I spotted the ice pink vintage road bike on Caltrain, obviously too large and too old to be designed for women. “Who owns the pink bike?” I asked the group behind me. “It’s mine,” said Dean.
Dean’s no girly man, nor is his 1987 Schwinn Prelude a girly bike, as you can see in his feat of strength outside the station. Dean’s lovely pink bike was built lightweight for racing speed, and with a 25″ frame, built for a rider well over six feet tall. That’s 63.5 cm for you folks too young to remember when road bikes were measured in inches. In 1987, Schwinn still made their bikes at their headquarters in Chicago, you see.
Dean isn’t the only manly guy I know who rides a pink road bike. There’s Ron who has a 1991 Diamond Back Master TG bike in a far less demure shade of pink. I found many others, like this 1972 Sekine, this La France, this Miami Vice inspired Centurion and these two by Francesco Moser. Lovely, lovely, manly pink bikes.
-
- Back in the day it was 10 speed freewheels all the way.
-
- Look close and you’ll see “Schwinn Chicago” on the head badge.
-
- Downtube shifters and a lugged steel frame, naturally.
-
- Made in America, with Columbus Tenax tubing from Italy.
-
- The side-pull brakes have exaggerated guides.
-
- The Serfas saddle is well-worn but not the original from Schwinn.
Location: Caltrain Diridon Station, San Jose, California, USA.
TinLizzie72
August 28, 2013 at 7:46 pm
That’s a color pink I might consider, I like it. I work with an Ironman with a hot pink trimmed bike, so it’s not just a CA thing! : )
echo
August 28, 2013 at 8:13 pm
That’s certainly a cool bike for anyone, regardless of gender! But… this is cool nonetheless!