Decisions Decisions

After this past week of restoring a black vintage cruiser, I wanted to sell it. I kept polishing it up and it got even more beautiful. The paint is still good, the chrome is still shiny, it has the original tires. Only the chain is replaced. Everything else is original. I still need to get handle grips for it. It was my plan to sell the bike all along.

Getting to this Friday, I hesitated to do so. I don't know why. I put so much effort into it to get the best price for it. I need the money and it would help with a lot of things to sell it. But. . . .I just can't get myself to that point of getting rid of it. That's a real tough decision for me to make. I love the bike, but I should get rid of it.

For now, I'm keeping it.

Now, I was polishing that bike this week, while I was also fixing the vintage tandem Schwinn Twinn. It has taken so long just to get out a speck of rust on the front fender. I took another look at the bike and realized something. I might not be able to save it.

The thing about me is that sometimes, I get obsessive quickly. If you've talked to me, you'd understand what I'm talking about. Well, this bike was part of my obsession theme.

I thought it would be the same with this bicycle. Fix up the fenders, the wheels, the handlebars, the saddle, the kickstand, and a bit of the frame. I quickly noticed that the saddles could not be saved. The matting came a part and they're both crusty and torn. The "S" is gone and the only thing good on it remains the "Schwinn Approved" tag. Useless without the rest of the saddle. This past week, I was working on the front fender. It took so long and so many trials and errors to get the rust off. I hated saying it, but the front fender cannot be saved. I looked at the rear, and it was just as bad. Slowly my dream of repairing this vintage bike to it's former glory was dying. I took out the seat post of the front saddle and saw that it had huge corrosions in it. I had to give that up. The rear seat post had the same issue. Corrosion. The chains are useless and cannot be repaired. The rear cog is useless. Rusted over completely. The handle bars and the frame. Are the only things that I can save, but it won't be worth it without the rest.

I tried to find vintage saddles for it and I did. I found an ad. Two green Schwinn saddles! Almost perfect condition. The ad said they were green, but they looked black. I emailed the seller and his only reply was, "sold." He wasn't even former or generous, just, "sold." If I was eased into the disappointment, then I wouldn't be so crushed about it.


Psh.
Sold.