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Schwinn Varsity tourist question

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I had Creedence Clearwaters Cosmos Factory on eight track. Definitely great jams to cruise to back in the day, and still great music today.
 
You do realize that Rick Springfield grew up down under in Australia, I think, where there were no Schwinns.

The 1969 model introduction of the safety levers (a.k.a. "Turkey Levers") was massively popular and was what probably prompted the tidal wave towards racing handlebar bikes, because you could NOW RIDE THE TOPS and never have to go to the lower curved portion. Every manufacturer in the world copied Schwinn and began offering Turkey Levers on at least some of their lineup of 10 speed offerings. Most folks who bought 10 speeds during the BIKE BOOM specifically chose a ten speed model with racing bars and turkey levers. They also by an overwhelming majority, specifically wanted their ten speed to have their shifters located on the stem, rather than down low on the downtube. This irritates most younger "road-bike" enthusiasts today that despise stem shifters, turkey levers, steel wheels, one piece cranks, and any bike heavier than 28 pounds. They automatically associate stem shifters, turkey levers, steel wheels, and one piece cranks with undesireable, low rent bicycles that nobody should want to own and ride. As you can see, those youngsters haven't yet lived enough to know what a great riding old classic ten speed actually is.

The great, "COSMO's FACTORY" album (released 1970) , one of the best rock and roll albums of all-time, probably helped a little bit in furthering the popularity and coolness of the 10 speed as you cannot miss Doug Clifford's Schwinn on the cover.
Mr. Ziffel, I believe you are correct. Excellent point! I couldn't resist, though. 😁

Yes, the Varsity was no doubt disparaged by many serious cyclists. It's weight and one piece crankset made it an easy target. However, to label the Varsity a low rent bike is a mistake. The Schwinn one-piece crank was machined and finely crafted, and very likely lighter than the cottered cranks found on many low-end bikes in the 70's. Also, Schwinn used alloy hubs vs the heavy steel hubs from other manufacturers. The Varsity was not a professional road bike, and it was not designed to be. It was (and is) fun to ride, reliable, tough, and versatile. It's the reason so many are in use to this day. I suspect they will still be in use after many of us are gone.

Back in the 90's early 2000's, my LBS owner(now retired), a Schwinn dealer since the late 60's, used to dread working on the department store Roadmasters, Huffys, etc that would come in for repair. However, he said that anytime a customer wheeled in a Varsity or Continental from the 70s that had sat for 20 or 30 years, it usually just needed some lube on the chain, new tires/brake pads, and out the door it went!

Tom Shaddox, in his excellent article archived on Sheldon Brown's site, stated that the Varsity is "the single most significant American bicycle." I tend to agree with that statement.

I have to check out the album you mentioned!
 
I bought this one new when it came out in 1970. It's a little beat up but I played the heck out of it. Great album

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That is a sweet album cover and so awesome that you have held on to it 52 years! Makes me want to pop on some Creedence!
Agreed! I've never seen it before. It's a bit hard to make out details, but it looks like the bike has centerpull brakes, a quick release hub and a chrome fork. If that is a Schwinn, maybe a Super Sport?
 
I agree with the guess on Super Sport. Looks like maybe toe clips also? Not sure what Schwinns would have been offered in black during that time period? At any rate, Schwinn or not, pretty cool!
 
I agree with the guess on Super Sport. Looks like maybe toe clips also? Not sure what Schwinns would have been offered in black during that time period? At any rate, Schwinn or not, pretty cool!
Definitely toe clips. Good question. The Paramounts were available in numerous colors. Maybe the bike on the cover is Sierra Brown and looks darker?
 
It sure looks like Schwinn stem shifters poking up by the handle bars. No black in anything but a Paramount in the late 60’s. 68-69 the Super sport was available in Sierra Brown and came with a full chrome fork……
 
See the photo (post #115) of the album cover photo below in greater detail

It is either a 1969 or 1970 Schwinn Super Sport. The safety levers were new for '69 and were not on 1968 and earlier.

If you ever get the chance to see J. F. in your city, you will not be disappointed. He is great live.
His voice still sounds the same. I captured him on his 1969 tour in 2015 and his vocals sound exactly like they do on Green River, Willie & The Poorboys, Cosmo's Factory, The Concert(oakland jan 31, 1970),Live in Europe(ccr as 3 piece sept'71), Live at Woodstock august 1969 CD(released in 2019), and just released less than one month ago, the APRIL 14th, 1970 LONDON Royal Albert Hall concert CD (released in October 2022). I listen to it in my car all the time, the sound quality is better than most live FM broadcasts & most live LP's from 1969.
The newly issued Royal Albert Hall CD is NOT THE SAME as the erroneous 1980 issued LP, titled "Live at Royal Albert Hall", which proved to be the Oakland Coliseum Jan 31, 1970 tapes, such that the LP was retitled "The Concert" within a month of its release to reflect that it was actually from Oakland and not from Royal Albert in London as mistakenly issued originally in 1980.
BBC British television videotaped-filmed and recorded the concert for use on British television. It the entire video was once up on youtube a number of years ago before it was forced off, signalling a possibilty that the recording might possibly be officially released in the future. It is a fantastic performance. The sound quality is better than the The Concert (LP) and The Live in Europe (LP) and the respective CD re-issues of those releases. The reason is simple that you do not have the sound quality limitations of the LP format to deal with when transferring a quality live tape recording. You don't have to neuter the bass and other high end treble detail and other dynamics in order for the sound to become a playable LP. If you don't make certain concessions when mastering for LP such a dynamic live tape, the needle won't stay in the groove, and the LP would be unlistenable. Releasing such content on say CD, or SACD, direct digital download, or say on a TAPE ONLY release would allow you to not have to worry about neutering the content and then hoping that the RIAA Equalization Curve built into magnetic phono pre-amps will get it close enough to the actual realistic sound. Yes, those two latest CCR live CD's (woodstock '69 issued in 2019) and (London ROYAL ALBERT HALL April 14, 1970 issued just a few weeks ago in Oct 2022)
are also available in LP (long playing record) versions but why in the world would you want such great music on such a vastly inferior sound reproduction format. I don't dispute that there are some old recordings (LP era releases) that as presented, sometimes sound better on the original LP release but given the proper conditions where the highest quality source material is used and great care is taken to present it in the best sonic quality attainable, then CD or digital does offer the best potential for doing so.
Having said that, certainly, it is possible to make a compact disc or other digital release sound like garbage, despite the vastly superior quality potential of any high resolution digital format over the primitive pressed record.
Fogerty is a national treasure that puts on one helluva top-notch rock n roll show. You won't be disappointed if you get the chance to see him in concert.
 
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