The varsity arrived this morning and boy is it a boat anchor and weird. Realistically I spent too much on it, I spent £40 in total :facepalm:
But and this is the really weird part, I still think its great and its just so me
The forks are very strange, the fork blades are pretty much that, only 10mm thick at the widest point when seen from front on but over an inch wide from side on, heavy but rather cool looking. Front triangle Frame tubes are all about 1 inch diameter so very skinny and the result is a weird seat post of 21.1mm diameter. Quill stem is also 21.1mm and the huge Ashtabula BB shell with its one piece BMX style cranks make for a sturdy beast.
Paintwork is missing in chunks but is dark metallic red where it exists and there is a fair bit of surface rust. It needs some serious cosmetic work to look good which it is not getting as I cannot afford it.
So what am I going to do with it......well road biking will not be it. Even with a major weight loss program it would be unlikely to get below 30 lbs. Nope its getting the fixed gear treatment for my low speed on/off road forays around Midlothian or anywhere else I choose to take it such as the land of Epicyclo
I can see why the early mtb creators used them, they are very tough and have amazing tyre clearance. You can get 26" and 27.5" wheels with up to 2" width in front and back as well as up to 28 x 1.75" tyres front and back.
I have built it up with bullmoose bars, removed the outer chainring and coated the frame in boiled linseed oil to halt corrosion. It should be on the road/trail within the week.