« Me at age 9: "I get to blow up things? Best. Holiday. Ever." | Main | "I'm convinced our neighbors own a munitions factory..." »
July 01, 2005
Sing along: "I want to ride my bicycle."
So I bought a bicycle the other day.
I already have a Marin Muirwood mountain bike that I use when Fabulous Babe and I go biking. (Not much of that over the last year and a half.) It's very nice and has served us very well.
Then, somewhere in my grandparents basement in Kentucky, I have a chrome 1980 Schwinn Voyageur 11.8 which needs to come up this way on the next trip home. It will need a good cleaning but it is still regarded as one of the best road bikes Schwinn ever made. (Nice derailers, etc.)
So what did I buy?
In 1999/2000 Schwinn made a "cruiser" called the Panther that wasn't like anything else in the line. It was a single speed, all black bicycle that looked like nothing else in the catalog. It was lite as a feather, it looked amazing and when I saw it at the bicycle store in Redmond I fell in love.
Of course they sold out instantly. Doh!
It didn't help that shortly after they came out someone entered a race with one without any modifications and came in first. *sheesh* After that they became rarer than hens teeth.
For 5 years I've been looking for one on Ebay, at bike stores, etc. Finally I found one which I brought home on Monday. A couple of scratches here and there but she's beautiful.
In theory this was my Father's day present but the fact is that this one will be passed on to Jack at some point. It's like the Miata: I'll drive it for the next few years but at some point it's going to be his.
I'll post pictures this weekend.
Posted by Jim at July 1, 2005 09:47 AM