Oh, Schwinn

My old bike, originally uploaded by Mat Honan.

This is my bike, a Schwinn Sprint. My parents got it for me the summer in between sixth and seventh grade, and I rode it all the way through high school. When I was 13 or 14, my friend McDowell and I rode in The Tour for Cure (I still have the shirt!), a 75 mile bike ride from Montgomery to Selma, and then 75 miles back again the next day to raise money for MS. Like many kids, I was totes the bike junkie as a kid, but this is the one that made me a bike junkie as an adult. This is the bike that took me from rider to cyclist. I loved it; it must weigh 500 pounds.

Today the Sprint is in pretty sorry shape. I dug it out of my dad's utility shed and was appalled at the state it's in. The derailleur is bent and broken. You can't turn most of the bolts due to corrosion. And the entire frame is flecked in spots of rust.

But I still love it.

Yesterday, I spent the evening stripping what parts I could from the bike. When I come back in December, I'm brining solvent and a metric wrench to take care of the rest. As it is, it's useless, but I think I can save it. The bike is nearly 23 years old, but I intend to make it new again. My plan is to take it with me to San Francisco and then build it into a fixed gear bike, re-paint it, and hopefully resurrect it and give it a second life. The Schwinn once took me all over the streets of Montgomery and rural backroads of Alabama. I can't wait to see how it does in California.

Wish me luck.