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Just acquired this 1967 Schwinn Speedster...

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TimothyNelson

Finally riding a big boys bike
Story goes like this, seller is in the construction industry and he was cleaning out a house that was vacant for 15 years, and found this bike in the house. His crew was going to toss it in the dumpster but he said he was going to save it and did, he said the tires were ratty and the brakes were bad, he fixed it up and then ended up selling it to me today. It rides and shifts absolutely wonderfully, much better than I expected it would... very smooth!!!

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I want one of these! I’m here in Cali so everything is 3x the price. People on CL and offer up want $300+ for the single speed ones. Il just keep looking and maybe find one at a swap meet or yard sale maybe. Congrats on yours!
 
You were in the right place and the right time to save that great looking Speedster. They are really comfortable sweet riders so congrats grabbing it.
Mine is a June 1973 3 speed and is a joy to ride.
1489876
 
Vince:
Keep your eyes open to Ebay listings that the seller won't ship, meaning pick-up only(LOCAL).
If you do this on a daily basis, over the period of five months to a year, you will find probably at least three nice Schwinns that are inexpensive with 100 miles of your location. There is a certain segment of the population that is affluent and tends to trend as over sixty years old that will just list bikes on Ebay as LOCAL pick-up Only. They do it this way because it seems to provide a sense of security in dealing with strangers in any transaction. The payment to complete the transaction is handled by PAYPAL.
So the seller is just delivering the bicycle in person to the new owner. This can be done in a safe public place that the seller chooses and the new owner agree upon the time & place. Since the new owner (winning bidder or person who hit BUY IT NOW) already owns said bike, and PAYPAL has been done, the delivery of bike to the new owner literally takes about 45 seconds to maybe a minute and a half, and is done in broad daylight hours in a SAFE PLACE away from the seller's residence.
Craigslist and the old local weekly "shopper" printed ads ARE RISKY because professional robbers are known to place ads and lure folks carrying CASH to meet them and then they rob them. On the other hand, vice-versa there were also numerous instances of Ted Bundy types that answered those for sale:, weekly "shopper" type printed ads for all -types of various items like, Couch-SOFA, bicycle, stereo, canoe, boat trailer or whatever. These folks would call numerous ads and then by just talking to whoever answered at the selling party's number, could determine if it was a young woman home alone, handling such a sale.
Often, the selling party would tell the serial killer-abductor-rapist that they were the only one home, but come on over, I'll be here until 4PM, after that I won't be here. NO JOKE !! BE CAREFUL OUT THERE! State Bureau of Investigation folks, Assistant District Attorneys, and FBI & other law enforcement personnel will also stress that it is RISKY dealing with unknown strangers. 99.9% are likely good people that aren't sociopaths, but still, you have to be extremely careful.
Ebay transactions will have a communication record and sufficient recorded information on the purchaser such that there likely will be an inescapeable detailed paper trail, that likely would deter dangerous criminals. With CRAIGSLIST, it is like the wild wild west, and YOU DO NEED TO BE WARY AND PROTECT YOURSELF AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.
I'm just emphasizing that trying to save $14 or $3 or whatever small amount to get "The Best Possible Deal" on a bike, bike part, or whatever the heck the item/thing that you are trying to buy Used, might not be such a great idea if it puts you at serious risk. I know this sounds like I have been binge watching old re-runs of LAW & ORDER, or CSI, but many folks probably don't even think there is any risk in CRAIGSLIST or other sales transaction with unknown strangers.
Things get more potentially dangerous in down economic times, which thankfully we don't have, but statistics do show that there is traditionally, annually, a significant spike in such robberies during the Christmas season and end of School year each May/June, as well as when the the daylight hours are shorter between Nov and end of Xmas shopping season.
Be careful out there, whether you are a buyer or seller. There are also the extra-ordinary pandemic concerns if you have chosen not to get vaccinated, because remember that Delta is Ready, When You Aren't ! Vaccines do Save Lives!


THERE ARE PLENTY OF THESE BICYCLES that routinely show up on EBAY for a Relatively Inexpensive Amount.
Yes, because they probably are not among your local vicinity,, you cannot obtain them.
You have to check the BAY daily and see because from time to time, there will be ONE or A FEW that are LOCAL to you.
You can also sometimes obtain a nice inexpensive vintage frame that is missing wheelset, that you could obtain and build out to a finished bicycle. Yes it will cost perhaps more to do it this way, but the UPS & FedEx folks will bring the old vintage frame & related parts to your doorstep. There is no time wasting and gasoline/vehicle mileage-depreciation driving all over to deal with "flakes" over some bicycle that they sold to someone else 12 minutes earlier. Yep, the early bird does get the worm, and money talks and BS walks, but there is even more to be concerned about. If you do love that treasure hunt and chasing down every local deal, keep on doing that, but be careful out there and be cognizant that if you are carrying cash and meeting up with strangers on a Craigs deal that you could be a robbery victim.

Here are three SCHWINNS at $59.99 each somewhere in Ohio, the seller did have a 4th Schwinn but that is now SOLD see 174817750789 on the bay. Here is a nice old complete 1965 era blue frame that you could build from, that is somewhere else in Ohio see 203232385420 on the bay. Here is one in Maine #224631172269
Here is a decent enough late 1969 brown Collegiate with the Shimano GT-100 rear derailleur which is desireable over the Huret Allvit........the GT-100 was standard on 1970 to very early 1974 Collegiates..........the shipping cost on this one is reasonable at $75 shipping and and 0 bids thus far at one hundred dollars opening bid........in this pandemic climate, such a decent brown Collegiate is well worth that opening bid, because those Collegiates are simple for DIY servicing and are more reliable than anything you can buy new today at any price. Yes, they weigh about forty pounds but that does not really matter on such a basic, comfort hybrid cruiser if you want to classify that old Schwinn in that way. The ancient Schwinns are extremely good riders and they just keep on goin'. Tires are made by KENDA for the 597mm SCHWINN 26 x 1 3/8 wheels. You cannot use the common 590mm 26 X 1 3/8 tires on SCHWINN S5 & S6 wheels!! The blackwall KENDA 37-597mm 26 x 1 3/8 TIRE will outlast the gumwall version, but you will get years of excellent service from either. They are slightly difficult for the novice or anyone who has never mounted a bicycle tire to mount evenly on the wheel, but there are tutorials describing how to & showing how it is done on the youtube and elsewhere on the web.

Keep searching and you'll find them. Millions of Schwinns were sold between the late Sixties and mid Seventies. There were still quite a lot of Schwinns sold between 1950 and 1967 even if the numbers are fractional compared to the numbers sold during 1971, 1972, and 1973. Schwinn built their bicycles to be extremely durable and nearly indestructible, especially from 1966 through 1980.
 
Where are you guys finding tires for these bikes?
I believe yours takes the same size as my 73 Schwinn.
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I got a set on eBay a few months back. Make sure you get the correct size for S-6 rims. Kenda and Sunlite make a 26 x 1 3/8 x 1 1/4 ISO 597 tires that fit like a glove.
 
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