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