't spend another cent replacing any parts on this bike. In the end it came out great and I think I will keep it for many years to come.

Here's a before and some afters. Can you believe I got all that crap off the rim, and you would never know it had been there.

1967 Schwinn 3 speed Deluxe Stingray

Here's one I found on ebay for a very good price.The bike looked pretty bad in the ebay pictures, but luckily whoever owned it before me put grease or oil all over the paint and chrome at some point in time so there was not a spot of rust on this bike when I got it. The most incredible thing is that this bike was not destroyed in shipping. As you can see from the pictures the guy threw it in a box with no packing materials whatsoever and had the pedals loose in the box. The goose neck screw was lost in transit through one of the many holes in the box. I had to replace the seat with a Pete seat and add a new decal to the guard, and some Schwinn white wall tires to make it complete, but it came out better than I could have ever dreamed.

1979 Ross Apollo 5 Speed

sold

This one is another Craiglist find. I remember I made the guy an offer on the bike and 5 days later he got back to me and accepted the offer. He said I had to come get the bike that day so I jumped in my car and headed out to Astoria Queens. When I got close to my destination I called the the guy and he told me he would be on the corner of such and such street, oh boy this was starting to feel fishy lol. I pulled up handed him the money he handed me the bike and he was gone before I could say thank you. Anyway, I got it home and cleaned it up the best I could, kept it for a few years and recently gave it away to a friend as a thank you for doing some work around my house. Here's a before and some after pictures.

1968 Schwinn Fastback 5 speed

I believe this was the second bike I purchased. I found this one on Craigslist and I picked it up from the oringinal owner in a closed down bar in Manhattan that was being brought back to life. Much like the bar this bike was in need of some TLC when I got it. I replaced the seat with a Pete seat (officially licensed reproduction seat) and I got to work cleaning all the rust off the chrome etc. I think at the end of the day I ended up with a pretty nice ride.

1970 Schwinn Fastback 5 speed

Sold

After a few years of collecting I thought it would be cool to start a blog to chronicle my bicycle collection. It all started with this 1970 Fastback that I purchased on ebay in September of 2007. I purchased this bike because my girlfriend and I had found a girls stingray at a Flea Market in upstate NY, and I thought it would be cool to have an old school bike to ride with her. Seeing her bike immediately brought back the bikes of my childhood and started me on this journey to collect bicycles of as many varied styles as I could find.

I don't know if anyone will care about this blog ,but maybe there will be some like minded people out there who will enjoy this or maybe someone will happen upon the blog and see their childhood bike and enjoy some good memories at the least.