A Vintage Schwinn Stingray Chopper with 5 speed shifter like the old raleigh chopper on the downtube. If anyone knows anything about these I would love to know what age it is?
Andy, my experience with these mirrors JimK's with much the same evolution from there. Mine had a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed with what I came to refer to as the "Eunuch Shifter" option (it looked much like the Hurst floor shifter from a '60s muscle car and was wonderful except for it's castrato side effects that came into play with every deliberate and inadvertent dismount -- one simply
could not get off the bike without one's delicate parts becoming painfully impaled. Thankfully, I outgrew it before incurring any permanent damage).
I tilted the handlebars forward to give me more of an aerodynamic position.
...and don't forget...it also looked cool. Way.
Jim...your comment on the banana saddle brought back some memories. Mine was whitish with flecks of silver glitter in the vinyl cover and silvery transverse "quilt lines" about every couple inches. This was over about 1/8in of open-cell foam, which was not enough to cover the stamped-steel seat pan. After just a few miles, "ouch" -- it hurt!
Ah, childhood memories. It's a wonder we survived, isn't it? We used to ride in cars with no seatbelts (nevermind air bags), and never wore helmets when we rode. Still here!
All the best,
Dan. (...maybe a little addled, but still here! Oh, I already said that...)
