Scattante SSR Single Speed Road Bike

I don't have this bike anymore. It was fun to build, but other than a blast around the neighborhood every couple of weeks, I just wasn't riding it. But, if you want a fast and fun track-style bike, the Scattante SSR frame and fork is a nice offering. Don't expect a low-buck F&F to result in a low-buck build, however. I built mine up with cheap-but-good parts from a variety of online sources, and still dropped about $700 bucks. Ouch.

The cheapest clipless pedals I could find. I actually never rode clipped in, I kept platforms on the bike to facilitate quick spins around the neighborhood.

SRAM Omnium crank, super nice. I got a great deal on it from a buddy who worked there, I would not have bought such a nice crank otherwise.

ACS Claws BMX freewheel. The Scattante frame had neat socket-style fork ends (not dropouts, as Sheldon Brown will tell you). Calibration marks and chain tensioning screws made it easy to set up the drivetrain.  

These Weinman rims with Formula cartridge-bearing, high-flange hubs were $160 for the pair. I liked 'em.

Ah yes, there's the hub. Note the shallow sockets the axle nuts sit in, as a safety device. Even with nutted axles, I had to hassle with "lawyer lips!"

Tektro's most inexpensive brakes are the R530s, but they belie their low cost with a nice finish and smooth action. The pads need a fair ammount of bed-in time before they grab well, though--especially on the Weinman rims' machined sidewalls, which had fine grooves that further reduced grip.

This shot also shows the Performance chromoly fork's nicely sloping crown. The fork weighed a ton, as I recall. And, it's no longer available--or at least, not available now.

Tektro R200A levers go for under $30 bucks a pair. You can spend a lot more, but I don't think you can get a better functioning lever--unless you want your brake levers to also operate your derailers.

PricePoint bars and stem, $35 for both as a combo. Perfectly fine stuff.

Kalloy Uno radius-top, the best $20 seatpost you'll ever find. Get yours from Velo Orange and it won't have the logo--much nicer that way. The saddle is a Forte thing that came off my Scattante Roma flat-bar road bike.

And there you have it.

Schwinn Voyageur DONE(ish)

In addition to being the debut of my newly rebuilt Voyageur, these are also the first pics taken with my new (to me) Canon Rebel camera. I shot these full-auto, but I'm looking forward to really digging into the camera's features to take some creative photos.  

The crank is clear-anodized, so it didn't respond to polishing, but it cleaned up well enough. I soaked the chainrings in Simple Green to remove the greasy "gumline" from the old chain, and to my surprise the original Biopace decal stayed on. I wasn't worried about keeping it on there, but I figure it earned the right to stay after surving the long Simple Green soak. The chain is new, it's the cheapest 6-7-8 speed chain Nashbar had, and perfectly good. Grip Kings from Riv...more on those, and them,  later.

 

Original derailer, new Shimano 6-speed freewheel (not a cassette), new Jagwire housing. I have to crimp cable ends on there, I'll get the big bottle from Porkchop BMX. The derailer pulleys were really gummed up, a Simple Green soak took care of them. Since it's not a solvent, I didn't have to worry about harming the plastic or handling fumey/toxic/flammable stuff that I'd rather not dip my fingers into. So yeah, I like Simple Green.

 

Grip King pedals from Rivendell. Great pedals, and a great company. No clips, no cleats, no clicks. Just a big ol' platform, which is all you need. Read this.

Now, just because I eschew clip-in pedals, don't think me a "retro-grouch." I like indexing just fine, and the Voyageur's 6-speed downtube shifters are in SIS mode. That's Shimano Indexing System, which in 1987 was still a new thing. Mothers Mag Wheel polish brought back the shine.

Fresh Dia-Compe cable hangers and straddle wires, cheap but OK Dia Compe Gray Matter pads, and a polish job on the original cantilevers. Oh, and new Panaracer Pasela tires (not sure where I got 'em; I just Googled for a good photo and linked to where I found it). I forgot how fat 27 x 1 1/4 tires are, but boy is the ride cushy. And, the skinwalls look so much nicer against the polished rims than blackwalls do. Everything is blackwall these days.

 

You don't see headbadges anymore these days, especially ones that attach with tiny screws. This one reads "Schwinn Chicago," which means this is an American-made frame. If it said "Schwinn Quality," that would be Taiwan...which would also be fine.

1984 Schwinn High Sierra, DONE!

My 1984 Schwinn High Sierra has been done for a while now, but a busy travel schedule has prevented me from finding time to photograph it, much less ride it—at least for a ride of more than a lap or two around the block. But I can say that tiny bit of riding has proved this neighborhood cruiser to be limo-smooth with a very comfy upright and laid back riding position. Here’s a closer look…

The Dimension alloy handlebars are nicely polished with smooth bends and a well-formed clamping area. The stem is a Kalloy AL-222 and further raises the bars to a comfortably high position. Grips are "cork" (foam with bits of cork in them). It's a firm foam with a nice texture, not squishy stuff.

 

The SunTour micro-ratchet shifters cleaned up nicely with about five minutes of mag wheel polish (I like Mothers, but any aluminum polish will do). The levers are mounted directly over the bar, which makes them a little less comfortable to operate than the designs that followed a couple of years later which mounted the lever ahead of the bar, but I like ‘em anyway. And, they're original equipment. Ditto for the oversized Dia Compe levers. Back in the halcyon days of early mass-produced "all terrain bikes," big levers (and bull-moose bars) were a defining feature. They're heavy as heck compared to modern levers, but provide mounds of leverage to squeeze the cantis against the rims. 

