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.
No comments:
Post a Comment