The Plan

I originally became aware of the Chicago made Schwinn Tank bikes when I went in to a local East Vancouver bike shop called "The World Cycles" on Commercial Street (not Drive). The place was filled with these cool looking old bikes that I had never seen before and I was immediately hooked. I had recently retaken up biking for fun and health and the idea of riding around on one of these old cruiser bikes sounded like even more fun.

I bought My Tiger the day I first saw it, as it was shiny and in surprisingly good shape for a nearly 50 year old bike. What Danu (the shop owner) does to these bikes is replace all the old moving parts with new ones and can even add gears to make these bikes ride like brand new while retaining the cool old look of the original Schwinn bikes. I thought it sounded like a great idea. Since the riding season was about ended anyway, I left my Tiger in Danu's hands for the winter with the idea that all the necessary changes would be complete by spring. The first change was made that first day. We changed the handlebars to a wider pair as although I like the style of the cruiser handlebars, the ones on there were a bit narrow between the bar ends for me.