I've got one Brooks B17 that goes from bike to bike, I really should get another. Brooks saddles are trendy now, but I'm riding one because I know they are indeed very comfortable. If you don't mind the weight (and you shouldn't) and the price tag (which you can easily justify against A. the cost of a plastic racing saddle and B. the lack of discomfort you'll have compared to said plastic saddle), a B17 or any of the other Brooks models are excellent. The seatpost is a Kalloy Uno, perfectly effective and a great value for such a nicely finished post.

Michelin Country Rock tires, original equipment Dia-Compe "frog legs," red Kool Stop pads. The tires are ostensibly for rocks (duh) like Moab, but they're great street rollers with all the tread you need for dirt paths. The brakes polished up nicely (Mothers again), you can't beat natural aluminum. No paint means it can't scratch, fade or chip. Aluminum can go dull with oxidation, but then you just polish it.

These are the original Sugino cranks and chainrings, and the original bottom bracket is installed in there as well. Original front derailer too. A bath in Simple Green made short work of the old grease on these parts. These cranks, like many others of this vintage, use a spindle that has more offset on the drive side than on the left side. If you install a modern bottom bracket with equal offset on each side, you wind up with greater crankarm clearance on one side of the bike than the other. So, I just repacked the old BB and in it went. The pedals are Victor beartraps, another favorite of mine.

New stuff here, a Deore LX derailer, low-end Shimano HG22 freewheel, and a plated KMC chain. This setup is absolutely silent and shifts as fantastically as any ramped freewheel does these days. The original SunTour Mountech rear derailer was bent and needed a rebuild, and I didn't want the hassle of disassembling its combination pivot/guide pulley. Were I sentimental I would have made the effort to revive it, as the Mountech was the first derailer offered expressly for mountain bikes.

Original headset, all steel, spins smoothly and looks nice. I picked up a sexier aluminum cable hanger to replace the steel one shown here (it was rusty), but it left too few threads for the headset nut. A little naval jelly and more Mothers polish revived the shine of the original.

Inexpensive blinky light and a nice view of how the powdercoating gives the TIG welds a nearly fillet-brazed look.

There you have it, my 1984 Schwinn High Sierra. This was a fun project, and I'm looking forward to lots of cruising with it.

FREE BIKE!

While making a trip to Goodwill to unload a colossal tube TV (heads up: turns out they don't take them), another dropper-offer inquired if they take bikes. Indeed they do. I peered into the back of his car and saw he had a Schwinn Mesa GS, and I offered to take it off his hands. "It's got some problems," he warned. "It's also got lots of parts I can use," I mused to myself. Turns out, all this bike needs is a tune-up, AND it's my size! Finally, I can be one of those guys on Cyclofiend with a sweet Goodwill bike--all I ever find are junked kids bikes. The pic above is from the web, my bike is considerably less pristine--but in overall great shape, as it appears to have been lightly ridden and merely neglected. So score one for me, I'm thrilled. My wife, however, is less thrilled, as our two-car garage is now a one-car/eight-bike garage.

1987 Schwinn Voyageur

I mentioned in a previous post that my Craigslist connection had a Schwinn Voyageur that I lusted for, and lucky for me said connection found another Voyageur that fit him better and the bicycle I had seen needed to be unloaded fast. That bicycle is pictured above, a 1987 model, all original minus the $10 Forte Strada tire I installed when I discovered the original tire would not remain seated in the bead and was unrideable--and I wanted to get one ride in before I tore the bike down for a thorough clean, polish, repack and rebuild. And for once, I took before pictures! The plan is to leave most of the bike original, adding only new tires, tubes, rim strips, brake pads, pedals, cables, chain, freewheel, and bar tape. And possibly a Nitto Technomic stem to get the bars up another inch. I know, that sounds like a lot, but none of those parts will change the character of the bike, they'll just help it run like new without the dirty work of trying to revive old wear items. More pics...

That's as high as the stem goes, which is high enough, but I'd like to sit up a little taller. Bars level with saddle.

Incredibly, the 23 year old hoods are in perfect shape. The tape's in good shape too, but I want some cushy foam tape on there.

Mag wheel polish will make these cantis shine. Try that with today's painted components. Those Weinman rims will sparkle too.

Deore crank complete with Biopace rings. Like the pedals? They'll be on Ebay.

The derailleur will need to be fully dissasembled, it's pretty well gummed up. Still shifts nicely though with the 6-speed SIS downtube levers.

I'm going to repack the hub, but I'm not going to try and get in there to polish it. If I had a prehensile tail that I could sneak between the spokes, I would. I don't. 

Imagine a Brooks B17 here. Not because they're so popular now, but because they really are comfy. Oooh, and a Kalloy radiused top post. The original post is junk. Need a new cable hanger too.

Downtube shifters! SIS with friction mode, but I'll stick with clicks. I have no problem with friction shifting, but when I have the option of a functional indexing system, I prefer it. In the rear, anyway. Un-trimmable front derailleurs drive me nuts.

1987 Schwinn catalog page