Friday, October 9, 2020

Shanina the Schwinn Sierra Adventure Bike

Roza Shanina was a lovely and lethal Soviet sniper who served in the Red Army during World War II. She was both conventionally beautiful and remarkably deadly with a kill count of at least 59 German Nazis. And while she described her younger self as boundless and reckless, her friends commented that she valued both courage and the absence of egotism. 

Classic elegance capable of pure carnage.

This is the essence of my 1987 Schwinn Sierra. Thoroughly Red, to be sure, and a beautiful piece of vintage MTB simplicity, slightly modified for all day adventures, throwing itself with reckless abandon at crumbling city streets, dusty Appalachian single track, and never ending forested gravel paths. 


This is a DIY budget build of @goodolenam's Specialized Stumpjumper. I cannibalized a WTB saddle and Wald basket off other bikes and then put some inverted SunLite North Road handlebars and grippies on it. Just needs a front rack to get rid of its bent and rattly basket limbs. I thought about a 1x conversion but the mammoth stock biopace chainring is an actual speed demon from the gaping maw of hell. This machine snipes obscure Strava Top 10s like her namesake sniped fascists. It kills them. 


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