Monday Blues: Schwinn on Campus

If there has been a more iconic bicycle on American college and university campuses, dating back to the very first bicycle boom years than the various models made by Schwinn, I don't know what it would be. At the middle of the last century, first the Varsity and then the Collegiate, captured the essence of a campus run-about. You would set no speed, nor distance, records on them but they were fine for those short sprints between dorm and classroom, between classes and back to dorm. Best of all for the often cash-starved student, they were affordable. These days the mix of makers on campuses is much more broad, everything from higher range imports to the lowliest of big-box retailers, can be found locked at racks, to posts, or secured in rooms. It is rather cool to spot the Schwinn tied up now and again - everything from vintage classics to models of more recent manufacture. It is a part of the ongoing history of cycling, the mythos of names.

Blue: A color, a mood or emotion, a genre of music. Tune in each Monday for another installment of the Blues, with a cycling twist.