Meet Priscilla

And yes, I understand what the name implies. For those not familiar, Priscilla Queen of the Desert is a film/musical/show about drag queens. Which is why I like the name. Priscilla is a very girlie name.

Well, here's the background on Priscilla: I've been looking for years now for a frame/bike that I could refurbish and turn into a fixie/commuter bike. It had to be oldish, but in decent condition, with horizontal dropouts (if you don't know what dropouts are: Go here), and with wide enough fork/brakes to be able to accommodate fenders. Because I like Fenders. They're kinda dorky but cute at the same time. And totally practical. Now the thing with the name is that I generally don't name my inanimate objects that transport me. I don't name bikes, cars, etc. Dogs I name. Things that aren't alive I don't. Descriptors go something like this: "I'm going to drive the insert model name here to the store." or "I'm riding my road/TT/mtb today." Straightforward, right? I have also long had a problem with calling inanimate objects "she." I guess I'm a quirky feminist, but I think all my bikes should be called "he" or "it." Because if guys ride bikes called "she" then shouldn't girls ride bikes called "he"? Which is how it came to Priscilla: still can be a "he" but since Priscilla is a girl's Schwinn Varsity, the name must be girlie. Which is why Priscilla is a perfect name.I stripped the parts off of Priscilla yesterday expecting to find more rust than was worth the $35 to take...ahem....him....home. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the muck was greasy dried up dirt, and not rust. A good soak in ammonia removed most of it, and what was on the frame just sanded right off. This is going to be a fabulous bike. I had a few stern words and help with whacking the stem out of the fork, which has some rust on it, but not too bad, and got to taking the derailleur housing guides off.
The bike was obviously a cheaply made bike without the finishing touches probably afforded to better models, so there are a few burrs and catches that I am working on filing off before I get to sanding the whole frame down.
I got my work buddy here with me the whole time; she's just there making sure that I'm doing things up to her standards.
Once the frame is all sanded and primed, it's going to get a bright apple red color and a clear lacquer. Then he gets fenders, a rack, one brake, the wheels on the current fixie/commuter - the Fiori - and the bottom bracket adapter for the English bottom bracket I want to use.

Yay for getting to projects I've talked about for ages :P