Here I am again, trying to understand things I am better off not knowing about.
I owned a few Schwinn Fastback bikes through the years. All were decent bikes, a couple Rams Horns back in the early 1970s in high school and one in parts now.
Admittedly they are cool bikes, but they have their niche and have never commanded the prices Krate series bikes have ascended to in the last few years.
Apparently that is going to change. On eBay today I found this bike not too far from me that I had to triple check the price on to make sure I wasnt seeing doubledouble.
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It is nice, it is clean and according to the seller original. I cannot dispute or verify that but I am aware of tricks and methods to build a bike and patina it to look original. I am also aware that somehow bikes in this condition magically appear in collections regularly. Did these kids just get bikes, pack them in peanuts and bubble wrap and store them in Climate Controlled bedrooms, attics basements or garages so in 50 years they could pull them out and sell them for more than the original cost of all the bikes in the Schwinn Dealers showroom the week their parents bought it for them.
Imagine the parents shock, disbelief and despair that little Jimmy just got the top banana of bikes for his birthday, Christmas or Bubblegum Fart day and NEVER rode it. The first bike I rode in 1966 was a 26" balloon tire skip tooth girls Hawthorne. I would've traded my left *** (your choice of body parts here) for one of the Stingray bikes, new or not and rode it until the paint fell off. The "oh, it was too big",or "it was too small" or "it was
( your choice of excuses here) wouldn't have flown further than a Lead Zeppelin ( not the band) on Jupiter. Lower the seat dingleberry! Or raise it or move the handlebars or pedal blocks or shorter crank or..... well you get my point.
That's why these bikes are a little hard to believe in for me, like Santa or the Tooth Fairy.
But that aside, and to my real question. Last time I went to sleep non Rams Horn Fastbacks in nice condition were having trouble breaking into the 4 digit level at all, let alone into the 5 digit price point. Did I oversleep by about 10 years or am I once again behind the curve?
No, I am not jealous. I actually have one of these Sprint sprocket/hub bikes dismantled on the restore shelf but it is back so far that even God cannot see when it will be finished. It was originally black but the PO sandblasted it so he could paint it white, then had to sell it because he was in between jobs. I bought it for $200 (his price) with 3 boxes of parts and a couple sets of wheels.
If only it still had its paint! I like Fastbacks better in Black than Violet but I like Stingrays in Violet maybe more than any other color.
I am probably going to offend someone with this 5 page long post all about me that is off topic from the OPs thread. Wait, I am the OP, the post is about a bike not me and as hard as I try I have not been able to break one page on any post I have made.
Any thoughts about this price on a Fastback? I've seen $10k and up 4 door slant 6 Darts so I guess I should be ready for this but I am not.
As always civil discourse is requested even if we disagree. English is my third language. Trash talk and Profanity are my most fluent languages, but I would prefer not to use them in conversation here on this topic.
