Schwinn Varsity at Walmart

Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
It appears that the venerable name "Varisty" has been resurrected by
Schwinn. I was at Walmart tonight and they have an aluminum framed
road bike that Schwinn is calling Varsity. It was $199.

If it's not 16-gauge gas-pipe tubing, it's not a Varsity.


Varsity's were "electroforged" from sheets of steel, not from bought
tube stock.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/varsity.html

Yeah, they were pretty heavy, but the process had potential, if they'd
been able to hang in till the newer steels emerged in the late 70s, we
might still have E/F bikes today.

My neighbor has a yellow one he keeps as his brother gave it to him 25
years ago, and he can't bear to part with it. He spent $150 or so and
had the LBS retrofit it with six speed clickshift mounted on the stem,
and some better brake pads.

It rides very very nicely, and is a perfect town bike for his needs--he
loves the slight cheese/nostalgia factor. :P

"landotter" wrote in message
ups.com...


My neighbor has a yellow one he keeps as his brother gave it to him 25
years ago, and he can't bear to part with it. He spent $150 or so and
had the LBS retrofit it with six speed clickshift mounted on the stem,
and some better brake pads.

He's not the only one. I came across an old Varsity in a bike shop getting a
good, thorough overhaul and upgrade. I asked the wrench about it, and he
said he wouldn't put all that money into a heavy Varsity himself, but the
guy liked his old bike and had the money, so why not invest it in something
you love and use?

Are you sure? The only road bike that Wallyworld sell afaik, is the
humorously named "GMC Denial"

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...A4125%3A133073
http://tinyurl.com/7sgde

Mike Kruger wrote:

He's not the only one. I came across an old Varsity in a bike shop getting a
good, thorough overhaul and upgrade. I asked the wrench about it, and he
said he wouldn't put all that money into a heavy Varsity himself, but the
guy liked his old bike and had the money, so why not invest it in something
you love and use?

And the use part is largly irrelevant.

Some people spend tens of thousands of dollars (or more) on old,
unreliable, poor-performing, uncomfortable cars all the tim.

landotter wrote:
Are you sure? The only road bike that Wallyworld sell afaik, is the
humorously named "GMC Denial"

It's Denali.

"landotter" wrote in message
oups.com...
Are you sure? The only road bike that Wallyworld sell afaik, is the
humorously named "GMC Denial"

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...A4125%3A133073
http://tinyurl.com/7sgde

Well their intended target user doesn;t ride hard or fast, so the bike would
work fine t\for that purpose.
My son rode one in last year's HHH at Witchita Falls Texas.
He did Ok, no problems. But he was a courting all the "abandoned girls" left
behind on the ride.
So for cruising along at a easy pace it was perfect for him.
Besides the aero-wheels make it look more expensive and trick, so it went
over well with all the girls he was talking with along the ride.
I'd change out the Kenda tires for better puncture resistant ones as thorns
go right through them easily.
It uses a two piece handlebar setup so they can slip on the grip shifters.
The frame is aluminum albeit pretty heavy like a MTB or something. So it is
more like a MTB with road wheels and dropped road handlebars.
It actually has Shimano shifters, but the are very low end ones. Shifting is
slow, and the grip shifters are sloppy.
But most of the intended target ridership seems to shift into a lower gear
and just stay there and not shift much.
When and if my son loses interest, I'll convert it over into a single speed
for my purposes.

Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
It appears that the venerable name "Varisty" has been resurrected by
Schwinn. I was at Walmart tonight and they have an aluminum framed
road bike that Schwinn is calling Varsity. It was $199.

If it's not 16-gauge gas-pipe tubing, it's not a Varsity.


Varsity's were "electroforged" from sheets of steel, not from bought
tube stock.

Which is exactly how 16 gauge welded gas-pipe tubing is made. Pretty bizarre
when you read about it. Still an awful lot of tubing made that way.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

"landotter" wrote in message
ups.com...

Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
It appears that the venerable name "Varisty" has been resurrected by
Schwinn. I was at Walmart tonight and they have an aluminum framed
road bike that Schwinn is calling Varsity. It was $199.

If it's not 16-gauge gas-pipe tubing, it's not a Varsity.


Varsity's were "electroforged" from sheets of steel, not from bought
tube stock.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/varsity.html

Yeah, they were pretty heavy, but the process had potential, if they'd
been able to hang in till the newer steels emerged in the late 70s, we
might still have E/F bikes today.

My neighbor has a yellow one he keeps as his brother gave it to him 25
years ago, and he can't bear to part with it. He spent $150 or so and
had the LBS retrofit it with six speed clickshift mounted on the stem,
and some better brake pads.

It rides very very nicely, and is a perfect town bike for his needs--he
loves the slight cheese/nostalgia factor. :P

Was that a WalMart in Chicago?



Olebiker Wrote:
It appears that the venerable name "Varisty" has been resurrected by
Schwinn. I was at Walmart tonight and they have an aluminum framed
road bike that Schwinn is calling Varsity. It was $199.


--
gawnfishin

gawnfishin wrote:
Was that a WalMart in Chicago?

No, it was in Tallahassee.

Rich wrote:
landotter wrote:
Are you sure? The only road bike that Wallyworld sell afaik, is the
humorously named "GMC Denial"

It's Denali.

GMC accidentally transposed "Denial" to "Denali". Denial makes much
more sense for a large body-on-frame SUV that most owners will never
use for heavy towing or off-road duty.

--
Tom Sherman - Fox River Valley