If you're not already hip to Cyclofiend, you need to check it out (and not just because my 1984 Schwinn High Sierra is there). Lots of great bikes to inspire your next build, and keep you scanning Craigslist for that next project bike. That's where I found my High Sierra, which will be the first project featured here in the garage. Why molest such a well-preserved time capsule? Well, if you look at the pic of the seatpost, you can see there's a hunk of welding rod stuck in the joint. Beneath it, there's a gap in the weld. It's just plain bad work, not up to par with the rest of the welds on the bike (or the usual standards for Giant, who built these frames for Schwinn). It bugged me more than I could stand, but I didn't want to wreck the original paint to repair the joint. So, I resolved to sell the bike. I think I asked $300, thinking there were people out there who, like me, would think this all-original bike has value as a vintage machine. As it turns out, people just viewed it as an old bike. So game on: I'm gonna fix it! I removed the paint via torch and had a friend re-weld the seatstays, and the next stop is the powder coater. I'm going to go with a nice orange, and re-build the bike with different bars and a shorter forged stem to reduce the long reach the bike had in stock form with its bullmoose bars and 24" top tube. Plus a few other choice parts swaps--you'll see.
